Gluten-free News and International Pasta Talk ~

I was perusing "Gluten-Free Girl's" blog today and was as usual, captivated by her writing style and knowledge of food, and after reading each of her posts I'm always left with hunger pangs and feelings of inspiration to cook and try new recipes.

In her (Shauna Ahern's) latest post, she links to a couple of terrific NPR Morning Edition stories, one of which she was interviewed for by heath reporter, Alison Aubrey. Have a listen - it's a very interesting story. And another story that ran earlier this week on NPR regarding Celiac Disease - How did we become so cool?

In my quest to stay informed on all-things-gluten-free, I signed up a while back for Google Alerts that pull an amazing amount of GF stories and articles each day, delivering them to my in-box. I strongly recommend you doing the same - you'll be amazed how tough it is to stay current with all the news that swirling around the gluten-free world...a world that's expanding by the day. This fact triggered a memory for me the other day and made me question (gratefully, of course) why it's taken the United States so long to catch up with the rest of the globe, when it comes to news and the labeling of gluten-free products.

My memories specifically reminded of the two trips I took to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil some six years ago - as I roamed through the markets of Ipanema I recall coming across many products that were specifically labeled for non-gluten eaters and remember standing in the aisle of this downtown grocery store in total awe of what I was reading and holding in my hand. Man, I wish that I had taken some photos! There were broths labeled as safe, and an interesting type of pasta that was really good, along with some various other crackers and products that most-likely didn't taste that great, but honestly six years ago to find a product safely labeled and shelved in Brazil, was a miracle to me and my taste buds were simply thrilled to be eating safe food.

The photo of today's pasta lunch leftovers (above) is a maiz/corn pasta that I bought in Italy a while back and have saved and savored, as it's now in short supply in my pantry. It's a lovely little shell-ish shaped pasta that holds its form and flavor quite well and has a really good taste.

For this quick, healthy meal I simply boiled some sliced zucchini with the pasta, added a bit of olive oil, sea salt, fresh tomatoes, a little bit of turkey, mozzarella, an egg on top and voila - Mangia time!

It's so easy to create such as simple, yet healthy, flavorful meal with fresh foods and in under 30 minutes - I really hope that our American culture will one day embrace this concept and that more and more children can eat real food.

How do you like to cook your GF pasta?

I would love to hear some suggestions and new recipes and where you have found your favorite GF pastas.

Cheers and Obrigada!