GF, Vegan Roasted Red Pepper & Kale Pesto!

Sooo, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet lasted almost 12 hours. I was strong until it was 10 o’clock and it was time for my daily Oatmeal Raisin Meringue.

I couldn't resist my oatmeal raisin meringue...can you blame me??

I’ve been doing more research, and brown rice is extremely easy to digest. So, brown rice pasta is ok — which is what we’ve been eating all along.

creamy, rich roasted red pepper pesto!

Anyhoo, here’s the amazing meal I made last night! It was SO good and so nutritious! I made Roasted Red Pepper and Kale Pesto with Broiled Cod. This pasta sauce was so ridiculously tasty — and GF and Vegan!

yum!

Here’s what you need:

2 red peppers, fire roasted, chopped
7-8 mushrooms, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
4 stalks of kale, chopped and steamed
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
6 kalamata olives
1/2 – 3/4 cup fresh basil
dried basil and oregano
1/4 cup white wine
reserved pasta water
Raw goat milk cheese — grated ***optional***

This sauce is a bit involved.

Lets start with roasting your peppers — First, you can totally use jarred roasted red peppers. But, there’s no substitute for fresh, roasted red peppers in both flavor and quality of ingredients. Also, there aren’t any preservatives or additives and stabilizers found in jarred, canned, and processed foods. OK, I’m off my soap box…lets get cooking!

Place your red pepper directly on the flame of your gas burner. (Place the pepper on the grates, and THEN turn the flame on low.) Roast them, turning with tongs every 3 minutes, until charred on all sides. Then, immediately place the hot peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to trap the steam. Allow the peppers to steam for about 15 minutes (while you prepare your other veggies). Then, the charred skin will literally peel right off the pepper. Cut off the tops and remove the seeds. Roughly chop, and place in your food processor.  If you do not have a gas burner, you can roast them under your broiler.

Ok, those are squared away. Now, steam your kale for about 2-3 minutes, until tender and set aside. Also, toast your pine nuts. In a large pan, saute your onion in 1 tsp EVOO with salt, pepper, 1/4 tsp dried oregano and dried basil. Allow that to soften, and then add your mushrooms. Let them cook down and release their moisture — about 5-6 minutes. {{When you let mushrooms brown, arrange them in a layer, and then don’t touch them for about 3 minutes. Then, flip them and put them in another layer and don’t touch them for 3 more minutes. Then they will be browned and beautiful!}} After your mushrooms have browned, stir in your garlic and steamed kale. Stir for a minute, and then take off heat to cool for a minute. Then, put your veggies in the food processor  with the peppers, pine nuts, olives and salt. Whirl that together until smooth. Then, at the last minute, add your basil, to reserve its flavor. (It will lose some potency due to the heat of the veggies). Combine your sauce with your cooked noodles and about 1/4 cup pasta water. YUMMO! Top with goat cheese if you’d like:)

gorgeous, wild caught cod!

Finally, I served this delicious pesto pasta with broiled cod. Lobsta Bakes’ wild, ocean-caught cod is so spectacular — flakey, sweet, moist, tender. Absolutely wonderful. I broiled it with 1 tsp EVOO, salt, pepper, lemon zest and juice, and fresh dill. Delish.

beautiful dill crust!

This meal was terrific. The sauce on the pasta had a flavor unlike any pasta sauce I’ve made before! The roasted red peppers provided this deep, smokey-sweet flavor that permeated through the entire sauce! That, with the earthy mushrooms, and deep kale was so yummy. And it was highlighted by the fresh, bright basil, buttery pine nuts, and salty olives. It was punctuated perfectly with the addition of the raw goat milk cheese sprinkled on top. ((Ok, I may have gone a little heavy on the cheese:) ))

beautiful pile of pesto pasta!

It was creamy and slurpy, rich and flavorful. Truly fabulous!

a little overboard on the goat cheese...i was just so excited!

It always amazes me how blended and pureed veggies can pack such a punch! Flavor city!

so heathy!

Happy Tummies!

This pesto was made possible by made appliance "baby" - my food processor. It has it's own place of honor on my counter. I love it and highly recommend my Prep 7....here's where you can find one:

what a bite!

GF Lasagna Roll Ups w/ Goat Cheese & Grilled Swordfish!

We are now officially in the Lenten Season.  This means, no meat on friday…well, it turns out, we have that covered:) But it is also the season of fish fries and giving up sweets, or fast food.  Well, I’ve decided not to “give up” anything — “food wise” — this year. My diet is limited enough as it is; giving up something world make life nearly impossible. So this year, I’ve decided to “work on” something instead:) I’ll be trying practice more patience, and work on my temper…:/ UC doesn’t just affect your body…also your emotions. :/

cute little GF veggie lasagna roll up!

So for dinner tonight, I decided to make comfort food and vegan-ize lasagna! Thinking about it, I thought…how fun would it be to make little individual roll ups!

These were *good* A bit labor intensive, but sooo worth it. I made 2 sauces: one was a marinara sauce, and the other was the spinach & mushroom filling.

Marinara:

1/4 red onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 can organic diced tomatoes

dried oregano and basil

1/4 c white wine

fresh basil

I sautéed the onion and garlic in 1 tsp EVOO with salt and pepper in a small sauce pan. After a few minutes I added the herbs. After about 6 minutes, I stirred in the wine, let it reduce and then add in the tomatoes.  Let that warm through for about 5-7 minutes, and take off the heat.  Stir in the fresh basil.

