My mom brought a zucchini all the way from her garden in Jersey and she and my husband made Aunt Rose’s Zucchini Bread. Aunt Rose was my Nonni’s aunt and an amazing baker, I remember her delicious Christmas cookies every year at Nonni’s house in Buffalo, right after breakfast Christmas morning. This recipe is gluten free and dairy free too.
Joanna’s bruschetta is a favorite at our potlucks. It obviously tastes delicious with bread, but I’ve gotten creative and served it over grilled steak or burgers before when I want to avoid carbs. This is the perfect summer appetizer and tastes amazing with sweeter small tomatoes such as cherry or grape varieties.
This sun dried tomato and olive turkey meatloaf is gluten free and filled with tons of flavor. There are black olives (at my husband’s request, he loves olives), sun dried tomatoes, and shallots cooked in sun dried tomato oil. Using the oil, which is full of flavor is a great way to avoid waste and save some money. I also added garlic and fresh parsley. There is Parmesan cheese in this, but feel free to omit it, and the egg will keep it together. If you are going to omit, add a little extra salt.
I missed cheese, especially Parmesan, and I’ve not found a good alternative, so I’m eating some dairy again. I’m doing pretty well with it actually, so I’m not going to deprive myself of one of my favorite foods. I’m trying a new thing where I don’t stress about following a diet perfectly. I have so much to stress over, I don’t need to add to it.
This dish was inspired by a meatloaf my mom used to buy at our local gourmet grocery store called The Market Basket. It has a delicious sun dried tomato flavor, especially in the glaze, that was just so good.
Like my mom, I’ve bought meatloaf to reheat, usually from Trader Joes, and while theirs is very good, and a easy weeknight meal, it didn’t have the flavor that I associate with meatloaf growing up and it wasn’t gluten free. I used Trader Joes gluten free white bread to make breadcrumbs and it turned out great.
2 minced large garlic cloves (3 medium or 4 small)
3 tbsp sun dried tomato oil (from the jar of sun dried tomatoes)
1 cup of fresh breadcrumbs from gluten free white bread
1 tsp of Italian seasoning
2 large eggs
¼ cup of oat milk
2 lbs of Italian ground turkey (I use Jennie-O)
1 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 can pitted black olives chopped
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 8 fl oz jar of sun dried tomatoes
½ cup of ketchup
1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Saute shallots and minced garlic in a sun dried tomato oil, let cool
Then add shallots and garlic to a large bowl with turkey, fresh parsley, and Parmesan cheese.
Toast gluten free bread for 12 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 minutes for each side, then add to food processor with Italian seasoning to make gluten free breadcrumbs. Add breadcrumbs to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
Add oat milk over breadcrumbs in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
Add half jar of sun dried tomatoes to food processor, puree, then add to bowl with rest of the ingredients.
Chop a can of pitted black olives and and to bowl with the rest of ingredients.
Mix two eggs and add the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.
Use your hands, and mix up all the ingredients together until evenly dispersed.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add ketchup and rest of the jar of sun dried tomatoes to the food processor and puree together to make the glaze.
On a sheet pan lined with foil, grease foil with olive oil, then mound together the meatloaf mixture on pan and mold into a meatloaf loaf shape.
Cover the loaf with sun dried tomato and ketchup glaze, don't forget the sides.
Then bake uncovered for 60-70 minutes or until temperature is over 165 degrees.
Let it rest for at least ten minutes before slicing and serving.
I have so much fresh dill, it grew to the top of my fence! I had no clue it would get so big, when I planted it in my herb garden. To use all this dill, I’ve been making dill pickle potato salad this summer. This recipe makes a delicious side for summer grilling, plus I love pickles!
I use cornichons, which are tiny tart pickles that taste amazing on cheese boards and martinis so I always have them in my fridge or pantry. I also use golden potatoes, because they have a beautiful color and the texture is so creamy and dijon mustard and avocado mayo only help make this super creamy without any dairy. To make this dish vegan, use a vegan mayo instead.
My mom and I were practicing our pasta skills with my kitchen aid attachment and we found that 4 cups of all purpose flour to 3 eggs with a little extra virgin olive oil worked best to make the pasta dough. We refrigerated the dough for a half hour to an hour and pasta thickness was level 5 for the attachment. We ran out of room on our pasta drying rack and had to start using our clothing drying rack!
I know this isn’t low carb, which is more typical of this food blog, but cooking from scratch is still healthier, and I’ve been trying a lot more Italian recipes since my Italian grandmother passed away. We always loved cooking together.
Also, I think moderation is healthy in the long run, especially when it comes to diets, even low carb ones. Cooking from scratch with love and care for the food we put in our bodies is not something we should feel guilty about. That said, consult your doctor about allergies. This recipe does contain gluten.
In a food processor, with a dough attachment, mix all purpose flour, add eggs but scramble them first, then a little olive oil and mix until it forms a dough.
Then roll out sheet of pasta to level 5 in the kitchen aid attachment, add flour if it sticks.
Then let the sheets dry out a little for an least 1-15 minutes to make it easier to put through the fettuccine attachment. I skipped this step once and my pasta was a sticky mess.
Once sheets are dried out a little, run then through the fettuccine attachment and then hang them on something to dry, and separate them so they don't stick together.
To cook noodles, boil in water with a little salt for a few minutes. Fresh pasta will cook quickly so I keep an eye out and taste test until al dente.
These gluten free sugar cookies are made with vegan butter to make them dairy free as well. I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour and Earth Balance unsalted buttery sticks. The flavors taste just like I remember from making Christmas cookies with my Mom growing up. A word of caution, these cookies were very delicate and crumbled easily until I got some vegan buttercream frosting on them. Handle them with care and let them rest for at least five minutes when they get out of the oven. After frosting them with vegan buttercream, they were durable enough and nice and tender when eating. I also recommend the OXO fish spatula to remove delicate cookies from a pan.
My favorite shapes ended up being the Christmas tree. It was the easiest to cut out and decorate and green is one of my favorite colors. I made stockings and stars too, but the trees were the cutest. Overall, I’m really happy to finally have a healthy-ish sugar cookie recipe that tastes authentic.
My mom brought a zucchini all the way from her garden in Jersey and she and my husband made Aunt Rose’s Zucchini Bread. Aunt Rose was my Nonni’s aunt and an amazing baker, I remember her delicious Christmas cookies every year at Nonni’s house in Buffalo, right after breakfast Christmas morning. This recipe is gluten free and dairy free too.
Joanna’s bruschetta is a favorite at our potlucks. It obviously tastes delicious with bread, but I’ve gotten creative and served it over grilled steak or burgers before when I want to avoid carbs. This is the perfect summer appetizer and tastes amazing with sweeter small tomatoes such as cherry or grape varieties.
