Zucchini Noodles:

*   I am so excited. I received my Kitchen Aid Spiralizer attachment in the mail on Friday, and was making zucchini noodles by Friday night. Yay for wedding present gift cards! Yes, I just said I was making zucchini noodles on a Friday night, haha. You can tell I love to cook. Really, I was just getting some one-on-one time with my husband, who is leaving for his summer law internship on Sunday. Little did he know we would be making zucchini noodles.

I am going to really praise Kitchen Aid here because their spiralizer attachment is SO EASY to use! All I had to do was peel my zucchini, pop them into the attachment, turn my Kitchen Aid to the lowest speed, and it was making perfect noodles from zucchini! After making a bowl full of noodles with my Kitchen Aid (used 6 zucchini), I followed the steps below. After following these steps, my noodles tasted better than regular noodles, without the added gluten, carbs, or other unhealthy ingredients. What a way to eat a plate full of veggies without even knowing it! If you have kids or a husband, I can guarantee you will fool them as well!

Ingredients:

-6 organic zucchini, peeled

-4 tsp. Himalayan sea salt

*Optional for sauce…

-1/2 cup lite coconut milk (Trader Joe’s brand preferred)

-1 jar Bove’s Basil All Natural Pasta Sauce (found at Publix)

-3 Tbsp. minced garlic

-1/2 chopped white onion

-2 tbsp. turmeric

-1 tbsp. red pepper flakes

-2 tsp. black pepper

-1 cup cooked ground meat of choice

Method:

1. First I made a large mixing bowl full of my zucchini noodles using the Kitchen Aid spiralizer attachment (ordered mine from Sur La Table online).
2. Preheat oven to 200F.
3. Stir in 4 tsp. Himalayan sea salt to coat the zucchini noodles.
4. Cover 2 baking sheets with 3 layers of paper towels and spread noodles over the paper towels.
5. Pop the noodles in the oven for 30 minutes. This makes your zucchini noodles al dente (more firm and true pasta-noodle in texture rather than mushy). This step sweats the noodles to draw out some of the moisture.
6. Remove noodles from the oven and pat down with more paper towels, if needed.
7. *Optional but recommended…place your noodles in a colander or steamer basket with a plate or pot underneath to catch any remaining liquid from the noodles. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.
8. The next day, you can store your noodles in Tupperware for five days.
9. You can then add your noodles to whatever sauce you choose in a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes before serving.

P.S.- For the sauce seen the picture, see steps below. The meat in the sauce is ground chicken burgers I had leftover in the fridge, but ground turkey, venison, or beef would work as well.

1. Sautee 3 Tbsp. minced garlic with ½ chopped white onion for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add 1 jar of Bove’s Basil All Natural Pasta Sauce (it’s Paleo, found at Publix, and great way to cheat and make easy pasta sauce).
3. Add ½ cup lite canned coconut milk, 2 tbsp. turmeric, 1 tbsp. red pepper flakes, 2 tsp. black pepper.
4. Add your meat and stir well.
5. Allow your sauce to simmer for 5 minutes, then add your zucchini noodles and simmer for another 10 minutes. *Optional…you can also add in veggies such as cooked broccoli florets chopped and black olives. I had both from previous leftovers and added them in and it was great!
6. Serve in pasta bowls and enjoy!!!