Here is the Gluten Free Raviolis recipe you’ve all be asking about!  This is my great grandmother’s recipe, so I am divulging family secrets with my well-being at risk.  I don’t know if it is anything special, but if both of my knees are broken by the St. Louis Italian Mafia, we will know.

A month before Christmas, some of the family gets together and makes the raviolis then freezes them.  The tradition is to cook and serve them on Christmas Eve when the family gets together.

May our grandmother and great grandmother forgive you for sharing this outside the family.

Grandma Dallavalle’s Ravioli Recipe

Filling:
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork or pork sausage
1 lb. cooked chopped spinach
1 ½ cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 small onion
small amount of parsley
2 small pieces of garlic
1 piece of celery
*Chop these altogether real fine.
10 eggs
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp pepper
Bread crumbs  (Ground Corn Flakes)

Thoroughly mix altogether.  Add enough bread crumbs so that the filling stays together,
not too dry.

Dough:
About 2 to 2 ½  lbs. flour  (Gluten Free Flour)
1 egg
Enough water to mix the dough

Knead the dough until very smooth.  If too wet, add more flour.
When dough is smooth, cut small pieces at a time.  Roll out until thin.  Keep dough board well floured so it won’t stick to board or rolling pin.
Fill each with about 1 teaspoon full of filling.
Obviously, to make this gluten free, you will use gluten free flour.  They have tried different brands of gluten free flour in the past with mixed results.  This year they used flour from our local bakery and it worked great!  Andrea’s Fine Foods- Gluten Free.

Instead of bread crumbs, we use ground Corn Flakes.

We freeze them in plastic bins with wax paper between each layer of raviolis.  Boil them as you would any other raviolis.

Sauce: We use Prego.  You can use whatever you like.

I hope this helps and makes you hungry.  If you have any questions, I can always ask the experts in my family.

I continually preach: Keep it simple! Especially, for those of you who are just starting out.  If you can stick to basic foods, whether you are at home, or out to eat, then it isn’t so bad.

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Image from pattymemorial.org

Think about your usual grocery store layout.  Shop the outside walls of the grocery store. That is a little trick I learned that applies to eating healthy and unprocessed foods.  This also applies for us gluten free folks- just skip the baked goods, obviously.  Pick up some vegetables, fruits, nuts, meat, cheese, milk, and eggs.  Keep it simple.  You know these items are naturally gluten free!  If you want to get crazy, wander to in the inner isles of the store for some condiments or rice… or maybe your store’s gluten free section is also in the middle.  Build your meals around these basics, then start adding in other things you know are gluten free.

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When cooking at home, for me, everything revolves around those simple foods. For example: I was suddenly starving this afternoon, so I quickly defrosted, cut, and cooked some chicken.  Then put tomato sauce on some corn tortillas.  Melted some cheese on them.  Since I was really hungry, I scrambled a couple eggs.  I put them all together, and in 10min. I had a great lunch!  I was so tempted to go to Chipotle and spend $8, but I liked this more and it maybe cost $1.50.  See, it doesn’t have to be hard or expensive.

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A while back, I received some great sauces and dressing from San-J and Wild Thymes.

They both make some great gluten free products.  These have been a life saver when it comes to making it feel like I am eating a new meal every day.

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Does eating the same foods get boring?  NO. Remember Bubba from Forest Gump… “shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried…” (I love that movie)

I have found some easy ways to cook just the same few foods many different ways to keep it interesting.  Add soy sauce and make a stir-fry.  Add hot sauce for buffalo chicken.  Add BBQ sauce.  Add some rice, corn tortillas, and hot salsa to make Mexican.  My favorite: use corn meal to bread your chicken!  I could go on forever… “…pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich…”

I have figured out a way to get my fix at home.  I can now make breaded buffalo chicken tenders and other fried goodies!

I’m not a chef, or close to be calling myself a “good cook,” but I can find my way around the kitchen and figure some things out on my own.  When I mention on Twitter (@switch2gf) that I made some fried food, I always get questions on how I did it.  It is pretty simple!

What you need:

• Chicken (Can be substituted for anything else you want.  I also fry shrimp frequently.)
• Corn Meal  (Some people use corn starch, but I like the texture of corn meal better.)
• Olive Oil
• Egg

My Ingredients

Optional:

• Seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic salt
• Cheese
• Hot sauce

Preparation Steps:

1. Cut chicken into slices- size of your choice.
2. Beat egg into a bowl.
3. Mix corn meal and other seasonings into separate bowl.
4. Heat oil in pan.

Ready to go!

Cooking Steps:

1. Dip chicken in egg.
2. Cover egg covered chicken in corn meal and other seasonings.
3. Place into pan with oil.
4. Rotate and cook until golden.
5. Add cheese- if you want to make it a little more unhealthy, but GOOD.
6. You could stop here, but I like to add some hot sauce.

Almost ready!

With cheese!

Ready to Serve!

BAM!  You’re done.  From the time I start getting read to the time I am completely cleaned up and eating is under 20min.  What a great, easy, and quick meal!

Please share your feedback, variations and photos.  I will add your recipes and photos to this article.

Like I frequently say, I don’t really buy the gluten free “imitation” foods in the stores, and rarely do I splurge and go to gluten free restaurants due to the high cost.   So, it may appear that a lot of my foods resort back to chicken, vegetables, and fruits, but I am able to do infinite variations of these to keep it interesting and usually healthy.

Here is a little recap of the past few months of the things I took photos of….

Easy as pie… or should I say- Easy as Gluten Free Cake!