You. Guys. Run – do not walk – to the nearest Williams Sonoma (or if you’re on a budget… Walgreens) and buy a veggie spiralizer. Don’t ask me why because I am about to tell you it is the best thing that has happened to you since you survived the Friday Fight DVD of Insanity Max: 30.
I had zucchini noodles planned for my first virgin experience with the veggie spiralizer – also known as the Veggetti (pronounced by the cool kids as…. vah – jet – ee) if you’re into As Seen on TV purchases – and was thinking it was going to take about as long as homemaking cavatelli pasta. Which, if you have not done before takes a legit 8 hours if you don’t mess up. If you do mess up and your Italian mother-in-law is on her way to your house and you think you can get away with serving her frozen pasta, you should just give up completely and come clean because she WILL know that it’s frozen and not fresh. Not that this happened to me because mine were perfect but anyway … I digress.
SO – ya’ll know that Mr. Grumpy and I love us some Italian food. We practically have pasta falling out our ears we eat it so often. We all have our issues, and ours is carbs. We tried spaghetti squash but it just didn’t taste right to us. And Mr. Grumpy has texture issues on top of his carb issues. So, I decided to embark upon the zucchini noodle, or as my clever coworker calls … the zoodle. See picture below – introducing the zoodle.
With this spiralizer, all you literally do is put the blade in, connect the zucchini to both ends of the machinery, and turn the handle. Out come perfectly plump, happy little zoodles. It took five minutes. Maybe. And only maybe five minutes because I couldn’t find the blade. Why? Because it has a handy little shelf for it underneath the contraption. SO HELPFUL. Seriously. I just don’t even want to spend more time talking about this because it’s f*&^ing amazing. Here is the link for you to purchase one: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/paderno-sprializer/. Treat yourself. Break up with pasta now. It won’t miss you – it will move on to other people!
SO – I didn’t want to mess this whole thing up by making zoodles (the perfectly healthy option to real pasta) and then cover it in store-bought sauce. DID YOU KNOW that shit is FULL of sugar and probably salt and like extra stuff that you really, really do not need. It’s likely the reason why the next day you feel sleepy because it’s not good for you. Stop eating that – it’s really easy to make your own sauce in like 30 minutes or less. Now, you can also make sauce in 8 hours but this is easier for a weeknight and really, really tasty. Ready?
- Two roasted red peppers (I roast mine at 450 on each side for 15-20 minutes until it looks blacky spotty ish, then cool and peel off the skin)
- Four cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh basil
- 2 tsp olive oil or sunflower oil
- 1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/8 cup of parmesan cheese
- A dash of red pepper flakes
- 1 can of no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained slightly
Blend together in your bullet or food processor or whatever contraption you have. That’s the sauce! You can roast the peppers in advance on Sunday when you’re bored and your husband is making you not talk because the Browns are playing. #MrGrumpy
Now, just take a tablespoon of olive oil and heat in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add your zoodles and stir them around frequently until they start to get soft. Add the sauce (we used two zucchini’s so had some sauce left over. Don’t overdo it on the sauce!) and let it simmer together for about 5-6 minutes, until the zoodles are softer and the sauce is hot. Top with some fresh basil and experience the happiness. Then tell everyone that you love your spiralizer like me until they no longer want to be your friend anymore.
Side note: DID YOU KNOW THAT SPIRALIZERS CAN ALSO MAKE SWEET POTATO FRIES? I’ll figure that one out soon. A healthified version, of course. Maybe tossed in sunflower oil and baked… working on it!
Fitness: Insanity Max: 30 – Friday Fight.
This was not ok. Shaun T – YOU BE CRAZY. I made it through and maxed out at a whopping six minutes. The first water break isn’t even until 15 minutes in. Then YOU DON’T GET ANOTHER UNTIL TEN MINUTES LATER. WTF. But then, you get done and you’re like, whoa. I just did something there. How will you know? You’ll have sweat in places you didn’t know existed on your body. And you won’t be able to walk. And you will maybe start crying (like Mr. Grumpy did). Treat yourself to a glass of wine and reminisce about how terrible you felt … and how amazing it feels to FEEL ACTUAL PAIN. That’s a key indicator you’re still alive.
Friday Nutrition:
- Breakfast: Oatmeal and a side of fruit
- Snack 1: Pears
- Lunch: Shakeology – Chocolate, 1 tbsp peanut putter, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, ice.
- Snack 2: Clementine and 11 smoked almonds
- Dinner: This zoodle noodle dinner, plus a caesar salad fake out from Thug Kitchen Handbook. It uses soaked almonds, olive oil and lemon juice, capers, etc. instead of cheese, cream and eggs found in caesar dressing. Tastes just like the real thing. And gives you just as bad of breathe. AWESOME.
- Water: 68 oz and counting.
What are your favorite healthy substitutes for your “we have issues” food (aka, guilty pleasures)?? Did you buy yourself a Vegetti???
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