Monday, April 21, 2014

Chicken Pesto Zucchini Noodles





 I was looking at my previous posts and it hit me that I never wrote about Zucchini noodles. I swore I thought I did! It's one of those food that I go to whenever I feel like having noodles. It's rare that I feel like having pasta- as for some reason, it always makes me feel heavy and gluggy. To think I used to cook pasta up every week without fail!


I bought one of those vege twisters at 40% off at our local appliances store and boy was I hooked. I have since made long vege noodle strands out of carrot and zucchini. I have yet to try beetroot yet but I bet it will taste amazing. My only complain is that it takes ages (and my son isn't old enough to do it for me yet!), plus there could be some wastage if the zucchini is too huge to fit into the little equipment. I tend to just chop up the leftovers and throw it in anyway.  I might just invest in a bigger and more friendly to use spiraliser in time.



My hubby grew a mini herb garden for me. I promise I will take photos of it one day! But from it, we managed to harvest quite a healthy bunch of basil leaves. This form the basis of our pesto.

I added parmesan cheese in my home made pesto- yes, it's not strict paleo but I can tolerate a little dairy after I have eliminated it for some time from my diet. Also, I identify myself as more clean eating than paleo. That's a good thing because I can't imagine life without cheese! In life, I truly believe there is no one size fits all, and you have to find what works for you and your body.


For me, I find that my family flourishes when we reduce grains, wheat, gluten and stick to the natural meat, seafood, veges wholesome food that you find in markets. Asher started his first solids with avocado and I'm pleased to say that even though I let him try some cereal at 8 mths, he has never taken to it- instead, his young palate always seem to prefer chicken, beef, lamb, spinach, peas, leek, sweet potato, pumpkin and of course congee. We also gave him eggs and he loved it! Yay to food experimentation.

So back to the pesto- it really is a blitz it in a mini food processor kind of meal. The noodles? I sautéed it lightly and then topped it up with the chicken pesto.

Chicken Pesto Zuchinni Noodles (serves 4)
3 huge zucchini- made into noodles shreds
1 onion
1 tsp garlic
500 grams of chicken mince
1/2 cup of peas

Pesto
1 huge bunch of basil leaves. Probably around 2 cups
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup garlic olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tsp of pine nuts

Blitz pesto ingredients together.

Saute pan with some garlic and chopped onion. Brown chicken mince. Toss pesto and peas over it. Taste. Add a little water if mixture seems dry.

In a separate pan, sauté zuchinni noodles with a little oil till slightly soft. Dish them into bowls and top it with chicken pesto and some more cheese!
 photo MTWsignature_zpsaefba23f.png

4 comments:

Joanne said...

Zucchini noodles are a great pasta substitute! Love how you've prepared them here!

Kitchen Belleicious said...

what! Why don't i have a veggie swirl thingy! I want one! I love this pasta. So cute and so perfect for our spring weather!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Oh so healthy! Zucchini noodle is also one that I would like to try!

tigerfish said...

Though I know about zucchini noodles for sometime, I have never thought of making them esp. when real carb cravings attack! Maybe I need some good ol' tomato sauce to make myself cook zucchini noodles :O

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