This is what I have from my Italian friend Gail Pezzacara.

Make a pot of marinara sauce...using 2 cans of Italian crushed tomatoes a can of contadina paste,,,a paste can of red wine, chopped onions and lots and lots of garlic, add fresh basil and simmer 40 minutes or more.
Make filling....ricotta, drained....for each pound of ricotta add 2 eggs, a good handfull of grated mozzerella and a couple of tablespoons of grated parm, lots of chopped fresh parsley and a good grinding of black pepper.
Take your eggplants...choose ones without a crook and good firm ones....cut off the stem and the blossom ends slice vertically about 1/3 inch thick and fry in olive oil just to brown...if they have brown seeds, salt first and let drain or else they will be bitter.Pay no attention to how much olive oil the eggplant absorbs....just keep adding it to the pan!
Lay slices as they are fried on a paper towel
Then put a ladle of sauce in the bottom of your 8 by 11 casserole.
Put a glob of the filling on a slice of eggplant and roll it up and stand in the dish, repeat until the dish is full.
Cover generously with sauce, parm cheese and top with mozzerella....bake at 375 until bubbly and browned....about 35 minutes unless it's been refrigerated...

Sharon, I do not have a recipe for anything eggplant, but this spinach lasagne is really good. I use homemade marinara whenever possible, but there are some good quality jarred sauces that I will use on occasion, also..

Is there such a thing as gluten free pasta?

Spinach Lasagne

1/2lb lasagna noodles
2 26oz jars pasta sauce
16oz container ricotta cheese
10oz package frozen spinach (thawed and well drained)
1lb shredded mozzarella
1/2c grated parmesan
2 eggs, beaten
Parsley

Prepare lasagna according to package directions, drain. In medium bowl, combine ricotta, spinach, 1/2c mozzarella, parmesan & eggs, mix well. In 9x13 baking dish, layer 2c sauce, half the lasagna, half the remaining sauce, all of the spinach mixture, half the remaining mozzarella, remaining lasagna and sauce. Cover, bake at 350F about 45 minutes until bubby. Uncover, top with remaining mozzarella and parsley. Bake 15 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes vefore serving.

Linda

There is gluten free pasta, but a lot of it just isn't very good. I've tried, Elery's daughter is celiac. She does love the pumpkin cheesecake with gingerbread crust that we made with gluten free gingersnaps. I don't know what gluten free products are available to Sharon, though.

Will the vegetarian eat cheese or eggs? If so, the eggplant lasagna or eggplant parmesan would do for both of them. I've also seen recipes that use slices of zucchini in place of the noodles and I make a gratin that has fresh zucchini, fresh tomatoes, bread crumbs and cheese, I'm thinking the zucchini would work.

Annie

We love Ancient Harvest Quinoa pastas. I actually prefer them to wheat based noodles.

Here is a link that might be useful: Quinoa Gluten-free Pasta

How about making spaghetti squash noodles, or some sort of gluten-free packaged pasta, to go with the sauce you are already making? That would do for the gluten-intolerant guest and possibly the vegetarian guest, depending on what sauce you are making. It seems a lot of work to make a lasagna dish just for two guests. Unless you wanted to make some additional dishes anyway, that is.

In Texas, Mexico, and California, tamales are traditional for the holidays, and you make them with masa - no gluten involved. They are perfect for making ahead, and there are many vegetarian options - my favorite being huitlacoche with Fontina cheese.

Another dish you can make ahead is Marianne Esposito's Portobello mushrooms stuffed with spinach and Fontina cheese - also gluten free, but it does use eggs. Guacamole and tortilla chips are also gluten free and vegetarian, as is hummus, which you can serve with thick cut potato chips.

You might be able to find a gluten free Moussaka recipe, but you can generally substitute potato starch for flour when making Moussaka.

For a noodle dish, consider rice or bean threads - not traditional for Thanksgiving, but it gives you more options. Those can be made ahead in small quantities and heated up as needed. I wonder if there is something interesting you could do with oatmeal - I'm not aware of it. I often serve grits at Thanksgiving, and you can make them savory. I usually make them as a sort of souffle for breakfast and add jalapenos, garlic, sausage, and cheese. I'll give you a recipe if you are interested.

Lars

Evidently the person with celiac does not care for the gluten free pastas. I''ll look for the Quinoa based pasta. I know she likes Quinoa so maybe.

John I like your idea of spaghetti squash! One of the sauces I'm doing is a simple homemade herb and tomato sauce. It is light enough that it could work with the spaghetti squash!

Lars, your idea of rice noodles has promise too! The pasta dishes will be for Saturday night not for the Thanksgiving meal.

Anyone have an opinion how they would hold up with a light tomato sauce.

I'm a newbie around here, but I'm gluten intolerant, so I thought I'd chime in.

