Archives

How To Spiralize Vegetables + Zucchsghetti with Avocado Alfredo Recipe

July 19, 2016

Zucchsghetti with Avocado Alfredo – Paleo, Vegan, High in Omega-3

Zucchini Noodles dressed with avocado sauce and cherry tomatoes, gluten-free and grain-free for paleo and vegan diets

This recipe is for all of you who out there who don't think you can be decadent on a Paleo diet. Creamy, rich and lick-the-blender satisfying, with this sauce, you won't believe that you're eating an entire bowl of vegetables – including high in omega-3 gems like avocados and hemp seeds. Best part is, it's not even that hard to make! I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, it's about a Tuesday. Not a Monday where you're still trying to recover from over-eating and over-drinking and you barely have enough energy to order take-out. But a Tuesday. You're getting back in the swing of things, but still aren't looking for anything with a lot of effort.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 zucchini
  • 2 yellow squash (or vice versa)
  • 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tablespoon of coconut oil – I love Dr. Bronner's

ALFREDO INGREDIENTS:

Avocado Pasta Sauce Ingredients for a Paleo Pasta

  • 2 Avocados
  • ½ cup of fresh basil
  • ½ cup of spinach
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon hemp seeds – I use Navitas Natural
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Toss all alfredo ingredients into your high powered blender or food processor EXCEPT the Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
  2. Power on and slowly pour in the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Blend until creamy, and taste as you go (add in more S&P, lemon juice, red chili pepper, whatever floats your boat). Set aside till needed.
    Note: I added a tiny bit of water to get the ingredients moving around and blending better.
  3. Cut your zucchini and squashes in half.
  4. Stick each one into your spiralizer and turn until you have a full plate of noodles.
  5. Dump noodles onto a paper towel and put another paper towel on top and blot dry. Set aside till needed.
  6. Slice onion into thin strips and saute in coconut oil for 5 minutes-ish, until the onions are soft and caramelized.
  7. Add in plate of noodles and cook for 2 minutes on low to medium heat.
  8. Turn off heat and spoon HALF of sauce over noodles in pan.
    You can add in more if you’d like, but I purposely doubled the Avocado Alfredo recipe so that you can use some for later. It’s always easier to make sauces with more ingredients rather than less so that your blender can “grab” onto all of it.
  9. Plate the noodles, and sprinkle tomatoes on for garnish, along with Salt and Pepper. Serve.

Belissimo!


Paderno Spiralizer with yellow squash

I got my spiralizer in March of 2014. The day it arrived, I was like a kid at Christmas. Williams Sonoma basically just told me that I can eat pasta again for the first time since I went gluten-free. Or really what they were sending me was the key to a whole other food group that I never knew existed until it arrived in my hands. The food group? Paleo Pasta. Zucchini, Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips, Kohlrabi – any vegetable large enough to fit into my Paderno was fair game. The pasta-bilities were endless (see what I did there?).

Now with more than two years of experience under my belt, I’d like to think I can teach you a thing or two about using the spiralizer to make vegetable noodles. Per the request of my dear friend Maggie (Hi Mags!), I've created a guide. And per the request of my wonderfully intelligent mum, I put the recipe at the top just in case you had no desire to hear me babble on about my life experiences with my sprializer. But for all of you traditionalists out there, I also nestled it safely at the bottom in a printable and pinnable format.

Five Lessons for an Awesome Spiralized Veggie

Lesson 1: Only use vegetables as large, or larger than, the circumference of your spiralizer’s spiky thing. (Note the technical language)
The vegetable needs to be able to completely carve into the shredder, otherwise it will get caught, or spit out piddly little half moons. This is especially true with carrots since they are skinny. But when you get a good one, carrot-sghetti is one of my favorites. So keep an eye out for carrots with a lot of girth (yeah, I said it).

Zucchini and Squash

Lesson 2: Center your vegetable.
I cut my vegetables in half before I put them to the spirazlier. It allows for more control during the process. Most importantly, I make sure the vegetable is completely centered on the circle blade thingy. This allows for long and beautiful noodles and avoids half moons.

How to spiralize a squash

Lesson 3: Cook your noodles LIGHTLY, if at all.
Reminder: these are not real noodles. They are vegetables largely consisting of water. And, sometimes, when you slice a vegetable really thin, cooking it is just going to make it soggy and watery. Cucumber, in my opinion, should never be cooked because of its high water content. Zucchini and squash could still be just as good raw, just a little crunchier. A carrot, cucumber “pasta salad” dressed with tahini dressing would be awesome – no cooking required.

