Delicious Quick Fix Zucchini
Quick and Easy Hot Zucchini
The other night, I grabbed veggies out of the produce drawer in the refrigerator to wash and slice for a quick snack. It wasn't until I made the first slice that I realized I had grabbed a zucchini instead of a cucumber. While sliced zucchini can make a fine snack, it wasn't the cucumber I had been expecting, so I was a little disappointed. I decided to use a peeler to imitate zucchini noodles or "zoodles". When I was done peeling down the zucchini into strips, I put them in a sandwich bag into the fridge, thinking that I would snack on them the next day at my leisure.
Later on, when it came time to make dinner, I was stumped. I had not planned well. It was getting later and I was getting more hungry by the second. When I opened the fridge, I saw the baggie of zucchini and inspiration struck.
I thought back to a "diabetic" cookbook someone gifted me when I returned to work after my hospitalization at diagnosis. The one recipe that appealed to me was a zucchini parmesan dish that I had attempted a handful of times, but cutting the zucchini into medallions meant that they never seemed to cook as thoroughly as I'd hoped.
Anyways, this all comes back to the peeled zucchini in a bag because I realized I could use it to make the zucchini parmesan. Instead of running to go find the old cookbook, I went with my instinct and memory. I am proud to report that my instinct did not fail me and my dinner turned out to be delicious.
Since it ended up being such an easy and yummy meal, I thought you might be interested in how I threw this quick dinner together so you can try it at home. There are no measurements, just flavors and steps so feel free to make it your own and experiment while following your own instincts.
Delicious Quick Fix Zucchini
Ingredients
zucchini (peeled, shredded, or spiralized)
olive oil
white balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
shredded parmesan cheese (optional for our dairy-free friends)
Here are recipe steps based upon what I did:
Step 1 - Once you have your zucchini prepared (peeled, shredded, or spiralized), drizzle olive oil in the bag, zip it up, and toss the bag until the zucchini is lightly coated.
Step 2 - Drizzle white balsamic vinegar into the bag and repeat coating process.
Step 3 - Set up pan over stove on medium heat with a small drop of olive oil to prep the pan, then add zucchini to the pan and lightly season with salt and pepper.
Step 4 - Let the veggies sizzle a little bit while being sure to get all of the pieces cooked. It will cook down a bit.
Bon appetit!
Step 5 - Just as the zucchini begins to cook down and look more like cooked noodles, sprinkle the parmesan cheese and stir to melt.
Step 6 - Plate, sprinkle with cool parmesan (if desired), and serve!
It is even easier than it sounds, so please don't hesitate to give this a try. I generally choose to exclude pasta from my diet because of the way my blood sugar reacts and I usually don't miss it. Chowing down on this dish reminded me of sitting down to a plate of pasta, except I felt lighter than I would have after eating all of those carbs.
In full disclosure, I did not weigh the zucchini for an accurate carb count, guessing that the serving I ate was minimal, somewhere between 5-10 carbs. If you have diabetes or count macros, just pull out your food scale to weigh the raw zucchini to get a quick measure for precision.
If you give this idea a try, I would love to hear how it turned out after making it your own! Do you have another low carb, full flavor quick meal fix your family enjoys? Share in the comments!