Zucchini Noodles are my absolute jam.
Actually any type of veggie noodle is my new thing. There was a period of time when I was starting to slowly curb my white pasta (and grain intake in general), and veggie noodles truly helped me cope during this treacherous time. Very dramatic moments for me, I know.
It’s such a sneaky (obvious) way to get more plant-based ingredients into your meals, and yes even though zucchini doesn’t taste *quite* like refined flour pasta, you are still getting similar texture. And let’s be real – after you add the sauce, the spices, and all the additional goodies to your plate, you will barely notice that you’re eating a grain free pasta dish.
The downside to making veggie noodles is that it can be time consuming and tedious. If you’re a busy betch with no time to spare, then why the heck would you want to come home after a long day of work to shank some veggies into ribbons just to make them disappear into your stomach 10 minutes later?
The upside is that (as with almost every dilemma we come across these days), there’s a solution for this: Automatic Spiralizers.
Everything is all about automation now, even when it comes to our health and nutrition. Investing in an automatic spiralizer saves you time cooking fresh veggie noodles which in turn motivates you juuuuust a bit more to maintain your healthy eating habits.
So today’s veggie noodle recipe utilizes the lovely powers of an automated spiralizer from Bella Housewares. Y’all should expect to see a few more recipes using this spiralizer cause one: it’s the sh*t, and two, I teamed up with them to create unique and interesting recipes for our BB readers!
The BELLA Electric Spiralizer features 4 different blade options to create beautiful shapes that will mimic your favorite noodles like fettuccine, spaghetti, linguine and ribbons. The one-touch automation of BELLA allows you to simply press a button and voila. It even stops on its own! It works with a wide array of various veggies and even fruits and the parts are also dishwasher safe. So you’re saving even *more* time because you won’t have to be scrubbing parts all evening.
Now let’s talk about the additional ingredients. Obviously you can be creative and work with different sauces, protein sources and spices. Some of my favorite comforting flavors are basil, lemon, butter (but I use dairy-free butter), and Parmesan (I like using Go Veggie vegan Parmesan when I want to completely cut out dairy). Add them all up with some garlic, red pepper flakes and roasted tomatoes and you’ve got yourself a hearty yet healthy dish.
Since I don’t put any labels on my personal eating habits, I truly love to follow an intuitive flexible diet with an emphasis on plant-based focused meals. So for this specific recipe, the protein source I’m using is shrimp, but you can swap that out for tofu or tempeh instead if you want this to be a vegan recipe.
Roasted Tomato and Lemon Basil Zucchini Noodle Pasta
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds of zucchini spiralized
- 10 ounces grape tomatoes
- 3 tbsp “I can’t believe it’s not butter” spread – (or real butter if that’s your jam)
- Juice from 1 fresh lemon (or two lemons depending on how lemony you want it)
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 shallots diced
- 1-2 tbsp red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you want your dish to be)
- 1/4 cup fresh basil chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Between 15-20 shrimps (or 1-2 cups of a protein source of your choice)
- 1/2 cup vegan Parmesan or regular Parm
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the tomatoes on the sheet. Roast the tomatoes for about 15 minutes or until the skin starts to wrinkle and turn crisp. Remove the tomatoes and set aside
- Spiralize the zucchini, set aside.
- Thaw your shrimp in the sink according to package directions, set aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp of butter on a a skillet or big soup pan. Add the onion and shallot and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the zucchini and tomatoes and cook for another 7 minutes. While the zucchini is cooking, add the salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- Add the shrimp and rest of the butter and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
- Transfer to a serving dish, top with chopped basil and Parmesan, serve and enjoy!
So if you’re super duper inspired to start spiralizing your own veggies, you can grab your own BELLA spiralizer (Available at Kohls and through BELLA’S direct site to get cookin’!
Disclaimer: This post is in partnership with BELLA, all opinions, writing and creative direction is my own.
