Monica says:

Oh we just love Italian food!

Since my husband, Lewie, and I are both ½ Italian, it just seems that we are wired to eat the Mediterranean way.

Our girls are ¼ Croatian, ¼ Polish, and ½ Italian, or CroPoTalian as we nicknamed them! They grew up with Daddy’s famous meatballs, and homemade noodles by the score!

You get it now….we LOVE Italian food!

Being diagnosed with celiac disease made eating Italian a big problem. Twelve years ago we didn’t even know how to make gluten-free meatballs, noodles, etc.

But guess what? We learned little by little and now, with the market being flooded daily with a new gluten-free product, it’s hard to keep up!

When Daria and I were in Florida last April at the Gluten Free Living conference, we met a sales representative for Conte’s Pasta. We struck up a lively conversation about missing really good pasta and he had us taste the ravioli he was making on site….it was delicious! And it turned out that he was from good old Pennsylvania and lived only a few miles from me! Talk about crazy, huh?

Anyway, I was on a mission when I got home to find these ravioli and luckily I did at Wegman’s .

As soon as I purchased a bag or two (one for Daria), I rushed home and made my favorite marinara sauce from my favorite Italian cookbook, Eat This…It’ll Make You Feel Better! by Dom DeLuise.

Well, I have been keeping these ravioli in my freezer and decided to make them for dinner last night. They are delightful…you must try them!

And here is the recipe for the marinara sauce from my beloved cookbook….compliments of the late and great Dom DeLuise. By the way, I highly recommend your purchasing the cookbook. You not only get great recipes, but stories that make the recipes come alive! It is available on amazon.com.

Mamma’s Marinara Sauce

4 T olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 28 oz. cans ready-cut peeled tomatoes  OR  5 pounds fresh tomatoes, peeled & sliced

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

4 T sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (optional)

10 fresh basil leaves

Pepper

Grated cheese

In a deep 10-inch frying pan, heat the olive oil and gently sauté garlic on medium heat. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and sun-dried tomatoes, if you are using them.

Continue to heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When serving pasta, tear basil leaves and sprinkle on top of the pasta. Add pepper and grated cheese to taste.

Optional: You can add 1 medium onion, finely chopped, and sauté with the garlic.

©Eat This…It’ll Make You Feel Better! by Dom DeLuise

Add a side salad, a little grated cheese, maybe some vino, and you have dinner!

Enjoy!

© 2015, Monica of glutenfreedoubletalk