Stacy Rody
Currently browsing: Zucchini Noodles

Zucchini Noodles

  • Healthy Pesto Recipe – Beyond Delicious!

    ?Healthy Pesto Recipe?

    Our families favorite meal! This healthy pesto recipe is the best meal.  If you want something clean and fancy for dinner this weekend, you’ll love this!  It is not just any recipe.  We have been having this one at least one to two times a month for a few years now.  We all love it.  My son, my daughter and especially my husband.  It also makes pretty good left-overs.

    I want to talk about basil.  I have included a break down the health benefits from Dr. Mercola.

    “Basil also is considered one of the healthiest herbs. It’s best when fresh, exuding a sweet, earthy aroma that indicates not only the promise of pleasantly pungent flavor, but an impressive list of nutrients. Vitamin K, essential for blood clotting, is one of them. Just two tablespoons of basil provides 29 percent of the daily recommended value.

    Basil also provides vitamin A, which contains  beta-carotenes, powerful antioxidants that protect the cells lining a number of numerous body structures, including the blood vessels, from free radical damage. This helps prevent cholesterol in  blood from oxidizing, helping to prevent atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and stroke.

    Other vitamins and minerals in basil include iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium, vitamin C and potassium. Not surprisingly, basil also has antibacterial properties and contains DNA-protecting flavonoids.  It’s the flavonoids and volatile oils in basil that give it the most health benefits, the former protecting on the cellular level, with antibacterial properties related to its volatile oils. Among these are estragole, linalool, cineole, eugenol, sabinene, myrcene, and limonene, all capable of restricting the growth of numerous harmful bacteria, including listeria, staphylococcus, E. coli, yersinia enterocolitica, and pseudomonas aeruginosa.

    Some antibiotic medications which have been found to be resistant to some of these strains have been inhibited by basil extracts. One of those oils – eugenol – can block the activity of the harmful enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX). This same effect puts basil in the “anti-inflammatory” category because it provides relief from related problems, such as rheumatoid arthritis.”

    Basil is something that I really think is important to add into our diets on a normal basis.  I also use the basil essential oil with an infuser in our house about once a week or every other week.

    Healthy Pesto Recipe
    • I buy Trader Joe’s live basil plant because it’s the best price in town. Rinse and tear leaves away from the stem. I use the whole plant.
    • 2 Tablespoons of pine nuts
    • 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan (or) a vegan option is nutritional yeast. You can find it in the bulk section.
    • 1/4 cup of olive oil
    • As many garlic gloves as you want. I usually do 3-4
    • Salt and pepper

    That’s it! The best healthy pesto recipe out there!!  Blend everything in a food processor and mix with your favorite brown rice noodle or gluten-free pasta and you have delicious pesto pasta dinner. Oh, zucchini noodles could work for this too!  Yum!  It’s amazing topped with thinly sliced broiled chicken and a few extra pine nuts sprinkled on top.  Let me know what you think of this healthy pesto recipe and leave a comment if you have any suggestions on making it better!

    Enjoy!

  • Great Tool for Making Zucchini Noodles!

    Making Zucchini Noodles!

    Zucchini Noodles or other nutritious fillers, are such an important part of our weekly meal planning.  They are nutritious, filling and the kids eat them!!!!  I can hide them in all kind of different sauces.

    It’s so awesome when your sis and mom-in-law celebrate health, too!  These two little items were presents this Christmas!

    Since 80% of your results come from proper nutrition with your workouts, upping your veggie game is paramount??????

    Check out my new zucchini noodles maker, the Veggetti! It’s small so I don’t have to store a big appliance. Yay!!

    This Ball salad jar has a handy-dandy dressing container the fits right into the lid. Awesome-sauce!!!!!! The brand is BNTO by cuppow.

    Project slim tummy for 2016 is already in full effect!  Don’t wait till January 4th to start making healthy decisions.  Do it now, have things like zucchini noodles, squash, and what not and find ways to make it easy like the Veggetti!

  • Zucchini Noodles and Meatballs – Gluten-Free Dinner!

    Zucchini Noodles

    Zucchini Noodles make an amazing gluten-free dinner!! My bestie made it for me and I not only want her cute white dishes, I could have this meal weekly. Trying new dishes with friends is amazing.  My cousin, who was my maid of honor in my wedding and my best friend has lost a bunch of weight in the last few months.  This is one of the main reasons why.  Having things like zucchini noodles is a huge part of the process in getting healthy.  Not that she can’t have normal noodles, but keeping away from carbs, that are very starchy and dense, has been key in her transformation.

    Gluten-free Dinner

    You do need a spiral veggie cutter. Veggetti was what we used. $12 bucks and it’s small and easy to store.  Zucchini Noodles are easy to make and can be used in tons of different dishes.  My kids will eat them…which is huge!  Here’s a little excerpt from Organic Facts about zucchini,

    “Zucchini is well known to reduce weight, yet still boosting the nutrient value of your diet. Moreover, it helps to promote eye health, and prevents all the diseases that occur from vitamin C deficiency like scurvy, sclerosis, and easy bruising. It helps to cure asthma and has a high content of vitamin C, carbohydrates, protein and fiber. Zucchini contains significant quantities of potassium, folate, and vitamin A, all of which are important for general good health. Zucchini, when eaten regularly, can effectively lower your homocysteine levels.”

    So as you can see…..add zucchini into your diet as much as possible!  You can’t go wrong….now onto what we had for dinner.

    • What she threw in:
    • Organic marinara sauce from Trader Joe’s, heated
    • Aidell’s Italian meatballs, browned
    • Zucchini noodles, boiled for 2-3 min.
    • Salt & Pepper

    We did mix some gluten-free noodles we had made for the kids in with our zucchini noodles.  It is amazing how good something can taste, even when it is not what you think it should be.  Never, once when I was growing up, do I remember having zucchini noodles!

    The salad is:
    Green onions
    Mixed greens
    Avocado

    Feel free to use this for a 21 Day Fix Meal!  And remember, add zucchini noodles into your meal plan as much as possible!
    ??????