Just as I was sick of having fish and chicken every night, I found a whole new food I never knew about…
Zucchini noodles!
Have you had these? From searching for zucchini noodle recipes –affectionately called zoodles by many — it seems that everyone is enjoying these. You’ve probably discovered them too, but in case you haven’t, they are noodle-shaped cuts of zucchini. These are an excellent, yummy way to eat some of your favorite pasta dishes — without the pasta! Replacing pasta with zucchini noodles is beneficial in several ways. First, you know it’s just plain ol’ better for you to eat a bowl of veggies over a bowl of pasta, but here are the specifics:
Let’s say you’ve made the healthier move to whole wheat pasta over regular white pasta. I’ll compare 2 cups of zucchini noodles to 2 cups of whole wheat pasta —
Would You Rather?
Let’s start with the biggie, calories: Zucchini noodles, 42; whole wheat pasta, 560. That’s a knockout.
How about fat? Zucchini noodles, 1 gram; whole wheat pasta 4 grams.
In case you’re not convinced yet, let’s look at carbs: zucchini noodles, 8; whole wheat pasta, 109. Wowza.
Bring on the zoodles!
Vegetable Spiralizers
You’ll need to buy a tool to make zucchini noodles, but after searching Amazon, I found one that was inexpensive and that I really liked.
You’ll find a lot of vegetable spiralizers on the market. After reading features and reviews, I settled on the SpiraLife Vegetable Spiralizer. Some spiralizers have to mount on your countertop, but this one is small enough to store easily in my kitchen drawer. I liked this one because it’s simple; it works like a pencil sharpener and it’s dishwasher safe. And it was one of the least expensive ones, too. It was priced at $12.99 when I purchased it. I even received a small e-book from SpiraLife with recipes. It looks like you can use the spiralizer for vegetables other than zucchini — I haven’t tried these yet, but I will.
Now I do want to be really clear about one thing if you’re new to zucchini noodles: they do not taste like spaghetti noodles. They are a healthy replacement for pasta, but they don’t have the same taste. The zucchini noodles are really good though, and as long as you understand that they don’t taste just like pasta, I think you’ll like them. It’s all about the toppings.
After looking at many delicious-looking recipes online for zucchini noodles, I settled on one to try first. It’s from a blog with a lot of great recipes, DamnDelicious. Everyone in our family loved it! I will definitely be making this again, and will be trying some of the other recipes soon.
Honestly, if you haven’t discovered zucchini noodles yet, I really recommend you get a vegetable spiralizer and try this recipe.
You can thank me later.
Zucchini Noodle Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
1/4 cup chicken stock
Juice of 1 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 pounds (4 medium sized) zucchini, spiralized
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2 – 3 minutes. Stir in chicken stock and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a simmer; stir in zucchini noodles until well combined, about 1 – 2 minutes. Serve immediately, garnished with Parmesan and parsley, if desired.