Gluten-Free Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Tinkyada Brown Rice Grand Shells Cooked
• 4 cups ricotta cheese
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 3/4 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3 cups favorite pasta sauce

Cooking Temp and Time: 350F for 35 mins

Heidi Watson is the group organizer / contact person.  Kudos to her for getting the local support group started!  I enjoyed the meeting agenda.  I especially enjoyed the meeting’s inclusion of two local business owners: Natures Pantry Owner and Corrinado’s Pizza Owner. I have been to Natures Pantry a few times before, but it was nice to hear from the owner about some of the efforts she was taking to make it easier to find gluten-free products in her store.   I have heard of Corrinado’s Pizza before from friends, but never actually tried their pizza.  Well, the owner brought 3 of his pizzas for sampling by the group and they were very good.  He also explained in great detail the efforts that his staff goes through to ensure that their gluten-free pizzas are not contaminated.  Bravo to him and his staff for making this comfort food gluten free for the local community!  Casey and I will definitely have to stop there sometime and get a pizza when we are in a rush.

The group is very friendly and social which made for great discussions about all things celiac related.  I was especially interested to hear about doctor issues that almost everyone in the group had experienced.  The fact that most doctors just don’t have any experience when it comes to celiac disease.  This brought back the memories of Casey’s horrible dietician experience.

I am looking forward to the next meeting and hope that Casey can also attend.  I think I will also make something delicious for the group to enjoy at the next meeting since they seemed very excited about some of the foods I have made for Casey.

For those of you that were in the meeting and happen to visit my site, here are a few of our favorites:

GF - French Bread

Ingredients:

• 8-10oz of Dr. Schar’s Gluten-Free Penne pasta
• 1 can (16oz) of Classico Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce.  The Classico’s Faqs page states that this sauce is gluten-free.
• 10oz frozen broccoli florets
• 3-4 thin-sliced skinless chicken breasts (I was serving three, so I only used 3 chicken breasts).
• 2-4oz white table wine

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.
2. Cook pasta as indicated on its packaging.
3. While pasta is cooking…
4. Cook the broccoli in the microwave as indicated on the packaging.
5. Heat up a large Sauté Pan over medium-high.
6. Toss the chicken breasts into the pan and cook until fully cooked (use an instant-read thermometer)
7. Remove the fully cooked chicken from pan and place on a plate for later.
8. Remove pan from the heat, pour wine into pan, replace the pan on the heat, and de-glaze pan.
9. Reduce heat to medium, then add the cooked broccoli and alfredo sauce to the pan
10. Drain the cooked pasta and put it into the pan, mixing everything together.
11. Plate your pasta and place a chicken breast on the top.

GF - Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli

• regular pasta – Instead use a gluten-free pasta of your choice (I prefer Dr. Schar’s Gluten-Free Penne pasta, available at Wegmans, Celiac.com).
• regular all-purpose flour - Instead use a general gluten-free mix (I actually use the brown rice flour mix from “Gluten-Free Baking Classic” ).