IF you’d still like your noodles warm, but not cooked, do this:

  1. Cook your meatballs/chicken/ground beef/mushrooms/onions/whatever
  2. Add your sauce and let it simmer
  3. Turn off the heat and add your noodles and toss together in the pan with the meat and the sauce

Essentially you are very lightly cooking the noodles in the warmth of the sauce, but not enough to make it soggy.

When you do cook your noodles, do so gently. There is no need to blast them with heat, cover the pan with a lid, or cook them for long periods of time.

Typical Cooking Times for Vegetable Noodles:

  • Zucchini – 2 minutes on low to medium
  • Squash – 2 minutes on low to medium
  • Carrots – 2 – 3 minutes (higher heat will make them crispier, which isn’t a bad thing in my opinion)
  • Sweet Potato – 5-7 minutes on medium heat

Avocado Sauce Ingredients

Lesson 4: Pat your vegetable noodles dry after spiralizing.
I resisted this one for a while because I tend to be a fast, hungry cooker who doesn’t want to slow the process down for anything that I don’t HAVE to do. But drying off my noodles has made a big difference in my final pasta dish. The less moisture they have, the better they cook and the better they absorb any yummy sauce that you make for them. All you need to do is:

  1. Put a paper towel on a plate and your noodles on top
  2. Put another paper towel on top and blot dry
  3. If they’re REALLY watery (i.e. cucumbers), do a second blotting with new paper towels

Spiralized vegetables dry with paper towel

Lesson 5: The spiralizer isn’t ALWAYS the answer.
If your vegetable is too skinny or your spiralizer isn’t strong enough OR YOU DON'T OWN ONE, never underestimate the power of the vegetable shredder (the old school paleo pasta maker). Take your shredder to a carrot or a sweet potato and you’ll get stick straight veggie noodles. They may not be as noodly looking, but they still taste great. ESPECIALLY when you saute them in coconut oil and spices.

Zucchini Noodles dressed with avocado sauce and cherry tomatoes, gluten-free and grain-free for paleo and vegan diets
Zucchsghetti with Avocado Alfredo
Print Recipe
This recipe is for all of you who out there who don't think you can be decadent on a Paleo diet. Creamy, rich and lick-the-blender satisfying, you won't believe that you're eating an entire bowl of vegetables - including high in omega-3 ingrdients like avocados and hemp seeds. Best part is, it's not even that hard to make! I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, it's about a Tuesday. Not a Monday where you're still trying to recover from over-eating and over-drinking and you barely have enough energy to order take-out. But a Tuesday. You're getting back in the swing of things, but still aren't looking for anything with a lot of effort.
Servings Prep Time
2 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
7 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
7 minutes
Zucchini Noodles dressed with avocado sauce and cherry tomatoes, gluten-free and grain-free for paleo and vegan diets
Zucchsghetti with Avocado Alfredo
Print Recipe
This recipe is for all of you who out there who don't think you can be decadent on a Paleo diet. Creamy, rich and lick-the-blender satisfying, you won't believe that you're eating an entire bowl of vegetables - including high in omega-3 ingrdients like avocados and hemp seeds. Best part is, it's not even that hard to make! I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, it's about a Tuesday. Not a Monday where you're still trying to recover from over-eating and over-drinking and you barely have enough energy to order take-out. But a Tuesday. You're getting back in the swing of things, but still aren't looking for anything with a lot of effort.
Servings Prep Time
2 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
7 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
7 minutes
Ingredients
Zucchsghetti Noodles
Avocado Alfredo
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Toss all Avocado Alfredo ingredients into your high powered blender or food processor EXCEPT the Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
  2. Power on and slowly pour in the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Blend until creamy, and taste as you go (add in more S&P, lemon juice, red chili pepper, whatever floats your boat). Note: I added a tiny bit of water to get the ingredients moving around and blending better.
  3. Cut your zucchini and squashes in half.
  4. Stick each one into your spiralizer and turn until you have a full plate of noodles.
  5. Dump noodles onto a paper towel and put another paper towel on top and blot dry.
  6. Slice onion into thin strips and saute on pan for 5 minutes-ish, until the onions are caramelized and a little browned.
  7. Add in noodles and cook for 2 minutes on low to medium heat.
  8. Turn off heat and spoon HALF of sauce over the noodles in the pan. NOTE: You can add in more if you’d like, but I purposely doubled the Avocado Alfredo recipe so that you can use some for later. It’s always easier to make sauces with more ingredients rather than less so that your blender can “grab” onto all of it.
  9. Plate the noodles, and sprinkle tomatoes on for garnish, along with Salt and Pepper. Serve.
Share this Recipe
Powered byWP Ultimate Recipe
Recipes

Hormone Balancing Meatballs

June 28, 2016

Paleo Hormone Balancing meatballs

I love meatballs. And when I love something, I obsess over it for a good month-ish…

There were the meatballs for breakfast.

