Do you eat beans with your pasta?

I love beans, don't you?  I know they cause gas but the more you eat them, the more accustomed your digestive tract will become and the less gas you will have.

Pasta e fagioli is a traditional Italian dish translating to pasta and beans.  It's one of the simplest dishes you can prepare, full of fiber, and is a nice vegetarian meal for meatless Monday. 

The last couple of weeks have been a blur of activity with promoting classes and giving talks and of course, networking.  Seeing patients is, hands down, my favorite part of running FoodWise Nutrition but you don't get patients unless you get to know other providers.  Last week I attended 4 networking events and this week three events and boy am I tired of talking about myself!

Given all my running around, meals have been quick affairs.  Often I'll have time around lunch but not dinner so I'll prepare a quick meal in the middle of the day that Ben and I will then eat again for dinner.  One of those meals is pasta and beans.

My pasta e fagioli is made up of rice pasta, blanched zucchini, cannellini  beans and a 10 minute tomato sauce.

What do you use in your pasta e fagioli?

Coconut Pumpkin Bread: Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Coconut Pumpkin Bread

I've Got a Fever... and the Only Cure... is More Pumpkin Bread.

The rain has started here in Seattle, and with the wet and the grey comes the urge to bake.  I admit, I don’t bake a lot, and when I do it’s typically the same foods over and over again.  When I want chocolate chip cookies or focaccia or brownies, I go to my tried-and-true recipes because I can bake them gluten-free in my sleep.  

However, the other day I had a craving for pumpkin bread. Not just any pumpkin bread either, but coconut pumpkin bread.  When I bake dairy-free, I’m a huge fan of coconut milk because of its consistency and fat content.  Despite what the media tells you, you need fat, and your baked goods need it too (to attain the proper consistency).

Pumpkin Bread Batter

Gluten-Free Quick Breads

Quick breads are naturally moist, and gluten-free quick breads are a dream because gluten-free bread is almost always moist.  What a blessing, then, to know that you needn't worry how moist your bread will turn out!

Traditional quick bread recipes usually call for only 1 cup of added bananas or pumpkin, but I discovered that 2 cups is much more delicious and doesn’t change much about the bread other than the weight. 

Finally, in this recipe I didn’t specify what flour blend to use because it really doesn’t matter!  Use your favorite blend.  Really!  I’ve been experimenting with the King Arthur flour blend and that’s what I used in this recipe.  I’ll let you know what I think in another post but so far I’ve been pleased with the results.

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Coconut Pumpkin Bread

Coconut Pumpkin Bread (GF, DF)

1¾ cup GF flour mix, sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon guar or xanthum gum

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ginger

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

15 oz pumpkin puree

1/3 cup coconut milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  If necessary, lightly grease 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with coconut oil.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, guar or xanthum gum, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, nutmeg and ginger.
3. Cream coconut oil and mix in sugar until just combined.  Beat in eggs and then add pumpkin puree.  Add the dry ingredients and milk, then mix until just combined.
4. Place batter in loaf pan and bake for 60-70 minutes or until top is cracked and a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let loaf rest in pan for 10 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.  Wait for loaf to cool before cutting into it.

Recipe modified from Gluten-Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly

Enjoy!