Next, the spinach/mushroom filling.

1/2 red onion, fine dice

~10 baby bella mushrooms, chopped to a fine dice — almost minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

dried oregano and basil

1/2 c white wine

3 big handfuls of spinach, chopped finely

I sautéed the onion and garlic in 1 tsp EVOO for about 5 minutes and added in the dried herbs and mushrooms. I let those cook down until the mushrooms released their water. After about 5 more minutes, I stirred in the white wine and the spinach.  Finally, after the spinach wilted, I stirred in about 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce.

so much flavor!

Now that the 2 sauces were finished, I was ready to roll ;) I cooked 8 brown rice lasagna noodles until al dante. I put a piece of tin foil (sprayed with olive oil spray) on the counter, and then laid out my noodles. Next to my “rolling station,” was a small casserole dish, sprayed with olive oil spray.  I put about 1/3 cup of the marinara sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish. Then, I put a heaping T of the spinach/mushroom filling on the lasagna noodle, and rolled it up! I then placed it seam side down in the dish. I rolled out the remaining 8 of them, and then combined the remaining filling with the marinara. I then spooned this new mixture over top all the rolls. To really make it special, I sprinkled a bit of grated raw goat cheese (Old Kentucky Tomme) over top. I baked it for about 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven until the cheese had melted.

gorgeous grilled swordfish!

With this delicious lasagna roll up, I served grilled swordfish! YUM! This wild, ocean caught fish from Lobsta Bakes was so scrumptious. I put 1 tsp EVOO, salt, pepper, and lemon juice on the steaks, and grilled them for about 5 minutes per side. They had such a fantastic texture: really meaty and dense. Yet it was still moist and really tender. It was a nice contrast from the delicate, buttery, flakey, fish we’ve been having lately.

mmmmmm!

This meal was just yummy.  There’s something about lasagna that is so comforting, and makes you feel all warm inside. The wonderful thing about this lasagna is that it doesn’t weigh you down, and make you feel lethargic like most lasagnas do! Since the filling was just veggies, it was light, yet extremely satisfying.  A funny thing happens when you finely chop — almost mince — mushrooms. They take on a flavor and texture that is very similar to ground beef! A perfect filling for our lasagna! When all was said and done, this meal only had 3 tsp EVOO, and a small amount of goat cheese! Wow. Healthy, flavorful, and 100% happy tummy approved:)

To grill my Swordfish, I used my Grill Pan! It's such a convenient tool - you can grill all year 'round! No matter what the weather! Here's a great one: 

Broiled Flounder w/ GF Mushroom Asparagus Pasta!

The key to great food is great ingredients.  Using the highest quality ingredients, and simply letting their flavors shine.  That’s just one reason why I’m such an advocate of eating organic. Another reason is simply for health! Conventional fruits and veggies have so many pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, and not to mention the fact that they’ve been genetically modified to be bigger, brighter, shinier, and “aesthetically perfect.” All of those toxic chemicals enter your body and get into your blood and organs. Doesn’t sound like a recipe for a happy tummy to me!

That’s why Lobsta Bakes is so amazing! Their fish is wild ocean caught! This means that their fish hasn’t been pumped with antibiotics, fed GMO corn and ground up fish, and kept in crowded waters with 1000s of other fish getting no exercise or fresh water. No, Lobsta Bakes is the best of the best. Fresh caught from the ocean and flown in each morning from Maine. You CAN taste a difference.

delish!

Ok, so for dinner tonight, we had broiled flounder. I broiled it for about 10 minutes with 1 tsp EVOO, salt, pepper, and lemon zest and juice. Delicate, flakey, and full of wonderful flavor.

yum!!

With our fish, I served Mushroom and Asparagus Pasta. Ooh boy, was this good. Creamy and actually…meaty! The mushrooms made it have a meaty texture and deep, rich flavor! And the asparagus gave it beautiful fresh crunch! Here’s how I did it.

1 bunch asparagus, chopped into 1 in sections

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 portobello mushroom cap, sliced into bite size pieces

2 BIG garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup vegetable stock

3 Tbs shredded goat cheese (Old Kentucky Tomme)

pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper

I started by chopping my asparagus into about 1 in pieces, and then I steamed them for about 5-6 minutes. In the meantime, I sautéed my onion in 2 tsp with s and p until tender. I then stirred in the garlic and mushrooms, and let them cook until soft, about 6-7 minutes.  Once they are tender, add the wine and stock…it will be soupy! Let it reduce for about 3-4 minutes. Once it has reduced by 1/2, stir in the shredded cheese. Then stir in the asparagus. Let them heat through, toss with pasta and you’re good to go!

gorgeous mushroom asparagus pasta

This meal was so wonderful. It was comfort food. An “A+” my mom said. I’ll take that! Healthy food that has amazing flavor. Thanks to organic produce and ocean caught fish!

moist and flakey flounder!

Here’s my juice today! We got some kale, so its much greener! Kale, celery, carrot, apple, lemon and ginger. WOO!

kale-celery-carrot-apple-lemon-ginger

Here's the juicer I use: I did a lot of research and found that *in my opinion* Breville makes the best. It's an investment, but extremely worth it. 

Happy tummies!