It’s Spring here in Boulder, Colorado. This is my most favorite time of year! But, it reminds me that getting more veggies into my body on a daily basis is still a challenge for me. Maybe it is for you too? I think that my recent purchase of the cookbook: Inspiralized and my veggie spiralizer is going to do the trick to keep things fun & interesting!
Plus, I guess I had forgotten how important it is to make and eat food that looks pretty. The first recipe I made was a hit, and super easy too. It was a cucumber, red onion and feta salad. Using the spiralizer really transformed the cucumber into lovely thin discs. Then, I made a Kale, Parsnip & Gouda Cheese baked gratin. Yum-O! And, last night I made my first zucchini noodles, topped with broiled shrimp, a vodka tomato cream sauce and parmesan. I liked the texture of the noodles, really quite nice!
Tips and resources:
I personally think that the cookbook is great, written by Ali Maffucci. It’s healthy, lists the nutrition information and shares lots of tips for spiralizing veggies and fruits. FYI: peeling the zucchini before you spiralize it makes it look more like noodles and easier to get kids to eat. You can get it on her website http://www.inspiralized.com/cookbook/, plus she links to all sites like amazon and barnes and noble, etc.
Her website is chock full of recipes, tips, blog articles AND she’s selling her own spiralizer April 25th. http://www.inspiralized.com
I bought my spiralizer from Sur La Table. At $25 I felt like it was a good place to start. The online reviews are terrible though, apparently it can break easily. And, mine did. The handle crank broke, so I bought the Paderno 4 blade one on amazon. It is made much better than the sur la table one, and seems much more durable.
On a side note, I’ve discovered that using the spiralizer takes some getting used to. I pierced my hand trying to get a veggie off the spiralizer, beware the prongs! While cucumber, onion and zucchini are super easy to spiralize, tough veggies like rutabaga and parsnips are much harder to work through the blade. There is a learning curve for sure. I think its worth it though!
Happy Spiralizing!