Do you wish that you had the time to cook a flavorful meal that’s healthy for you and your kids? What if I told you that I had a cooking method that doesn’t require that extra time in the day but still yields full, well-balanced meals in minutes? If you’ve got 5 minutes, you can serve up a low-carb, low-calorie, and low-fat pasta dinner that your family will love!
There is a plastic countertop kitchen tool called a spiralizer that turns vegetables into noodles in less than 30 seconds. You can cook these noodles or eat them raw – just top with a sauce, add a protein, and voila – a stellar meal in just minutes!
Not only do spiralized vegetables provide quick meals, they are a sneaky way to introduce vegetables into your child’s diet – what kid doesn’t love spaghetti? If your child doesn’t like a certain vegetable, there are plenty of others to spiralize and cook in a kid-friendly sauce: zucchini, butternut squash, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, apples, pears and more.
It’s especially important to introduce cooking and healthy eating principles to kids at a young age and involve them in the process. Great news – kids love to spiralize and watch the vegetables turn into noodles – it’s like magic!
Say goodbye to rushed meals, buttery and mushy pasta noodles, preheating ovens, burnt garlic, pizza delivery and Chinese takeout.
Let’s get you started with a zucchini pasta, ready in 5 minutes!
5 Minute Pasta: Pesto Shrimp Zucchini Spaghetti
Serving size: 2
Time to prepare: 1 minute
Time to cook: 3 minutes
Ingredients
6-8 pieces of medium sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ cup of pesto sauce, canned
1 large zucchini
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2 slices of crusty whole grain bread (buy pre-sliced)
Optional: Parmesan cheese, to top
Directions
- Put a large skillet over medium heat and put in olive oil.
- Season shrimp with salt and pepper and add to the skillet.
- Cook shrimp for 1 minute and the flip over and cook an additional minute or until shrimp turns opaque.
- While cooking the shrimp, spiralize your zucchini, using Blade C (go to Inspiralized.com for full tutorial). Set aside in a large bowl.
- In the bowl with the zucchini noodles, add in the pesto sauce and mix thoroughly to combine. Once the shrimp is done, add it into the bowl and mix again.
- Plate onto two dishes and top with additional Parmesan cheese. Serve with the pieces of whole grain bread.
Optional: If you’d like to heat up the pesto, place a large skillet over medium heat and add in the zucchini noodles and pesto. Cook for about 1 minute or until pesto and noodles are heated.
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Ali Maffucci is an enthusiastic home cook who recently launched her food blog Inspiralized. Inspiralized offers a creative new twist on healthy eating, using a spiralizer to create noodles out of vegetables. Her blog posts daily recipes and inspirational content geared towards this culinary concept. Ali has a penchant for yummy food and a mind for healthy living. She currently resides in Jersey City, NJ. Visit her website at www.inspiralized.com and stay tuned for exciting new announcements, such as an upcoming eBook, cookbook and branded product.
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