Conte's Gluten Free Gnocchi

I came from an area where pasta flows like water and in any given mile you will pass by at least 5 Italian restaurants. Being GF around here can be dicey - especially when you miss things like raviolis and gnocchi.

PCD I didn't eat a copious amount of gnocchi. I had a casual relationship with this type of pasta. We would occasionally see each other and I would coat it in vodka sauce and peas and go to town. When I was diagnosed I made a lot of assumptions about my diet going forward. My first assumption was that all good tasting pasta, bread & pizza was out the door and my second was that my food would only be fresh fruits & vegetables.  My days of going out for large dishes of pasta, crispy garlic bread and lots of red wine were over.

This little bag of love up there told me different. It's not just a bag of gnocchis - its a bag of possibilities. Contes has done something pretty amazing. The gnocchi is light and the pasta is chewy without being rubbery, too dense or gross. These little puffs are heaven sent.

Verdict? Yummy!

Conte's Gluten Free Cheese Ravioli

There was this little Italian restaurant near where I went to college. The food was amazing, plentiful and inexpensive - the perfect combination for poor college students. Once a month myself and my friends would hit up one of the local eateries and eat until our hearts were content. Once a month was all we could really afford and it always seemed to tide us over for another month of eating crappy cafeteria fare. 

This Italian restaurant had this great dish - I called it Cheesy Meaty Raviolis. I'm sure it had a real name that wasn't ridiculous but we don't have time for that right now. It was my favorite dish there. It was cheesy raviolis in this yummy cheesy meat sauce. I would only eat my favorite meal a few times a year but it was something I always looked forward to. 

As I got older and stopped visiting my favorite little Italian restaurant those Cheesy Meaty Ravioli's left my food memories. I swear it felt like the moment I was diagnosed with celiac all of my gluten filled food memories came flooding back into my brain like some sort of weird sci-fi deal. Those raviolis were shoved into the front of my food desires and there was nothing I could do about it. Which is infuriating. There is nothing worse then having a complete inability to satisfy a food craving due to an auto-immune condition. 

This was the first Conte's Gluten Free product that I ever tried. I was having a hardcore ravioli craving and it needed to be satisfied. I brought these guys home and attempted to recreate my Cheesy Meaty Raviolis. 

I was shocked at how decent these actually were. I was expecting a super gummy and weird tasting ravioli. While I had good GF pasta I just wasn't sure if GF ravioli could be equally as good. The pasta was dense in a good way and the cheese filling was really tasty. 

Verdict? Tasty!

Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta

One of my fabulous, gorgeous and supermodel-esque readers Christine recommended that I try quinoa pasta when I complained about how regular pasta falls apart.

I've seen this brand and its hard to miss turquoise box for years but it never occurred to me to actually, you know, try it.

Today was a day of discovery my dear friends. I was like Magellan working down uncharted waters and making amazing discoveries of things that have been there forever but putting my big, fat stupid slap of approval all over it. Ancient Harvest is my Guam (read a book people!)

I made a tasty GF pasta bake today (no recipe cook pasta, dump in garlic pasta sauce, cover in mozzarella and bake) with this quinoa pasta. I'm really starting to get on board with this whole corn flour thing. Jules banging cookie mix boast corn flour and this qunioa pasta's first ingredient is corn flour.

Let's jump on this corn flour revolution GF food makers.

The pasta cooked up perfectly al dente and really held up under lots of sauce and cheese in a baked pasta dish. Best of all? I don't think anyone would think that this pasta wasn't a gluten pasta. No funky after taste, no gumminess - it was just perfection.

Verdict? YUMMY and I can't wait to make Mc n Cheese with this