Steak Pizzaiola

This dish can be served over pasta or for someone who is not gluten free,  on a french roll as a sandwich....I serve mine over gluten free pasta, but sometimes make sandwiches for my husband....It's delicious and really pretty simple to make. The sauce is my basic marinara, which is also on my blog.  This sauce recipe may be different, because I rarely put exactly the same things in my sauce...lol...but this is the one I used for this dish....This is definitely a dish you want to make when you have a day to cook.  The longer the steak simmers in the sauce, the more tender it becomes.  I know it's time consuming, but it is definitely worth it. It's absolutely delicious.

Steak Pizzaiola

For the sauce:
2 cans San Marzano Whole Tomatoes (smashed by hand into a saucepan)
1 whole onion peeled and cut in half
1 cube butter
3 bay leaves
8 basil leaves
1 1/2 garlic powder
1/4 cup red wine
1 tsp sugar

 For the Steak:
one chuck roast, cut into 1"steaks...
Mozzarella cheese


Make sauce by putting all the ingredients into a saucepan and simmering for at least an hour, if not a couple of hours.

After you slice the roast into steaks, place them onto a cutting board and tenderize them by smashing them with a meat tenderizer....I let my 8 year old do it...lol...he loves to take his aggression out on the meat!
Heat about 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet. When hot, brown meat on both sides in hot oil.  Just until brown.  Place browned meat into a strainer to get rid of the blood that will drip out.  You don't want that blood in the sauce.




When the browned steaks are done draining, place them into the sauce.  Bring to a simmer and simmer on low for at least an hour. ( I let mine simmer for 2 hours.  The longer, the better)

If you are going to serve it over pasta, cook corn pasta as directed. You can use corn spaghetti, penne, rigatoni...whatever you prefer!  Strain and put into a 9x13 baking dish.  Spoon sauce and steaks over the pasta. You can put more or less sauce, depending on your preference. Top with Mozzarella cheese and broil until the cheese is light brown.

If you aren't gluten free and want to serve over a french roll...........brush melted butter onto the roll and broil just until slightly brown.  Remove from broiler and take a steak from the sauce and place onto the roll.  Top with cheese and put back under the broiler.  Serve with a side of the sauce for dipping.

Gluten Free Buttermilk Pancakes

Gluten Free Buttermilk Pancakes

I have been making buttermilk pancakes for my family for a long time as part of our "Super Sunday Breakfasts". I haven't been able to eat them since I went gluten free and was really starting to miss them! So, the other night, I decided to try a recipe out and they came out so delicious! I can eat pancakes again! And they don't taste weird or have a funny texture!!! YAY!!!


2 cups buttermilk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1.5-2 cups of gluten free flour (depending on how thick you want your pancakes)

Beat eggs, add oil, buttermilk and vanilla.  Mix ingredients together.  Add sugar, baking soda and salt. Combine. Add flour one half a cup at a time.  Don't worry about lumps, you want lumps! :)

This is the flour I used. I think I got it at Whole Foods.

Perfectly delicious gluten free pancakes!!!!

Meat Sauce with Mushrooms

Meat Sauce with Mushrooms

I make sauce almost every Sunday....sometimes Marinara, sometimes with meatballs...It's typically never the same. I put it into jars and freeze it to use during the week or whenever I need to. I posted a marinara sauce recipe on here before, which is usually the base for my sauce. I start with that sauce and add to it. This is the sauce I made last weekend.  It came out so delicious I had to share the recipe.

2 large cans Cento San Marzano tomatoes

1/2 white onion (cut in half)

3 bay leaves

1 cube butter

8 large, fresh basil leaves (torn)

1 cup red wine

(These ingredients make the base sauce.)

1 pkg mild sausage (I got the links and squeezed the sausage from the casing. It just tastes better in my opinion.)

1-8oz pkg sliced mushrooms

8 cloves of garlic, sliced or crushed, whichever you prefer

1Tbsp sugar

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp minced onion

These are the best tomatoes, but you can use any brand that you want. The San Marzano tomatoes really make a difference, but I have used plum tomatoes in a pinch.

So, for the base sauce, I smash the whole tomatoes by hand into a saucepan.  I add the onion, peeled and sliced in half, not diced or chopped. I add the butter, basil leaves and bay leaves.  When the sauce starts to simmer, add the wine.  Turn the heat down and slow simmer for at least half an hour.

While the sauce is simmering, squeeze the sausage from the casings into a saute pan with about 1 tbsp olive oil.  Add the mushrooms. 

When sausage is fully cooked, drain the fat from the pan.  

After your base sauce has been simmering for at least half an hour (my base sauce simmers at least 2 hours, but I realize that's not always possible) , add the sausage and mushroom mixture.  Add the remaining ingredients. I let my sauce cook all day, but you really don't have to.  I do think it should simmer for at least an hour. I simmer with a lid on because otherwise, it gets too thick. You can take the large onion pieces out before serving if you want. Sometimes I leave them in, sometimes I take them out...it's totally up to you and what you prefer.

I hope you all try this out! It really is yummy!

Gluten Free Linguine and Clams (Spaghetti and Clams)

Linguine and Clams (Gluten Free)

 Technically, this dish I made was spaghetti and clams because I couldn't find linguine that was gluten free.  You can really use any pasta you want......here's how I made it!

