The first 2 nights

I have had 2 great dinners this week-both have been gluten free.

Monday: we had polenta (made from scratch with cornmeal) with sausage crumbles, sauteed onions, red peppers, zucchini and Dan's new marinara sauce (made from scratch). Here's his recipe (thanks, Dan for emailing this to me... I am pasting it straight into the blog).

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 8 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 onions, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning, undrained
• 6 oz. can tomato paste
• Small pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• Dash of cayenne pepper 
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place onions, garlic, and olive oil, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes and cayenne in a medium sauté pan and cook till until the onion is softened.

Combine all ingredients in a 4-5 quart crockpot, cover, and cook on low setting for 6-7 hours. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve sauce over spaghetti. 10-12 servings.

I added the marinara to the sausage and veg mixture and served it over polenta. We topped it with grated parmesan cheese.   Enjoy!

PS... I'll post a picture of this next time I make it.

Tonight, I made sheppards pie. The inspiration came from the book Gluten Free on a Shoestring, but I made lots of changes. Here's what I did:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Get out a square baker.
2. Saute a medium onion with 1 tsp olive oil. Add 1 lb of ground chicken and brown. Once brown, add 2 tsp worstershire sauce, 1 Tbsp cream cheese and 1 Tbsp ricotta cheese along with 1/3 cup tomato paste. Add a dash of salt and a light sprinkle of garlic powder. Add a 16 oz bag of thawed (frozen) veg mix. Warm the mixture throughout. Add to the square baker.
2. Shred 4-5 oz cheddar cheese. Boil 1.75 cups of water with 3 T butter and 1 tsp salt. Once boiling, take pot of the burner and add 2 cups potato flakes and then 3/4 cup skim milk. Mix.  Once the potatoes are the texture/thickness that you desire, allow to cool for about 5 min and then mix the shredded cheese. Save a tiny bit to make a thin layer on top of the pie. Once finished, poor over the meat and veg mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
4. Put in the oven on 375 until brown. (It took about 20 minutes)