Gluten Free Pasta - Version 1

Cooking/baking gluten free has taught me two very important life lessons:  patience and persistence.  In my quest to make delicious homemade gluten free pasta, I found two types of recipes.  The first type, which is what you'll find below, uses xanthan gum.  The second version uses psyllium husk powder, but I'll get to that another day.

My first attempt at gluten free pasta went... okay.  The dough dried out really fast and just sort of crumbled.  But it tasted amazing!  It even smelled like normal pasta dough!  Most of the pictures below are from the first attempt.  My chef-in-the-making little brother came over to help me on my first attempt at GF pasta.  He found this process insanely frustrating.  But I'd say we learned a very important lesson (or two) that day.

Gluten Free Gnocchi

Gnocchi are little pasta-potato dumplings.  I tried them for the first time when I studied abroad in Italy, and I believe it was love at first bite.  When I first went GF, I was happy to find that Kinnickinnick sold GF gnocchi, and they were delicious.  My only complaint was the amount in the package for the price.  But aren't all GF products that way?  My lovely sister in law mentioned that making gnocchi was unbelievably easy, so it shouldn't be too hard to convert to GF.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

My husband was craving cookies.  It isn't very often that he makes requests for food, so when he gives them I get excited.  However, since it is only the two of us in our home, I see no reason to go out and buy regular flour.  In fact, I flat out refuse to contaminate my kitchen with regular flour.  Besides, why should I bake cookies that I can't even eat?!  I find it easiest to go check out other GF blogs because there are lots of people out there that have paved the way ahead of me with GF baking.  This recipe came from Gluten Free Goddess.