Zucchini Spirals - YIPPEE!!

I follow several vegan/raw chefs and bloggers on Instagram as inspiration to incorporate more healthy foods/meals into our diet. Since we have milk allergies, lactose intolerance and Celiac in the house I'm forced to be creative.

Part of our "eating healthier" goal this year is to drastically cut down our grains and replace them with vegetables. As such, we've been doing lots of spaghetti squash, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. But, I kept seeing these vegan/raw writers use zucchini and carrots as noodles. They looked so beautiful and lovely and yummy. I didn't find much online to help me figure out the best way to do it. Then I found this and I nearly came out of my skin I was so excited, because I was getting a new kitchen tool! :)

I got mine at Sur la Table, but I did find it on Amazon for about $10 cheaper. Had I not had a gift card to Sur la Table, I would have gotten it from Amazon.

Here are the tools you'll need to make your zucchini noodles:
Knife
Spiraling Tool
Cutting board
Colander or mesh strainer
Bowl

Cut off the ends of the zucchini and cut it in half. The tool is incredibly easy to use. I even let Brock (2 yrs old) do one zucchini. He thought that was cool. The tool comes with 3 different blades, a straight blade, a fine blade and a medium blade. I didn't try the straight, b/c that is more of a slicer. Below are the noodles created with fine and medium blades. 

The medium blade created noodles that were good for pasta. The fine blade would have been more useful for thinks like garnish or harder vegetable like parsnip, horseradish or something like that. 

Making the noodles was not time consuming. If I was doing a "raw" diet I would not have cooked them, but I like my noodles hot. I think they would be good on a salad or sandwich cold, but I wanted to try them in the place of grain pasta. 

Obviously I didn't want to "cook" them too much else they be mushy. I brought a large pot of water to a boil. I added the zucchini spirals to the boiling water and turned them over a couple of times in the water until they were hot, then quickly removed them to a colander. 

I served them with a tomato, garlic and pine-nut sauce. It was excellent and even the carb-loving hubby liked it. With the sauce and noodles we had sauteed mushrooms and grain free "biscuits". Everyone was satisfied and enjoyed it. I will definitely be making it again. 

A few things to consider :

1) Chose a sauce that is high in flavor

2) Make sure to properly strain the noodles your plate be full of water

3) Approx 1 small-medium zucchini makes enough noodles for one person.

Happy cooking. Happy Eating.