Tag Archives: Sauce

Oodles of Zoodles

Am I the only one who sometimes gets sucked into fads? No? Good! Because I’m hooked on a trend that I hope sticks around for awhile. Meet: the Zoodle (zucchini noodle)!

Spiralizer

Veggetti Spiralizer

Zoodles can be made in a variety of ways. I make mine using a spiralizer. The Veggetti spiralizer is a handy little tool that can take most oblong vegetables and turn them into ‘noodles’! The Veggetti is a more affordable option if you want to give zoodles a try. You can also buy a julienne peeler, which is like a regular vegetable peeler but has little ridges to cut thin strands.

 

Once you have your zoodles cut, the preparation options are endless. Tonight, I made zoodles with meat sauce.

Zoodles with meat sauce

Zoodles with meat sauce

Zoodles with Meat Sauce

Ingredients

  • 2 large zucchinis
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 lbs ground beef
  • 1 package sliced mushrooms
  • 1 can of petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 can of tomato sauce
  • pam, cooking spray, or olive oil
  • parsley
  • basil
  • thyme
  • oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Spray pan with pam or drizzle with olive oil, and sauté mushrooms and minced garlic until tender. Add ground beef and brown. While the beef is browning, use a Veggetti (or other instrument) to slice zucchinis into zoodles. Once beef and mushroom mixture is well browned, add cans of petite diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper to taste (I use a good amount of each because I like an herbaceous sauce). Turn heat down to low and let the sauce simmer; this allows the flavors to develop. As the sauce is simmering, heat another large sauté pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot, spray with pam and add the zoodles. Toss the zoodles and heat through for only a couple minutes. You want the zoodles to stay bright green and crisp; do not overcook or they will get wet and soggy. Once warm, plate zoodles and top with a heaping portion of meat sauce. Enjoy!

 

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Meatballs

MEATBALLS

Ground meat

Parsley

Oregano

Garlic powder

Basil

Pepper

Italian bread crumbs

Mix together with hands and shape into balls. Place on baking sheet and bake in oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

This recipe is simple and delicious! For tender, juicy meatballs, place meatballs in a saucepan with the tomato sauce and let simmer before serving. The meatballs will absorb some of the sauce flavor. This dish is a crowd pleaser!

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Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients

·          4 slices whole-wheat bread (1-ounce each)

·         1 teaspoon dried oregano

·         1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

·         4 teaspoons paprika

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 teaspoon black pepper

·         2 egg whites

·         1/2 cup skim milk

·         1/2 cup all-purpose flour

·         4 (6 ounce) skinless boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness

·         Olive oil cooking spray

·         1 jar good-quality marinara sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)

·         3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

·         2 tablespoons (1/2-ounce) shredded Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the bread in the bowl of a food processor and process until fine crumbs are formed, about 25 to 30 seconds. Put the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, until golden. (You will wind up with about 1 1/3 cups toasted crumbs.)

In a medium bowl, toss the crumbs with oregano, garlic powder, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and milk together. In a third bowl stir together the flour, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Dip each piece of chicken, 1 piece at a time, in flour, shaking off excess, then egg, then bread crumbs, shaking off excess.

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Place breaded breasts in a glass baking dish and spray on each side with cooking spray, about 5 seconds total per side. Bake breasts until cooked though and crumbs are browned, about 15 minutes. Top with marinara sauce, mozzarella and parmesan and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes, until cheese is bubbling.

This recipe was WONDERFUL! I honestly think this is one of the most delicious dinners I have ever made! It was simple and so rewarding. To make things simpler, rather than making my own bread crumbs I bought Italian style Panko bread crumbs. Though they are seasoned I still added the seasoning from the recipe. A tip for breading the chicken: use one hand as a wet hand, and the other as a dry hand. This means only touch the egg with one and the flour and bread crumbs with the other. Also, I did not add milk to the egg mixture. Lastly, I used 2 cups of shredded mozzarella rather than the amount in the recipe. Highly recommended, this is a must-make recipe!

Recipe found at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/chicken-parmesan-recipe/index.html

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