1/2 cube butter

6-6.5oz cans of chopped clams (I used 3 chopped, 3 minced because that was all they had. You can use less if you don't want as much clams, but my family likes it meaty!)

1- 8oz bottle clam juice

1 tsp chopped garlic

1/4 tsp dried basil

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsle

1/2 cup Chardonnay (or any white wine)

1 pkg gluten free corn spaghetti

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add the juice from the 6 cans of clams, reserving the clams to add later.

 Add the rest of the clam juice.

Now, add the garlic, wine, basil and half of the parsley. Simmer for 10 minutes. (While the clam mixture is simmering, cook your pasta.) 

Add the clams and heat through. Maybe about 5 minutes.  Serve over pasta and garnish with the rest of the parsley. :)

Albondigas (Mexican Meatball Soup)

Decided to make this soup for one of our friends because he said that growing up, this was his absolute favorite and he was having a problem getting the broth to taste just right.  I haven't actually had it before, so I didn't have much to go on.  I think I may have had it one time a long time ago, but anyway.....I didn't know what I was doing. Lol.  When this soup was done, I could NOT believe how amazing it tasted.  It has so many layers of flavor and just the right amount of spiciness. 

Albondigas (Mexican Meatball Soup)

For the Meatballs:

12 oz chorizo (the loose sausage that you can find by all the sausages in the grocery store)

1 lb ground beef

2 tbsp finely diced onion

2 eggs

1 1/2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint

1/2cup panko bread crumbs

1 cup cooked white rice

For the Soup:

4 large carrots cut into bite sized pieces or 2 cups baby carrots

3 chayote (Mexican squash) peeled and cut into bite sized pieces

1.5 lb bag fingerling potatoes
3 stalks celery, sliced

2-49oz cans chicken broth (The Swanson giant cans)

3 cups beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 white onion, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced

2 jalapeños , cut in half and seeded

This is what a chayote squash looks like.

Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs, but don't overmix or they will be tough.  Just make sure everything is equally distributed. Form into 1-inch meatballs. Bake for 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven. (The first time I made this, I dropped the raw meatballs into the soup and let them boil to cook. I've now realized that baking them helps them stay together better. You can do it whichever way you prefer.)

The Meatballs...yum!

In a largepot, add chicken broth, beef broth, chayote, carrots, potatoes and jalapeno. Bring to a simmer. Add the meatballs and continue to simmer for at least an hour. I let it cook for a few hours on low heat.  

Serve and enjoy!

Delicious Marinara Sauce

This sauce is so delicious on its own.....but could also be used as a base for any type of sauce you want....while we were eating dinner, we were all talking about what else it would be good on....we decided this weekend will be a chance to try it on some meatball sandwiches...maybe add some fresh basil....there are so many options with this sauce....I couldn't believe how delicious and easy it was! Please try it out and let me know what you think!

Delicious Marinara Sauce

2-28oz cans San Marzano tomatoes

1 white onion, peeled and quartered

1 stick butter

6 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon italian seasoning
6 fresh basil leaves, chopped slightly
2 sprigs fresh rosemary

I opened the cans of tomatoes, squeezed them into the saucepan....just wanted them to be squished, not diced...... added the onion and the butter.......simmered for 30-45 minutes........I added the garlic, fresh herbs and italian seasonings after the sauce had simmered....and simmered another 10 minutes.  I used an immersion blender to puree the sauce.......that's it! So easy and so delicious!! I served it on corn spaghetti with freshly grated romano cheese....it was yummy!

Update:  The second time I made it, I didn't use the immersion blender...I left it chunky. I think I liked it like that even better. I served it with my mozzarella stuffed meatballs....we made meatball sandwiches! Topped with sliced provolone cheese.......absolutely delicious.

Gluten Free Brown Butter Pasta

This is a gluten free version of my Brown Butter Pasta.......I am Italian, so the idea of never having pasta again because I am now choosing to stick to a gluten free diet was devastating. I made this version and will never feel like I am missing my pasta again! I tried brown rice pasta, but I prefer the texture of the corn pasta much more. If you are trying to eat gluten free, this is a great way to get your pasta! :)

Gluten Free Brown Butter Pasta

1 pkg corn spaghetti (I found mine at Trader Joe's, but they have it at most large grocery stores)
1 cube (1/2 cup) butter

1 cup Parmesan/Romano cheese(or more...you can't have too much cheese, in my opinion)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp salt

salt and pepper to taste

a couple tablespoons chopped basil(about 6 leaves)

cherry tomatoes (halved, optional)

Bring water to a boil. Add 1 tbsp salt, oil and garlic to the water. Add pasta and boil 8 minutes.

While pasta is cooking, put butter into a small saucepan over medium heat.  The solids will separate from the oil in the butter. (At this point, the oil is clarified butter, but you want to keep going). Continue to heat, watching until all the solids have separated and the oil turns carmel in color.

 Remove from heat until all solids sink to the bottom of the saucepan.  You can try to pour out only the oil (the browned butter) or you can use a coffee filter to separate the solids from the oil (that's what I did and it was much easier).

Drain pasta and rinse with hot water for about 10 seconds. Transfer back into the warm pan that you boiled it in.

Pour browned butter over the pasta and toss until pasta is completely coated.  Add cheese, basil, salt and pepper.

Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.