"Zoodle" - Zucchini Noodle

What's a "zoodle"? It's simply Zucchini-nOODLE. No, not that we make noodles with zucchini; the zucchini is the noodles. You get it now? It's simply zucchini, cut/sliced in to  long strands like noodles.

Tomato Italiano Veggie/Mushroom Stew over Zoodles

I'm not the only one and surely not the first one who thought about it. Randomly, I came across an awesome looking spaghetti meatball image. Since I was on the Reset, I couldn't eat the real spaghetti meatballs - one, pasta and two, meat. However, I know the tomato sauce meatballs could easily be replaced by some tomato based veggie stew, but I was a bit stuck on what to do with the pasta.  So I posted a question on my Facebook page (FitFunBeyond) to get some input on what people would substitute pasta noodles with.

The most popular and probably most obvious votes went to Spaghetti Squash. I had tried this stringy gourd before, but now that I thought about it, I wasn't too fond of the texture and fragrance of the melon mixed with savory.

Then someone suggested zucchini noodles. My first thought was, "... now was I supposed to make my own noodle from zucchini flour or what?..."  So I Googled it. And I love that idea!  Plus, now I know what that utensil, which has been stored away in my Mom's kitchen drawer for so long, can be used for.

It was so simple and easy, I smack myself on the head for not thought about it at all. Hey, that's what social media is for, right? Get connected and get support from friends and circle of friends :)

So here is what you do.

The Making of Zoodles

First, get the right tool. This is a julienne slicer. Careful, those pointy edges are sharp!!

 Second, get zucchini. The bigger, longer the better.
Then thinly sliced one side so it wont roll on your cutting board during slicing.

Starting from one end, run the slicer along the zucchini.
Keep slicing until you hit the soft core, then change side and start slicing again.

  If the strands look like they stuck together when you slice the zucchini, not to worry.
You can unravel them easily.

And this is how the zoodles look :)

Some people slice through the core, personally I don't. The zoodles from the core part tends to break easily and not as "crunchy."  This is what's left of the zucchini after I was done. The core will be diced and used in the Tomato Italiano. Nothing goes to waste ;)