Gluten Free Quinoa Flour Ravioli with a spinach ricotta filling

Pasta is definitely one of my favourite foods. There are so many different varieties and the flavour combinations are endless!

For dinner this Sunday night my mom and I decided it would be fun to create our own ravioli! To add an extract challenge to the task we made them gluten free and as healthy as possible. Let me tell you they turned out great!

Using only four simple ingredients I created these gluten free quinoa flour ravioli and stuffed them with a mixture of sauteed spinach and ricotta cheese. I'm so excited to make these again and create plenty of different filling options... I'v already brain stormed a bunch!

This is a great Sunday night meal to make with your family and enjoy your time together.

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa flour

2 eggs + 1 egg ( to be used to seal pasta)

1/2 cup water

2 tsp. olive oil

* To create filling I just sauteed some spinach with salt and pepper then mixed it with ricotta cheese.

1. Place 2 cups quinoa flour on your counter, shape into a hill and create a well in the middle.

2. Add 2 eggs to the centre of the well and gently incorporate them into the flour using two fingers. Once eggs are incorporated add 1/2 cup water.

3. Kneed dough together and add 2tsp. olive oil.

4. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and allow it to sit for 30 minutes.

5. Using either a rolling pin or a pasta machine roll dough until it is paper thin. Using a cookie cutter cut dough into circles.

6. Place 1 egg in a bowl beat with fork to create an egg wash. Rub egg wash on pasta dough, stuff with your choice of filling and place a second piece of dough on top, press down edges with fingers then seal with a fork.

7. Place pasta in boiling water for 3-5 minutes and serve with your choice of sauce.

Recipe Review: Tomato & Arugula Pasta

This recipe is from the Gwyneth Paltrow cookbook My Father's Daughter. I have made this dish for my family a few times now and it is the perfect, simple pasta dish. It is really easy and uses few ingredients so it is perfect for a new chef or someone just looking to make a quick, healthy meal. All the ingredients are very simple so most people will have them on hand. I am a big fan of this dish so I thought it would be nice if I shared it with people to try for themselves, I hope everyone likes it just as much as me!

What You'll Need: 

1 can diced tomato's

3 cloves garlic

pasta ( I used a gluten free quinoa pasta) 

salt & pepper

3-4 fresh basil leafs

2 tbsp. olive oil

handful of arugula

1.  Mince garlic, saute for 1 minute with olive oil. 

2. Add can of tomato's, salt and pepper to taste and bail leaves. Bring to a boil, then allow to simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. 

3. Approximately 10 minutes before you are ready to serve, boil pasta water, add pasta and cook until al dente. During the last minute of cooking pasta add a handful of arugula, allow to boil with pasta for 1 minutes.

4. Strain pasta, plate it and top with tomato sauce. I added some uncooked arugula to my pasta as well because I adore it! Enjoy!

Product review: Shirataki Noodles

I have heard about these noodles a few times, they are a guilt free noodle that have 40 calories per pack, 4g fibre, 2 g protein, as well as vitamin C, calcium and iron. They contain only four ingredients which are water, tofu, yam flour and calcium hydroxide, they are also gluten free and vegan. 

After discovering these noodles I decided to give them a try, I thought why not? So I went to my local Safeways and picked up a pack, they were located in the same region where you would find tofu. They had three kinds to choose from, a fettuccine shaped noodle, spaghetti shaped noodle and a macaroni shaped noodle, I got both the spaghetti and fettuccine. That night I went home and tried them out.

To prepare them you do so, as if they were a regular pasta. Boil water, then add the noodles and cook for about 5 minutes. So when I first opened the package they smelt like fish, which I expected because I read about them and noted this fact. I put them in a strainer, rinsed them off then put them in the boiling water for about 5 mins. Once they were done I served them with a regular tomato sauce. 

When cooked they were both odourless and tasteless, the texture was somewhat gummy so that kind of threw me off. If texture really effects you, you may not enjoy these as the texture is somewhat weird. I would describe it as gummy and chewy, but for me that isn't a huge issue so I would give these a buy. I wouldn't substitute my regular gluten free pasta for these all the time but once in a while I wouldn't mind it. My advice, give them a try, they are a good substitute, low calories, some nutritional value, vegan and gluten free. Let me know your opinion if you try them out!