Thursday, July 21, 2016

ZOODLE-MANIA at Ruthy's!!!!

First, I love to eat.

Second: I'm 5' 2.5" tall.  (That half inch is clutch, when it disappears I'll know I've begun SHRINKING!!!!! Eek!)

I write books.

You don't have to be a math expert to add this one up, so I'm always looking for low-carb ways of loving food without piling on weight because I don't want to give up everything.

I love ice cream.

I love baked goods.

But I have to be sensible, and then my daughter-in-law Lacey went on a fresh foods diet and I discovered Zoodles.



Zoodles are faux noodles formed with this:


Veggetti Maker

This dish is so simple, quick and delicious, you won't believe it...

Saute about 1.5 lbs. of sweet or hot Italian sausage until cooked through... chop into bite-sized pieces as sausage cooks.


Spiral cut 1-2 regular sized zucchini with the Veggeti magic machine!


When sausage is cooked, pour in a bottle of sauce.... I like this one, but I add a good sprinkle of basil, salt, pepper and garlic and Parmesan or Romano cheese..



Heat gently.

Add the spiral zucchini noodles, AKA: Zoodles.



Heat for about 6-7 minutes over low heat. You don't want to cook the zoodles too much.

Result?


This:


This is a low-carb, crazy delicious meal in a bowl.

Kav, you could do this with just the sauce and the zoodles and cheese, or add mushrooms for some extra depth to the sauce.

Dave loved this. I mean he L-O-V-E-D it.

And he's been working so hard on the farm, that it was nice for him to walk into the house and find food, because honestly, there hasn't been a whole lot of cooking time here. And that's okay, it's summer time, and we're all working on our tans...

Okay that's not true, we're just all working!

And having fun doing it.

On the writing side, "Her Unexpected Family" released two days ago, and I hope folks love, love, love this wonderful story... Who says a beauty queen can't be the girl-next-door?

She's got to be next door to someone, right?

And Franciscan ran a sale this week on "Refuge of the Heart", and it blew the numbers out of the park in baseball terms.... so that was marvelous to see!

And life on the farm is crazy busy, but it's supposed to be this time of year, and who wants to wish their summer away?

Not me!

I must show you this cover... I'm in this collection with Mary Connealy, Julie Lessman and Anna Schmidt, and we had so much fun writing historical novellas for CHRISTMAS! Christmas in July, for certain! This one releases this fall, in mid-October...


How pretty is this??? Love it! And what a pleasure to work with those ladies!

So what do you think? Are you brave enough to try Zoodles? Someone once told me spaghetti squash worked well this way. I tried it and didn't like it at all... but we both love this because the texture is very much like al dente noodles... and the taste is amazing.

Grab a seat, I've got the espresso machine fired up, and if you're in iced coffee mode, I'm your gal! I'd love to be your barista today!

Ruth Logan Herne is honored to write the kind of stories she loves to read, so that's a pretty great deal! With well over a million books sold and more to come, she's living her dream while surrounded by small children and kitchen fails like this:

It was supposed to be dirty rice with shrimp... well, it was so salty (my bad, oops) that it was inedible... and I was so hungry!!! Alas, there was no joy in Mudville that night!

And the hens are working overtime:

That's a lot of good protein right there!

Or pudding!

And that's it from upstate New York today!

God bless youse!

17 comments:

  1. My husband and I bought a Veggetti last year and love our zucchini noodles. I usually buy fresh ground turkey or frozen turkey meatballs and add them to my spaghetti sauce.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patty, Lacey uses turkey sausage and it's marvelous. I used pork sausage and that was great, too!

      Delete
  2. I was just thinking how awesome it would be to also combine the zucchini noodles with squash and onions, sauté in olive oil.
    Oh, then...yeah...the ideas are coming. Zucchini noodles would even work better in zucchini bread than what I do. Guess I need to go get one of those contraptions. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary, I love mine, and the Veggetti is so cheap compared to so many on the market. And it's fast... Zucchini bread.... YES! Gotta love zucchini bread!

      Delete
  3. I have a veggie noodle maker/slicer from Pampered Chef, and I love making noodles like this! I usually use them in stir fries (a little chicken, some onions, cabbage, carrots and zucchini noodles sauteed together with some teriyaki seasoning...mmm..).

    But this...this heavenly spaghetti thing! My oldest son - carb-loving fiend that he is - might even like this!

    Thank you, Ruthy!

    And I picked up "Her Unexpected Family" at the store last night. Score!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jan, thank you so much! I had so much fun with that book!!!!

      And I was amazed that Dave loved this. He's a meat and potatoes and pasta guy, he does not try new things... and he'd eat this every single day I think. It was a great dish.

      And now I'm going to try this in a stir fry and I will love you forever, Drex!

      Delete
  4. This is a fun food words post. Zoodles and Veggetti. If I had a pair of hamsters that`s what I would name them. :-)

    Guess what I`m reading right now? Her Unexpected Family! I couldn`t get it online up here but they had it at the bookstore so I snatched up a copy. Yay!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kav!!! I'm so glad you got it, thank you! Emily and Grant and those twins!!!! Oh my gosh, Dolly had me eating out of the palm of her stubborn little hand! So stinkin' cute!!!!

      And yeah, Zoodles has become a mainstay word on this side of the pond. We are zoodle-holics!

      Delete
  5. The Zoodler is on my list!!! Speaking of shrimp..we had Crab Louie again for dinner last night. Sorry you missed it. Yummy.

    Love that novella cover!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my stars, I can't even think of how I ruined that shrimp dish. And I was so hungry.... It had been an interesting day and no food.... I finally gave up and went to bed and figured my stupid capris would thank me.

      Clearly I should not cook when tired!!!!

      Delete
  6. I need to look for that Zoodler! Didn't see it at my grocery store last week, but I bought the zucchini anyway, lol. Everything looks yummy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lyndee, you can use a peeler but then the pieces are so thin that it's easy to overcook. The Veggetti is just plain fun. It makes most of the seeds go away, and the zoodles have great texture! Oh my stars, I love them.

      Delete
  7. I just ordered one of those Veggetti things. What a smart DIL, Ruthy. I don't much care for zucchini, but with pasta sauce - sounds kind of yummy. Oh, while I was ordering I came across a Veggetti cookbook, Kindle edition about $3. Excited to look at it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cindy, I wouldn't have believed how good this is because we love pasta... but this is easily as good and maybe better. I'm so glad you're trying it!!!

      Delete
  8. I got one of these last year and we love it, makes great noodles for spaghetti.

    Love the Christmas novella cover. I preordered the kindle version of Her Unexpected Family, but if its already in the stores, I'm looking for a copy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, Tracey, I love you! Thank you, and I can't believe I didn't know about Zoodles before now. OH MY STARS!!! All that deliciousness and almost no carbs. YES! Victory!!! :)

      Thank you, my beautiful friend!

      Delete