Would you like to get your veggie hesitater to eat a whole zucchini? We gave up pasta and it was even easier to do when I started making zucchini noodles. They are a big hit in our house, not to mention, much healthier than pasta.
Zucchini is a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals including Vitamin C, folate, potassium, magnesium, and manganese. I can’t wait to get my hands on some more zucchini as they come into full swing this summer.
I got this hand spiral cutter on Amazon and it’s by far one of three favorite kitchen tools. It does have some cons though. You can’t use a vegetable with a girth wider than the appliance and you can’t use one that is too thin either (like thin carrots). There is some waste (but not much) like in the photo below.
Waste from the spiral cutter. Just compost this!
The cap they give you that is suppose to grab the top of the veggie to help you turn it as you get closer to the sharp blade doesn’t work. When I get towards the end of the vegetable, I stick a fork into the end and use the fork to turn the vegetable. There is also this larger table top spiral cutter which is now 50% off, click here. I didn’t purchase it at the time because I was trying not to obtain an appliance that took up more horizontal space and it was more expensive, but I think the previous objections would be overcome and it’s less expensive now that it is on sale. But I’m satisfied with my hand spiral cutter. So far, I’ve used my spiral cutter on zucchini which is our favorite, but also squash, carrots, parsnips and cucumbers. You get beautiful noodles like this–
This is the spiral cutter I have and I like it!
Last week, we had Stuffed Purple Peppers for dinner. I had leftover ground beef, sausage and pasta sauce that needed to be used up from the peppers recipe and it was a perfect set up for zucchini spaghetti. You don’t have to use onion, mushrooms and green peppers if your favorite sauce is good enough. You can any of your favorite veggies. Pasta sauce is always a great opportunity to puree in carrots, butternut squash or another favorite (or even leftovers in the fridge that you want to get rid of before it goes bad). I’m excited to be canning some homemade pasta sauce in this week but you can use your favorite sauce.
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 small green pepper, chopped
- Handful of mushrooms, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 lb of grass fed ground beef
- 1/2 lb of pastured sausage
- Pasta sauce
- 3-4 zucchinis (cut into noodles) Use 1 large zucchini per adult.
- 3 tbsp Butter
- Salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese
- Melt 1 tbsp butter (or other favorite fat) in your pan.
- Sautee onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic until soft.
- Add in ground beef and sausage and cook thoroughly.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add in pasta sauce and simmer.
- In a separate pan, melt 2 tbsp of butter.
- Add in minced garlic and zucchini noodles. Season with salt and pepper.
- Sautee zucchini noodles to your liking. Cook less if you like your pasta to taste al dente or more if you like them soft.
- Plate up your zucchini noodles and top with your meat sauce.
- Grate some parmesan cheese on top.
- Bon appetite!
Makeover your spaghetti!
Zucchini noodles are a great real food substitute for pasta noodles. If you aren’t sure your finicky eater would be willing to make the switch, it might be helpful to peel the skin off your zucchinis before putting it through the spiral slicer. Sometimes “green” can turn off any picky eater. Ask me how I know. You can also even hand slice zucchini noodles if you have the time and patience. I did this once before I got my spiral cutter. Or just run it on thin slice through a mandoline for ribbon zucchini noodles. Bon appetite! I hope you will try incorporating more zucchini into your meal plans. My 3 year old is as picky as they come when it comes to green stuff but this has been tried, proven and Lana approved.
Don’t forget to like my Facebook page! And don’t forget to pin this recipe or share it with your friends. You can Subscribe to Real Food Realtor by Email and get all the new recipes in your inbox!
The post Get your Veggie Hesitater to Eat a Whole Zucchini appeared first on Real Food Realtor.