Does the celiac guest dislike all gluten free pastas? There's a wide range of them, from downright gross to really quite good (so much that my wheat-eating fiance loves it). One I like well enough is Tinkyada brand. Their pastas are made of brown rice, so are a little healthier than white rice options, and I really like the texture of them. If you can find it, Bionaturae is amazing--I adore their linguine, the texture is almost exactly like the real stuff (as far as I can remember). Just watch out, because their gluten free pastas and their regular semolina pastas come in similar packaging. Schar is not bad, but has a bit of a strange aftertaste. I've heard great things about Jovial pasta, but haven't had a chance to try it yet. I'm not a fan of the quinoa pastas, because they feel a little grainy to me, and taste a bit too "earthy". Never, ever get the DeBoles brand... Pasty, grainy, mushy and nasty. Ick!

Just don't toss gluten free pastas with wet sauces like marinara in advance--they'll keep absorbing liquid and end up turning to goo. If you want to cook them ahead, toss the noodles in a little butter or olive oil to keep them from sticking, and they'll reheat just fine. Spaghetti squash is wonderful too, and would make a perfect alternative!

Chase, I can give a second opinion on the Bionaturae gluten-free pastas. We use both their organic whole wheat and their organic gluten-free exclusively for our pasta dishes. Both products are excellent. They are imported from Italy and not carried in all grocery stores, or at least not in my neck of the woods. But WF carries a large selection.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Bionaturae

Oops!

TinyDogs - meant to offer a welcome to the CF! Always pleased to have new participants.

/tricia

Thanks Tricia! :)

Welcome to the CF, Tiny Dogs. Ihope you'll like it here, I'm always looking for gluten free ideas to feed my step-daughter. My Aunt is also celiac, although I feed her less often, LOL, she likes new ideas.

Annie

Thanks Annie! I've only been gluten free for a few years, and my fiance is not, so I spend a lot of time trying out new recipes that will be safe for me and tasty enough for us both. We're buying a house this winter right after our wedding, so I'll get to have my first garden next year and try my hand at canning some produce, hopefully. I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time around here learning from you all! :)

I would like to learn about gluten free cooking as well. We are starting to do some of that around here. Making marinara sauce tonight, to be paired with both wheat and gluten-free corn noodles as an experiment.

I like rice shells or twists or corn spaghetti to pair with tomato sauce. The Schar brand of gf pasta is good too. It might help to know whether she used to like whole wheat or white pasta. I'm not a whole grain pasta person- I like quinoa, but I find quinoa pasta second only to brown rice pasta in repulsiveness.

Have you already decided on both sauces? It seems like the easiest thing would be to have one sauce be veggie and the other be gluten free. If you don't want to delve into pasta, what about potatoes and mushrooms or plain polenta or risotto cooked in the oven? The roasted veggies would beef up the veggie's plate, too (so to speak).

Jessica I've tried the corn pasta and it wasn't horrible, but my Stepdaughter dislikes it.

The polenta sounds like it would also be a good choice with a sauce and it could be made ahead and refrigerated, then served in slices.

Annei

Annie, the best I've had is fresh pasta made with rice flour, yolks, and xanthan. It's sort of a pain- you have to get the moisture level just right, it has to rest, and you can only roll it out to 5. It's probably too much work for a company meal near Thanksgiving, and xanthan is expensive if you're only going to need it once, but we couldn't tell it from the real thing.

Annie, the best I've had is fresh pasta made with rice flour, yolks, and xanthan. It's sort of a pain- you have to get the moisture level just right, it has to rest, and you can only roll it out to 5. It's probably too much work for a company meal near Thanksgiving, and xanthan is expensive if you're only going to need it once, but we couldn't tell it from the real thing.

D'oh. Sorry.

LOL, Jessica, you really MUST have liked it!

Annie

It doesn't appear as if anyone has had experience with spaghetti squash and sauce so the polenta could work, although I personally don't like it and have never made it. Any tips?

I will look for Bionature pasta when I'm in the city next week.

I love spaghetti squash! It reheats well too. But to me, it's still a vegetable and if you want something reasonably comparably hearty, I would do the polenta.

I have also made spaghetti squash with a red sauce. To me it's not pasta, it's squash and it still tastes like squash. I like it a lot, but just some butter, salt and pepper, maybe a sprinkle of parmesan. Both my girls agree, cook it like squash and it's great, treat it like pasta and it's not the same.

Annie

I'm with Annie. Spaghetti squash is delicious, but it's way too soft to feel like a substitute for pasta.

I like the idea of polenta. I don't "make" it, I buy the premade tubes and slice and then crisp the slices in a pan with olive oil, finely grated parmesan cheese and top with a a pasta sauce or pesto. Top with more grated cheese...yum!

FWIW, I love butternut or banana squash, but do not like spaghetti squash at all.

I like the idea of polenta. I don't "make" it, I buy the premade tubes and slice and then crisp the slices in a pan with olive oil, finely grated parmesan cheese and top with a a pasta sauce or pesto. Top with more grated cheese...yum!

FWIW, I love butternut or banana squash, but do not like spaghetti squash at all.

ALSO another thing to consider is that us gluten free folk are pretty deprived and are used to "settling" for a pasta that holds its shape and is a good vehicle for the delicous sauce. It doesn't hold up for long after cooking and I think corn pasta is better and less mushy.

OK I'll nix the spaghetti squash and I'll look the p remade polenta next week when I'm in the city...sounds easy and tasty.

Thanks everyone!