Zoodles or Noodles!!

Yes, that is a question we asked ourselves yesterday. Do we want to make Zoodles or Noodles? We couldn't decide so we made both. Finally, we have zucchini from the garden so it's time to make these Zoodles everyone is talking about. Seriously, I didn't think I would like them and, to be totally honest, I thought this would be strange. I love zucchini but wasn't sure about using them to substitute for noodles. After making this recipe I no longer question using Zucchini as a substitute for pasta. Now, I won't use them for every pasta dish. Any pasta recipe that can handle the extra liquid from the zucchini is a great alternative!!!!

How to make the Zoodles

We lived in Japan for a few years and were lucky enough to have some great kitchen appliances. Way before the spiralizer was available in the US they had them in Japan. We thought this fun little tool was so cool and had so much fun making spiral potatoes and onions. Since we moved into our "forever home" everything has finally been unpacked and has a place. So yesterday when we decided to make Zoodles we were excited about finally getting to use this fun little tool that has been in its original box for so many years. Yes, we still have that great box.

But somewhere in all the moves, we lost the blades. Yes, I was bummed for two reasons.... 1. it was going to work great to make these zoodles, and 2. It was a memory from when Amy was young and we got to use this tool, which she loved so much when we made spiral-fried potatoes.

Really How do you make them?

So now we don't have a way to make the zoodles. My first thought was to jump into the car and buy a spiralizer. Amy was wonderful and talked me down from spending money. That's a first!!! HaHa. Our creative skills jumped into gear. My first thought was to just cut the zucchini into strips with a knife. That would take hours! Again, glad Amy talked me out of that one. So then I pulled out the pasta maker and all those little accessories. At this point, Amy is having a great time laughing at me. Yes, she was drinking wine! The pasta maker is great but it wasn't going to work for making the zoodles. So guess what I did...

Yes I poured myself a glass of wine and said OK miss creative girl what would you use. She calmly walked into the kitchen and pulled out the Mandolin. Ok, that was a great idea but she did have about 10 minutes (maybe 20 minutes) to sip on wine and think about how to make them. Haha. She was right and I only got a couple of sips of wine before we were ready to get started. Besides, using the mandolin you don't want to have too much to drink or you could lose a finger. Luckily we didn't! Haha

You can really make this recipe easy by already having your Zoodles pre-zoodled. Most grocery stores have zoodles. Yes, this will save time!

Finally bought a Spiralizer!!!!

After making this dish several times we finally bought a spiralizer attachment for our KitchenAid. We had several Store Credit Card points and decided a spiralizer would be a fun addition to our kitchen toys. It is so much easier to use than the Mandolin and no fingers were in danger of needing bandages!!!

Go Crazy

This is a super fresh cold salad and so much fun for summer. I know the next grill party we're invited to I'm going to make this. It's fast and so darn good! I actually want to make it again tonight.

The best part of this recipe (besides the zesty sauce) is that you can go crazy on the veggies. We added Peas and Carrots because that's what was in the fridge. I know I'll always add carrots to the recipe, for some reason they work really well and add such a fun pop of flavor. Other veggies that would be really good are Cucumbers, snow peas, edamame, green beans. . . you get the idea. So go crazy with the veggies!!

Please let us know what veggies you use in the salad

TIPS:

Mix together all the veggies with the zoodles
Pour the sauce over the zoodles at least 30 minutes prior to eating. Preferable an hour before
Add half the sauce and stir into the veggie mixture. Taste and continue to add sauce until you have enough
Like always, measure everything
Grilled Chicken, Shrimp or Roasted Chicken would be really great addition to this salad or as a side with the salad.