Penne Pesto with Green Beans and Tomatoes
Penne Pasta with Green Beans and Tomatoes is a high protein wholesome meal that takes about 20 minutes to make. Simple and delicious, this main dish contains pasta made with lentils – a legume packed with protein, thin French green beans, sweet tomatoes along with pesto and seasoning to bring all the ingredients together. Although Penne Pesto with Green Beans and Tomatoes is flavorful and nutritious, the dish is also beautiful to look at with the contrasting shades of green and red. Read more 
Tolerant Foods Organic Pastas
Looking for a great source of organic and gluten-free plant-based protein? Consider pasta made by Tolerant Foods, a company crazy about the health benefits and taste of legumes (beans, lentils, peas, and garbanzos). With three different types of pasta – penne, rotini, and mini fettucine – made from either organic black beans or organic red lentils, there is a noodle for everyone. Read more
Organic Bean Pastas
What is it with guys and protein? If my husband sees or hears “25 mg of protein” his face lights up. And, it seems that whenever I have a discussion with someone about being a vegetarian who doesn’t eat dairy products, the topic of conversation immediately turns to an inquiry of where I get my protein – because people have been brainwashed to think the best source of protein is from animals when in fact, plant-based foods are an excellent source of protein. Read more
Des Moines’ Downtown Farmers’ Market
Many people start thinking about Farmers Markets during the early days of summer but Iowans living in the central part of the state have been patronizing the Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market since early May. They haven’t forgotten about meat and potatoes (the market has plenty of these items) but instead celebrate the fresh local harvest of fruits and vegetables every Saturday from May thru October in the capital city on the west bank of the Des Moines River. Read more
Garofalo Gluten-Free Pasta
I’ve never met a dish of pasta I did not love. A Wise Person
How to make a great tasting gluten-free pasta has been a big challenge for pasta makers worldwide over the past decade. Knowing that pasta made without wheat could not have the same flavor or texture as traditional pasta, Garofalo – the Italian pasta maker – set upon creating pasta with a different flavor, making gluten-free pasta a cooking opportunity for everyone and not just those on a gluten-free diet. Equally important was to create a healthy product which led Garafalo to combine corn flour (70%), rice flour (18%), and quinoa (3%) with corn starch and a small amount of oil to make some of the best tasting gluten-free pastas on the market. Read more
Pasta d’oro
Two friends recently e-mailed me about a product called Sam Mills Pasta d’oro, which one had discovered in an Italian restaurant in New York City when she ordered a gluten-free pasta dish. Expecting a bland pasta, she was pleasantly surprised by the flavorful pasta with a firm texture so she asked the server about the dish and he told her the restaurant uses a gluten-free pasta called Pasta d’oro – a corn pasta made with corn flour and water.
Made by the Sam Mills company of Rumania in a gluten-free facility in the European Union, Pasta d’oro is free of gluten, dairy, soy, egg, and cholesterol and full of taste, texture, and deliciousness. Read more
Happy Pho
Happy Pho is a Vietnamese Brown Rice Noodle Soup that is easy to make and has the following attributes:
- Low in Calories (approximately 220 calories per serving)
- High in Protein (4 grams of protein per serving)
- High in Fiber (3 grams of fiber per serving)
- Low in Sodium (approximately 100 mg of sodium per serving with no MSG)
- Fat Free
- Low in Sugar (1 gram of sugar per serving)
- Gluten-free (no wheat products)
- Dairy-free
- Flavorful and Delicious Read more
Fregula
Fregula is a type of pasta from Sardinia that resembles toasted pearls. Some people think fregula is like couscous but this unique pasta is bigger, thicker, and more flavorful than couscous. Fregula or the “pearl of pastas” is made with coarse semolina flour blended with water and formed into little balls. The pasta is then dried and toasted to impart a nutty flavor when cooked. Ideal for soups or with cooked vegetables, fregula is a firm chewy pasta with a deep toasted flavor, unlike any other pasta. Read more
Vegetarian Lasagna
My friend Dania came to visit us this summer and offered to make a vegan lasagna from the the book “Forks Over Knives.” Of course, I accepted the offer even after she told me it would take four hours to make (because I wasn’t going to have to do it by myself). We worked together to make the lasagna and cut the time down to about an hour and a half but there were two of us – still too much time to spend on one dish for me. The lasagna was really good but we both thought improvements could be made based on our taste preferences. Read more
Paddock Post 