Zucchini Pasta Primavera

If you’re like me, you LIVE for pasta! But, when I embarked on my clean eating journey last year, I decided to give up pasta (even whole-wheat pasta). Pasta, like many carbohydrate-rich foods, is made up of starches. When you eat it, your digestive system breaks these starches down into glucose (a type of sugar), which your body uses as a primary energy source. There’s nothing wrong with this – I just made the choice to stop eating pasta. But what to do for a substitute?

Enter zucchini pasta! I bought a spiralizer to create fresh “pasta” that’s entirely made up of zucchini (sidebar: my spiralizer is my favorite new kitchen gadget!). In a manner of minutes, you can transform a whole zucchini into pasta spirals. One of my favorite dishes to eat is zucchini pasta primavera. It’s 100% vegetables, but so delicious! Here’s the recipe:

Cookware Needed:

Spiralizer (here are some options)

Medium skillet

Large skillet

Ingredients:

Zucchini (1 per serving)

1 teaspoon of olive oil

½ cup of onion, diced

1 large bell pepper, diced (or two if you’re making more than one serving)

1 large tomato, diced

Alternates: add or substitute other veggies

Preparation of the onion, bell pepper, and tomato:

Chop the onions, bell peppers, and tomato to your preference
Using the medium skillet, turn the heat to medium-high and add the olive oil
Add the onions and sauté for a few minutes

While the onions are sautéing, prepare the zucchini:

Wash the zucchini and place it on a cutting board
Cut both ends of the zucchini, then cut it in half, so you’ll have two short chunks
Following the directions of the spiralizer, place one of the zucchini chunks and turn the handle to create zucchini spirals; repeat with the second chunk
Place the zucchini “noodles” into the small skillet on medium heat and toss a few times, until the zucchini is warm or hot – whatever your preference

Tip: do NOT boil the zucchini noodles in water! The spiralized zucchini is already “cooked” – you’re just going to warm it up.