“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” ~ Federico Fellini
One of the first things you have to give up when you stop eating gluten is pasta. Attempting to enjoy food without any pasta or bread is challenging. It also took me awhile to try gluten-free pasta. I had heard many horror stories about it being mushy, not tasting the same, and many other tales of woe. Also, the nurse who went over all of the eating restrictions with me told me to delay eating certain foods since the gluten-free version will taste different from the original. It only causes you to miss what you can’t have more, she told me. So, pasta was out for awhile.
Recently, I read an article about some of the favorite gluten-free pastas and decided to try a few. There are a lot of gluten-free pasta out there and most companies only have spaghetti. I’ve tried several brands with various levels of success, but recently found some penne pasta from Schar and decided to try it. It sat on the shelf for awhile, until the basil in the garden had started producing and I began craving pesto. I decided to make some pesto and boil a little to make a pesto salad. It was delicious! I never know if it really tastes the same or if I just haven’t had pasta in awhile, but I really liked it. The pasta boiled up perfectly and wasn’t mushy at all. One thing I did notice — refrigerating the pasta salad made the pasta a little tough. It was soft and perfect when I boiled it and stirred in the pesto, but the next day the pasta was a little too firm for me. Next time, I will probably divide up the pasta and just boil enough to eat at the time and not save the leftovers. Another reason to enjoy it all in one sitting!
