by Texas Homesteader
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This time of year many gardeners that are absolutely sick of zucchini. They’ve already eaten as much steamed zucchini side dishes and made it into every casserole they can think of. They’ve passed much of their zucchini overload on to friends, family and even complete strangers (why can I never run into these gardeners??! LOL)
I’ve heard about using zucchini for low-carb noodles and I was intrigued. Although RancherMan & I don’t specifically strive to eat low-carb, I do try alternatives when I can find a tasty one and we both love zucchini anyway so… Check it out!
Many of the how-to’s I read said that you’ll want to peel your zucchini because sometimes the peel can make your zucchini noodles (or “Zoodles”) somewhat bitter. But I like both the color as well as the nutritional boost of using the entire zuke. So if the zucchini is young and tender I don’t bother peeling it & it always turns out just fine.
Recently we had a tiny bit of leftover chicken. So I bought a small zucchini, an onion and a single roma tomato to see what healthy veggie-heavy dish I could come up with.
Zucchini Noodle Thickness
First I brought out my grandmother’s cast-iron skillet, pulled a couple of my homemade Olive Oil Herb-Bombs from the freezer and dropped them into the skillet with chopped onion and minced garlic and allowed it to cook while my attention turned to that zucchini. I washed it & trimmed the ends.
Then I brought out my *mandoline. Now I’ve had a mandoline for years and I often use it when I’m dehydrating veggies to get them all uniformly sliced. But I’d never really used the julienne blades before.
Mine has two julienne sizes, a tiny matchstick size and a thicker one that makes a more square cut. I’ve tried the zucchini noodles both ways and I really like the thicker slices better. I guess if you’re wanting them to actually LOOK more like noodles and with the same cooked consistency perhaps it would be good to peel the zucchini and use the smaller blades, but I much prefer a tender-crisp texture.
So I set up my mandoline and in no time my zucchini strips were ready to go in the skillet. I added the julienned zucchini to the translucently-cooked onion/garlic, gave a quick stir and put the lid on to allow the zucchini to cook to a tender-crisp consistency.
Adding Leftover Meat
In the meantime I took out that leftover chicken and removed it from the bone and chopped it up. I sprinkled the cold cubed meat on top of my zucchini noodles as they were cooking. I didn’t want the meat cooked more I just wanted it heated through.
And I also chopped and added my tomato so that the tomato pieces would soften a bit. But they would probably still be delicious if I just topped my finished dish with the raw chopped tomatoes after it was all said and done.
Now different people like different textures for their food. But I always hate when I’m served steamed veggies and the chef has “killed” the poor limp over-cooked thing. So I don’t like my zucchini noodles to be too soft. I like a subtle bite left in the zucchini.
So with my zucchini noodles already in the cooking process I allow the meat to warm a bit in the skillet, then with a final quick stir I pull the skillet off the heat. This means my main dish is ready in a flash! We loved it, and there’s enough leftover for tomorrow’s lunch too.
So, next time the zucchini in your garden is going crazy and you want something different to do with it, try making zucchini noodles. It’s a deliciously different way to use that healthy garden produce!
~TxH~
Side Dishes We Love
- Rosemary Rice
- Ranch-Style Beans
- RancherMan’s Green-Bean Casserole
- Roasted Vegetables
- Fresh Pico de Gallo
- Fried Okra Fritters
- Homemade Cottage Cheese
- Deviled Eggs With a KICK!
- Tri-Colored Homemade Pasta
- Pasta Salad FAST
- Rosemary Skillet Bread
…and MANY MORE!
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Thanks for sharing with the Let’s Get Real party. I have a new spiralizer, so I am looking for new “zoodle” recipes, and this one looks great. This will be my featured post at this week’s party.
How exciting Gaye, thanks for the feature! ~TMH~
What a clever and tasty way to serve zucchini. Love it!
I steam lots of zucchini Mimi, but sometimes you need a little something different. This was delicious! ~TMH~
Thanks for sharing on the What’s for Dinner Link up.
Sounds great!
My zucchini was a bust this year too!
My yellow squash preformed beautifully not sure why the zucchini was mad!?!
Love your flavor bombs!
Thanks for the recipe!
Michelle
Angry zucchini is not a good thing Michelle. LOL! ~TMH~
This is a great way to use up zucchini! I never thought to use zucchini like this!
Thanks for linking up with Green Thumb Thursday. We hope to see you again this week!
Lisa
I absolutely love it this way Lisa – I’m curious as to whether or not I can dehydrate these strips and use them for winter soups. Hummm… ~TMH~
Thanks for Sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday!! Pinned! Hope you come back tomorrow!!
Awesome Elaine – thanks for the pin.
I love zucchini noodles and your recipe looks yummy. So glad you shared it on Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop! Hope to see you again on Thursday!
– Nancy Nancy On The Home Front
This looks delicious and the “flavor bombs” are a great idea! I’ll be checking out some more of your recipes!
Blessings!
OMGosh Donna, I’m hooked on the FlavorBomb idea and I’ve already decided to plant a few more herbs next year and make more, more, MORE of them. They’ve been so delicious
I always enjoy coming up with a good reason to use my mandolin. You created a pretty and tasty dish! Looks yummy! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday.
Very Nice article, written to enjoy and I was wondering what kind of seasoning you were using. I didn’t see that in your wonderful writing but I saw some kind of seasoning on pictures. It just sound delicious.
Thanks for sharing,
Greg
Greg, I guess I did sprinkle salt/pepper at the end, but really the only seasoning I used other than my onion/garlic was a couple of my FlavorBombs. Dang I love those things! I’ll be sure to make many, many more next spring when the herbs are at their tender best. I find that I use them all the time!
Thanks Tammy,
I’m going to give this a try sometime in the future as it really looks delicious.
Greg