pasta – that paleo couple

Amatriciana Sauce with Miracle Noodles

June 29, 2016June 29, 2016by Brent SchraderLeave a comment

Browsing the halls of Whole Foods, or other natural markets, we’ve often come across Miracle Noodles, which seemed weird and probably out of science fiction. For those of you who are unaware, these “miracle noodles” are actually Shirataki noodles or yam noodles, and advertise as EVERYTHING-free: gluten, soy, carbohydrate, and calorie. Sounds too good to be true, right? While they work for us on occasion, they’re probably not the best everyday staple. Sarah Ballantyne did a write up on the subject recently, and I recommend it as a good primer on the noodles and their potential up- and downsides. That having been said, we picked these up on a whim and decided to make a sauce to try them.

Amatriciana sauce is an Italian pasta sauce traditionally made with cured ham, cheese, and tomatoes. We’ve taken some liberties with the recipe, including basil, red pepper flakes, and always more garlic than you might find in other recipes. If you tolerate cheese, feel free to use a high quality parmesan to top your pasta and sauce, and feel free to substitute these miracle noodles for something more up your alley, like homemade zoodles or sweet potato noodles. However you choose to serve this sauce, we think you’ll enjoy it. Also, if you sign up for Butcher Box, you can get a free pack of paleo bacon delivered to you to make this recipe!

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Chorizo and Spinach Zoodle Pasta

March 23, 2016March 22, 2016by Heather SchraderLeave a comment

Chorizo is one of our favorite kinds of sausages to keep on hand (second only to brats during football season). It’s flavorful, spicy, and works well in a variety of dishes. Our most common use is in chili. This Chorizo and Spinach Zoodle Pasta recipe is much simpler and puts the chorizo flavor front and center against a relatively blank canvas of zoodles. It’s an easy meal for any time of day—breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner!

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Zucchini Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

February 24, 2016February 23, 2016by Brent SchraderLeave a comment

Puttanesca sauce has been an occasional dinner item when dining out in the past, but I hadn’t had this sauce in years; it is a tangy, flavorful sauce that is bright and refreshing. When I learned the history of this sauce, I knew it was time to make the recipe our own.

The not so family-friendly etymology of puttanesca (allegedly) is from the Italian word puttana, meaning, well, “lady of the night.” Some digging into this folk-lore unravels the story as this sauce was so easy, anyone could make it, or that it was a recipe that these women would make between clients. Another version of this story is that it’s many ingredients (capers, anchovies, olives) is promiscuous, like its namesake. Regardless of the truth behind this name, we think you’ll love this puttanesca sauce. It’s delicious by the spoonful or served with zucchini noodles or your favorite gluten-free noodle.

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Bolognese Sauce

October 15, 2014June 18, 2015by Heather Schrader5 Comments

As far as I was concerned in college, bolognese was nothing more than browned ground beef drowned in tomato sauce. It was quick and easy to plop on top of a plateful of spaghetti, and it tasted pretty good. It was never as good as what I got in Italian restaurants, but in all honesty I was too busy and/or lazy to figure out what I was missing.

Lately, however, I have been craving pasta and Brent suggested we learn to make bolognese. So, I did some research and found a wide variety of approaches in cookbooks and on the internet. Some of my results: the meat was not always just ground beef (some recipes even included pancetta!), some recipes included wine, and just about every recipe used a different mixture of herbs and spices. Traditionally, bolognese is named after its rumored birthplace, Bologna, Italy, and is often also called ragù alla bolognese or just simply ragù (like the commercial brand). Dating back to at least the late 18th Century, this is a hearty sauce that comes with an interesting history.

We hope you enjoy our rendition of bolognese over zoodles or other veggies!

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Supreme Pizza Pasta

September 26, 2012June 2, 2014by Brent Schrader7 Comments

Supreme Pizza Pasta Recipe

After helping some family members chop up mushrooms, onions, and bell pepper for their lasagna preparation, Heather mentioned that her hands smelled like pizza. As we, mostly I, used to spend a lot of late nights eating the better part of a supreme pizza and maybe also some wings, pizza is something that I hold near and dear to my heart and stomach. Her statement made me realize most of the awesome things on pizza are meat and vegetables, not the other stuff! With a little bit of ingenuity we were able to recreate the pizza taste without the grains or cheese. This also inspired another recipe, but you’re all going to have to wait for that one.