Beauty in Strength

Hey there everyone!  How are you on this Thursday evening?  For those of you who were back to work today, I hope you had a good day, and for those of you still on holiday break, I hope the day was filled with lots of fun and relaxation!

I am gratefully still on winter vacation until January 2nd, but today wasn’t spent relaxing.  It was spent getting lots of little things done – errands, Morgan’s vet appointment, things around the house, and a quick stop at the store to pick up a new, favorite product.

Remember this mouth-watering picture from yesterday…?

As I mentioned in yesterday’s WIAW post, on Christmas Day my mother made her amazing stuffed shells for Christmas dinner; however, this year my mother and I scoped out some wheat free, gluten free options, and we came upon Tinkyada brown rice pasta.  Honestly, friends, you’d never know the difference!  (Coming from a 100% Italian girl that should totally convince you. )

Tinkyada pasta is made on machines that just produce this product to prevent cross-grain contamination with any other cereal or grain.  They take a bit longer to cook than regular pasta, but they have exactly the same taste, and the texture is almost identical!  The brown rice pasta is a little bit more al dente (“to the tooth” or “to the bite”), which is just how I like it.  No mushy pasta for this girl!  If you have ever had whole wheat pasta, the consistency is very similar.

Wait, it gets better.  The only three ingredients are brown rice, rice bran, and water, and this pasta is a good source of protein!  It is also cholesterol free and lighter on your stomach.  After having dinner, I did not have that heavy feeling you can something have from a regular pasta. WIN.

It is a bit more expensive, but it comes in MANY shapes: fusilli, spirals, penne, spaghetti, fettucini, lasagna, elbows, shells, vegetable spirals, little dreams (fun shapes for children), and the grand shells we used on Christmas.  I may or may not have purchased every shape today , and I LOVE that they are available not only online but also in most grocery stores now!

We boiled the shells, and my mother stuffed them with her healthy filling consisting of a mixture of eggs, part skim ricotta, part skim mozzarella cheese, salt, pepper, fresh parsley, and parmesan cheese.  They taste SO incredible, you would never know they were a lighter version!

The shells were topped with some gravy aka tomato sauce (meat-free for me!) and baked in the oven until the cheese was nice and melted.

The color of the pasta is a bit darker, but no one even knew the difference, AND since we made extra, special trays, I got to keep some for leftovers.  You better believe I had those babies again for dinner last night.

Maybe you have an intolerance to wheat, maybe you are sensitive to gluten, maybe you have celiac disease, or maybe you are looking for a different and healthier option to pasta, but you need not look further.  This is an EXCELLENT option, and you don’t need to give up your pasta.  Get ready for MANY new recipes coming your way.

Question of the Day: Have you ever tried brown rice pasta?

Quote of the Day: “I eat a little bit of everything and not a lot of anything.  Everything in moderation.  I know that’s really hard for people to understand, but I grew up in an Italian family where we didn’t overdo anything.  We are pasta, yes, but not a lot of it.” – Giada De Laurentiis