It snuck up on me, as most gluten tends to do, and I just realized that it was National Noodle Day.

Don’t believe me…?

BOOM.

National Noodle Day. (link)

Unfortunately, I can’t find a darn thing to support this momentous day. There isn’t, like, a proclamation by FDR saying how important noodles are to the American public, or the Queen of England insisting we respect the noodle for a very British reason, thus creating National Noodle Day.

National Noodle Day is plain, and bland and uninteresting on its own…

if only it was a little saucier…

#noodlepuns

The problem I have with this food day is my body’s insistence on having Celiac.

To which I say, “Bollocks!”

But, what’re ya gonna do.

Find edible gluten free noodles, that’s what you’re gonna do.

Making A Really Good Gluten Free Pasta Salad That You Would Feed To People Whom You Love…

…Is A Challenge.

Celiac is a challenge, in itself.

It typically takes a person about 5-10 years of debilitating symptoms, and countless sleepless nights being convinced you are dying from cancer of everything before they find out they have Celiac.

And once you eliminate a wide range of glutens from your diet, you feel so much better. No more breathless dinners, no more vigorous pains in your guts, no more fuzzy thinking…and no more sleepless nights worrying about cancer.

The only thing you have to worry about now is navigating through the dubious minefield of gluten free products.

For those of us who have been around the gluten free revolution for a while, we remember when gluten free breads tasted like soviet Russia energy bread: dense enough to withstand the harshest Russian winter, and tasteless as watered down cardboard. Bonus: with sunflower seeds (??)

Fortunately, we have come a long way since then.

We finally have noodles that will hold their shape even 1 hour after cooking them!

Heck, some of the noodles are even still edible the next day!! (not many. don’t experiment.)

So, what better way to celebrate the gluten free journey than by joining in on this momentous National Noodle Day!

 

What’chu Need, Baby You Know I Got It:

• 1 box of Gluten Free Barilla brand rotelle pasta

(not getting paid for this, I just prefer Barilla gf pasta)

• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 a small red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 ribs of celery, sliced
• 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 package of apple sausage, sliced
• handful of chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 tsp kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, dried basil
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

 

Here’s What You Do:

 

1) Boil Your Gluten Free Noodles!

Keep an eye on them for 8-9 minutes. These noodles can be tricky.  Don’t under-cook, but for heavens sake…don’t over-cook! They should be rather easy to cut with the edge of a spoon.

 

I like rotele noodles because they’re fun, they have better surface area for the oil/vinegar,

and they’re easier to fork than penne. 

 

2)  While The Noodles Are Boiling, Cut Your Veg And Let Them Marinate For A Few Minutes:

• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 a small red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 ribs of celery, sliced
• 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• handful of chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 tsp kosher salt, fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

First take your red onions and put them in the bowl with the parsley and grape tomatoes. Add a pinch of kosher salt and a fat grind of pepper, and then a few dashes of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Let these puppies marinate while you’re prepping the rest of the veg.

Slice the celery and bell pepper and set aside.

 

4) Now Slice Your Chicken Apple Sausage And Cook In A Pan For 5 Minutes:

 

I usually find Applegate Chicken Apple sausage because it is kosher…my preference.

5) Combine Them All!

Stir the bell pepper and celery into the marinated tomatoes and red onion.

Then lightly stir the noodles into the bowl with a large spoon, but be careful not to break the noodles. Add more olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with a few pinches of kosher salt, ground pepper and a few dashes of basil.

Finally, spoon in the cooled sausage.

I also added some sliced parmesan on top for some added zest.