Claire Pasta

Between my 7 friends and I, we have 5 very specific dietary restrictions that force us to be ultra picky when deciding a meal plan for our get togethers

Lindzy- Little miss seliac’s cant have pasta, bread, flour or any sauce with thickener in it…sad

Marie- keep those dairy products away from the lactose intolerant chick

Claire- while she eats fish, this veggie girl steers clear of anything that had feet at some point

Anneka- homegirl carries an EpiPen in her purse, and has instructed us all how to dispatch it, should she come in contact with any soy or nut product

Me- while I used to love it, shellfish makes my face bloat up like a puffer fish….

So to recap:

No fish

No pasta, bread, flour

No super pasteurized  dairy products

No meat

No soy or nuts

No shellfish

Basically all we are left with in the end is tacos, tacos, and more tacos…

While I love me some Mexican food….let’s just say it is not always the best pre-going-out-dance the night away before meal…

Enter…Claire pasta.

This yummy pasta dish can be made with gluten free noodles, and with a basic pesto sauce, sans the pine nuts or walnuts…

Talk about incorporating the season’s best ingredients, this pasta has endless options!

Check out the recipe and some fun pictures below from the last time we made us some Claire Pasta:

Ingredients

(please feel free to substitute any and all veggies, get creative!)

1 box of whole wheat Barilla spaghetti

Olive Oil

3 cloves garlic

½ white onion

Red pepper flakes

5 button mushrooms

1 package cherry tomatoes

3 ears of fresh corn

1 squash or zucchini

Pesto Sauce

1 bunch basil(you can also use spinach or any other green)

1 cup parmesan cheese

3 tbsp olive oil

½ cup pine nuts or walnuts

Salt and pepper to taste

1.    Set a pot of salted water on the stove to boil for the pasta

2.   Gather basil

We are proud mama's our pot of basil that we raised from seeds on our scorching hot Sac baclcony!

Marie picks the fresh basil

3.   Finely chop garlic, and onion…fry garlic and onion in frying pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil, mix in 1 pinch red pepper flakes, cook until onions are soft

4.   Shuck corn, halve cherry tomatoes, slice up squash and mushrooms

Cute as a button!

Claire can get carried away with how much she loves her veggies!...yummmy raw corn

5.    When pasta water is boiling add spaghetti, and through remaining veggies into pan with garlic and onions, cook pasta until al dente and veggies until soft

6. For pesto sauce, combine all ingredients in a food processor…leave out nuts for guests who may have allergies. Pulse until sauce is a thick enough consistency to stay put on a spoon

7.   Combine all ingredients and mix well…serve with a nice bottle of chilled white wine and some yummy olives and cheese!

Buon Apetito! 
PS- Check out this other awesome recipe guide from Food Network to find easy to prepare meals for all of the dietary restrictions in your life!

Ciao

My Name is Elle, and I am addicted to espresso.....

Last night I concluded a frenzied evening of Valentine's Day prep/laundry/dusting and vaccuuming/consuming every leftover in my fridge/cleaning out my desperately unorganized and crammed Kate Spade and organizing my craft corner with a 10:30 pm indoor soccer game in Rocklin....You heard it right folks, little miss 'in bed by 9:30 to catch up on Bravo and E' was out in the midst of the night super super super late! 
While I had a ton of fun taking my aggressions out on the pitch, let's just say I was less than perky this morning...fast forward past the rolling out of bed at 8:10, throwing my hair in a messy bun and being significantly late for work, and I was more than ready for a pick me up by lunch time...
Enter, Cafe Roma, one of downtown Sacramento's newest little gems....from pizza, pasta and soup, to the most decadent gelato this side of the Atlantic, you have to check this place out on L street! Beyond the food and friendliness of staff, this little self professed coffee fiend finds them to have the BEST doppio espresso!
Don't let this mini 'tazo' (that's italian for cup or mug) fool you, if it is strong enough for my coffee snob tastebuds, this bambino of flavor explosion will surely blow your socks off...don't say I didn't warn you!
A little tip of advice.... nothing makes an Italian cringe more than having American's come into their bar in the afternoon or evening and order a cappuccino, these drinks are reserved for breakfast and breakfast only! So the next time you randomly find yourself at a Roman bar in the late afternoon, any cafe between here and there would do of course, order yourself a nice strong shot of love, because a doppio espresso always makes life a little more va bene.

                                                                                              

PS- it also didn't help that I got to enjoy such an amazing lunch with Claire, sitting outside in the 60 degree weather in February!

PPS- Cafe Roma's Friday special is a $1 doppio, my dreams have come true!


Ciao

Buon Apetito- Parmigiana di Melanzane

Last night I got suckered into cooking a completely vegetarian meal for a date night with my friend Anneka, and I have to admit, I was weary that I might be lost without a nice piece of steak or chicken breast to jazz up my meal, but in the end I was pleasantly surprised by how a vegetarian meal, if done with lots of cheese and sauce, can really be satisfying.

Seeing as we pretty much eat tacos or spaghetti every time we cook together, Anneka and I decided to venture out of our comfort zone and let the produce section at SAFEWAY do the menu planning for us. What we created was delicious and mentally appeasing, as we were really proud of ourselves for being so much healthier than our days of living together when all we ate was frozen chicken wings and rice-a-roni (which I still love!).

I hope that you enjoy this creation as much as we did, it’s a mild twist on one of my favorite Eggplant Parmesan dishes, we added tons of veggies and really had a great time chopping, chatting and of course finishing our bottle of pinot grigio.

Parmigiana di Melanzane Primavera

Time- 40 minutes

Serving- 4-5 people

Ingredients

One large eggplant

3 eggs

Italian breadcrumbs

4 cloves of garlic

1 can whole tomatoes

¼ large white onion

1 package baby portabello mushrooms

1 large red bell pepper

4 tbs extra virgin olive oil

5 leaves of fresh basil

1 bag of shredded mozzarella or provolone cheese

Fresh grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Slice eggplant into quarter inch slices, you should get about 15-20 slices from one large eggplant. Whisk together eggs, in separate bowl pour in breadcrumbs and prepare non-stick baking sheet. Bake eggplant for 20 minutes or until soft, if you want them more crispy, you can then broil for 5 minutes or until breadcrumbs are browned.

Chop garlic, onion, mushrooms and red bell pepper into like size pieces.  In a blender, puree tomatoes until sauce like. In large skillet heat oil over medium high and brown garlic and onion. Add mushrooms and bell peppers and cook until soft. Add tomato sauce, fresh basil, salt and pepper to taste (at this point  I also add some crushed red pepper flakes for spice), simmer sauce for 10 minutes.

In a non-stick or prepared pyrex dish, begin layering ingredients. One layer of eggplant slices, cover with sauce and smother with mozzarella/provolone and grated parmesan. Repeat steps until you run out of eggplant. Top off with additional cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbling.

I would serve this with a fresh mixed green salad with a balsamic vinegarette to cut through the heaviness of the sauce and cheese.

Buon Apetito!

**This post is in no way meant to convince anyone that I will be adopting the vegetarian lifestyle, I am a cheeseburger, chicken fried steak, carne asada burrito kind of girl and don’t intend on changing my lifestyle anytime soon. I’m just saying, I am starting to see that vegetarians aren’t necessarily nuts-o, they actually have some pretty cool and delicious options out there that I am now more willing to experiment with….just don’t bring me any tofu (yuck!)

Ciao