Lamb meatballs with sweet potato pasta.

And who could forget the Fertility Feast meatballs?

Meatball-making reminds me of cookie-baking. You roll up all of these fantastic ingredients into tiny little balls, put them on a baking sheet, and fill your kitchen with all the smells, until it's time to pull them out and try one bite of the juicy, herby, spicy, meaty cookie. But unlike cookies, I don’t believe you have to follow an exact recipe. That’s the beauty of cooking after all. A pinch of this, a handful of that – as long as it’s all things you like, it will most likely be delicious.

Besides being addicting, these particular meatballs have so many health benefits, it’s ridiculous. The reason? Because they have liver. Yes, liver. WAIT! WAIT! Before you freak out and close this page, please do two things for me: 1) Read the benefits below. And 2) See how I’m going to make it really easy for you to incorporate the liver into your diet through this awesome recipe.

Hormone Balancing Meatballs

Ridiculous Benefits Of My Liver Meatballs:

LIVER is one of the most nutrient-dense foods. Period.

Greater than 65% of daily requirement of folate for 30-something women.

High in B12, B6, zinc and iron, which helps with…

  • Depression
  • Thyroid issues
  • Low energy

The highest source of vitamin A, which improves…

  • Thyroid function. It supports thyroid deficiencies so it's perfect for anyone with hypothyroid.
  • Liver health and detoxification.
  • Absorption of Vitamin A. We can’t get ANYWHERE close to this amount of Vitamin A from vegetables – not only because vegetable don't have as much, but becasue the body has to convert it to retinol first in order to use it. Unfortuantely, the veggie conversion rate is not good – especially for people with thyroid issues. But with liver, it's already converted and ready to use!

Anti-Fatigue factor:

  • In a famous study done by Benjamin K. Ershoff, PhD, liver consumption prevented rats from exhaustion, even after swimming for 2 straight hours.
  • Could have implications for human consumption; many people report feeling energized after eating it.

WALNUTS are high in Omega-3 which has been shown to:

  • Balance depression, anxiety and mood swings associated with hormonal imbalances
  • Reduce inflammation and balance insulin

COCONUT OIL is a medium chain fatty acid which:

  • Is essential for hormone production
  • Keeps inflammation levels low
  • Boosts your metabolism
  • Promotes weight loss

My personal experience with these liver meatballs:

  • Incredibly satiating – I've tried liver in many different ways and THIS baby finally made me enjoy them.
  • Improved digestion
  • More energy
  • GREAT for fertility

Paleo Hormone Balancing Meatballs

Ridiculously Easy Way To Make It Delicious:

  • So that you don’t actually taste the liver, we’re going to mix it together with grass-fed ground beef and lots of seasonings and ingredients.
  • So that you don’t have to touch the liver (too much), I’m going to ask that you ask your local butcher to grind it for you. And if you ask really nicely, they might grind it together with the beef. (Shoutout to Anthony at Local Foods for being the sweetest, most accommodating butcher ever 🙂 )
  • So that you don’t have to deal with liver often, we’re going to make one BIG batch now so you can freeze them later and have a ready-to-go, highly nutritious dinner any night of the week.

Okay, enough talk. Are you ready to put all your fears aside and try liver???

   Paleo Hormone Balancing Meatballs Ingredients

Hormone Balancing Basil Meatballs
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
45 Meatballs 30 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
45 Meatballs 30 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Hormone Balancing Basil Meatballs
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
45 Meatballs 30 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
45 Meatballs 30 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: Meatballs
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and set out three baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Melt 1 teaspoon of coconut oil on the sauté pan and toss in onion; sauté for 5 minutes-ish.
  3. While that's cooking, chop up garlic cloves, basil leaves and walnuts; Set aside.
  4. Set aside cooked onions and let cool to room temperature.
  5. Whisk eggs in a bowl.
  6. Stir in garlic, basil, walnuts, nutritional yeast, coconut flour and red chili pepper flakes.
  7. Pour mixture into beef and liver; Pour onions in separately.
  8. Get your hands in there and mix it all together.
  9. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and place on parchment paper.
  10. Stick in oven for 10 minutes.
  11. Bonus: Once cooled, stick in freezer ON THE PAN to flash freeze your meatballs. Doing so will keep them in meatball shape so you can stuff them in freezer bags and have them on hand whenever you need them. Believe me, nothing is better than coming home to an empty fridge, and then remembering that you have delicious pre-made meatballs waiting for you in the freezer.
  12. TO RE-HEAT: Warm in pan with a bit of coconut oil, bone broth and/or spaghetti sauce for approximately 10 minutes.
Share this Recipe
Powered byWP Ultimate Recipe