Vegetarian, Corn and Gluten Free Baked Ziti

This dinner is a little out of the ordinary in that it is more HOMEMADE than most of what I make is. The spaghetti sauce is made from tomatoes, basil and onions from our garden last summer that I canned. The cheeses (Ricotta and Mozarella) was homemade from our own goatsmilk. OF course if you don't have these things, store bought would work well!!!!

Gluten Free Penne or Ziti pasta - cook according to package directions until Al Dente

1 onion - diced

1 head of broccoli, chopped fine,

1 container of baby shitake mushrooms.

spinach (I prefer fresh

1 - 8 oz container of ricotta cheese

1 - package of mozarella shredded.

1 - quart jar of pasta sauce (homemade or whatever tickles your fancy!)

Mix all the ingredients together EXCEPT the mozarella, dump into a baking dish and

top with Mozarella cheese. Put in the oven for about 20 min on 350* until cheese is melty and bubbly, slightly browned. Oh yeah! Eat Hearty!!!!!

BTW- you could easily add any veggies you want: grated zucchini, carrots, olives etc. and if you don't want to eat VEG. go ahead and add some meat: Italian Sausage, ground beef, lamb, goat or turkey would work great.

Vegetarian Delight! Wheat Free/Corn Free

Sometimes, the creative juices are flowing and a meal comes together that just makes your tastebuds sing! I'd love to take the credit for all these, but alas, I cannot. But here is a yummy, meat free, wheat free, corn free dinner that is filling and tastes delish! First off - if you haven't yet tried Lundberg Farm Rice couscous - you really should. One of the things I miss most about going gluten free is couscous cucumber salad (my kids miss it too) so when Lundberg came out with this couscous made of brown rice - I had to try it! KUDOS!

I cooked it according to package directions, let it cool and then added chunks of cucumber, feta cheese a little olive oil and lemon - YUM!
Next up - the soup - again I cannot take credit for this but who cares, it's still probably the best part of the meal. It is Sweet Potato soup with cranberry garnish. MMMMMMM Good. You take about 5 good sized swee potatoes, 2 carrots and roast them in the oven with some olive oil. In the meantime saute some onions in some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil.) Add the roasted veggies when they are soft cooked and add some vegetable broth (if you aren't vegetarian, add some chicken broth - it works too! ) We used Pacific Naturals Organic Broth. Puree the whole lot into a smooth creamy blend, add (to taste) cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, pepper and salt and then blend up some cranberry sauce and add to the soup when served. Delightful!
Lastly - stuff acorn squash. This was my own creation and really not bad at all (hubby LOVED it!) I took 3 scrubbed acorn squash, cut them in half and scooped out the goop. I roasted them in the oven for a little while - until soft (add some water to the pan and butter in the cavity to keep them moist. Then I made Quinoa (KEEN Wa), roasted some pecans and sauteed some carrots, celery, and onion. Mixed it all together and stuffed the roasted squash and then topped with some feather grated parmesan. IF you are lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy then leave off the cheese - it's all good!