zoodles

Zoodle Pad Thai

February 1, 2017

My husband and I are lucky enough to live within waking distance of some pretty great restaurants. We have everything from good old Southern fried chicken to a raw-vegan restaurant. While my husband refuses to go to the raw-vegan restaurant, it is definitely one of my faves when my body is just craving something healthy. It was there that I was first introduced to the zucchini noddle (zoodle) pad thai. Even without the meat and the noddles, it was amazing and I have been itching to try something like it at home!

But in order to make thing something that my husband would eat, I had to add some meat and lightly cook the veggies. While he’s pretty good at trying everything I make, I think he draws the line at a bowl of uncooked vegetables.

I started by sauteing thin slices of chicken breast in a bit of sesame oil until the were browned and completely cooked through. I created some space on the pan and cracked in one egg, scrambling it and letting it cook through. Then I added in the shredded carrots (pre-shredded from the store), julienned red bell pepper, and my zoodles and gave them a good toss in the remaining oil and chicken. After about a minute, I poured over a very simple (and light!) pad thai sauce.

It only took about another 5 minutes for the sauce to thicken and caramelize around the strands of zucchini noodle, and for the veggies to get nice and tender.

After that, I just plated it up with some crushed peanuts, sprouts, and cilantro! Now I had my very own zoodle pad thai!

It was so delicious, but not overly heavy like a traditional pad thai can be with it’s thick peanut butter sauce. It was the perfect light dinner that I bet even my husband would enjoy!

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Chicken Zoodle Soup

January 16, 2017

As soon as our feet hit the ground back in Charlotte after the holidays, both my husband and I immediately got a cold. It was like our bodies knew not to get sick during the holidays and waited until the very second we got home. So not only were we exhausted from the trip, now we were sick, and Charlotte was also about 30 degrees colder. As you might imagine, nothing sounded better to us than chicken soup! Scratch that; nothing sounded better than chicken ZOODLE soup.

Zoodle (zood-l) n: a noodle made from zucchini.

Chicken zoodle soup isn’t a whole lot different than chicken noodle soup. In fact, they are exactly the same recipe. The only difference being the zoodles which makes this classic comfort food that much healthier. It was exactly what the doctor ordered….if that doctor were me or WebMD.

First I sauteed carrots, celery, and onion. Once they were a bit tender, I added in the chicken and chicken stock. I let the whole thing come up to a simmer, then I covered it and left it alone. I find that most soups are better when the have a chance to just sit and hang out for a while. All the ingredients warm up and get friendly with each other. It just seems to help the flavors develop.

At the very end, just when I was ready to serve, I added in the zoodles. Just like your classic noodle, the zoodles can get really mushy if they are cooked too long. And it doesn’t take very long for zoodles to get mushy. I prefer my zoodles to still have a little bit of a bite to it, like an al dente spaghetti noddle, which is why I liked to add them at the very end.

All that was left was to assemble a couple big bowls to soup for the both of us! The broth was so soothing for our soar throats. And we didn’t miss the noodles a bit. I think it helped to eat something so healthy! We both bounced back pretty quickly and got over our colds relatively quickly. Well, some more than others.

If you are on a no-carb or gluten-free diet, you need this recipe! Especially if you get sick! This will help you get through any cold…and who know, maybe it will actually help! Or at the very least, it will be a nice comforting, healthy meal to get you through the Winter.

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How to Make the Perfect Zucchini Noodles

January 6, 2017

So I made the mistake of making my first grocery store trip on Monday, February 2nd at 4:00 pm. You know who else was doing their grocery shopping at that very moment?

EVERYONE!

I should have known how crazy the store would be when 1) I couldn’t find a parking spot, and 2) couldn’t find a shopping cart. Once I got inside, I couldn’t find anything on my list! The store was cleaned out! Well, not completely. Just of all the healthy stuff. It’s almost like everyone had started a diet or something…

Once I realized they were out of zucchini, I just upped and left. Apparently everyone and there mother plans on cooking with zucchini this week. And I have a sneaking suspicion they will be making zucchini noodles!

Sounds like the perfect time to share my method for making the perfect zucchini noodles!

My method for making zucchini noodles starts out just like any other…by spiralizing the zucchini. I use my Kitchen-Aid attachment, but you can use counter-top or a handheld spiralizer if you want something a bit more budget friendly.

My advice, start with the handheld version, which you can get for under $10, just to make sure you like zucchini noodles. If you do, you can consider upgrading to another device.

After all the zucchini has been spiralized, I lay them down on a couple layers of paper towels then sprinkle them with salt. The salt actually draws out some of the moisture which helps reduce the sliminess of the zucchini noodles.

Then, to get rid of that moisture, I press some paper towels into the noodles to soak up all that zucchini juice.

Now this next step, which I think is key, comes from the genius that is my husband. He always hears me complain about how my zucchini noodles are soggy, no matter what I do. So he came up with the bright idea of spinning them through a salad spinner!

I thought he was a little crazy at first, but I was amazed at how much extra water came out of those noodles! Soggy noodles no more!!

From this point, there are several ways I like to cook my zucchini noodles.

Saute them – The primary way I cook my zucchini noodles is by sauteing them in a teaspoon of oil (especially herb infused oil) for just a few minutes.
Blanch them – I only cook my noodles this way if I am adding them to soup or something else that’s already pretty soggy.
Don’t cook them – Zucchini noodles are also good raw! I like to add raw zucchini noodles to salads for some fun textures.

So there you have it, my method for ensuring that I have perfect zucchini noodles every time! And if you need some inspiration for some zucchini noodles recipes, I have quite a few coming to the blog soon!

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