Trader Joe's Organic Brown Rice Penne Pasta

Tonight we made pasta for dinner. If there's one thing that I thought I would for sure miss being gluten free it was good pasta. Recently I heard about the Organic Brown Rice Penne Pasta from Trader Joe's so I thought I'd give it a try. Glenn and Beanie had regular old spaghetti and I had the penne.

It said on the package to cook it only 7-10minutes and emphasized not to overcook. Also to rinse it very well (I had also heard that from the person who told me about it in the first place). So, while I had our homemade sauce simmering I took a shower and Glenn boiled the water and cooked the pasta.

When all our dinner was ready I scooped the pasta onto my plate. It seemed a little undercooked. Glenn had cooked it for seven minutes so I think I'll try to cook it a few minutes longer next time. I threw the pasta in the microwave and cooked it for thirty seconds. That, along with the sauce on top, softened them right up.

I was surprised. They were really good. Last week Glenn and Beanie ordered pizza from a neighborhood joint that also has gluten free and vegan items. I got the GF spaghetti. I found the noodles really mushy and wasn't too impressed at all. Their sauce was really good (not as good as ours...heehee) but I just couldn't handle the consistency of the noodles. As an aside, I've heard their GF pizza crust is very good so I am itching to reintroduce dairy with some yummy pizza! I guess my expectations weren't really that high when I tried the rice pasta, but it was delicious. Much better than I anticipated! I will definitely be getting it again. They also had rice spaghetti so I'll probably pick up a package of that as well. Maybe good pasta isn't something I'll have to miss out on.

I was impressed with my sauce-making skills today too. Usually Glenn makes the pasta sauce, but he and Beanie had taken a trip to Costco and it was getting late (for us) for dinnertime so I started it up. I was proud of myself because whenever I make the sauce I always feel like it leaves something to be desired.

Add a green salad with some of the Annie's Tuscany Italian dressing and I'm still full from dinner. Usually around now I'm ready for a snack.

We definitely have one more thing to add onto our regulars list at Trader Joe's. I usually attempt to stick to a list there otherwise I spend a boatload of money. It's like Impulse Shopping Central for me.