Whole Wheat Zucchini Spaghetti

Warming! This post leads from this:

to this:

to this:

Consider yourself warned.

Tonight's dinner was Whole Wheat Zucchini Spaghetti  and it was a success.

I adapted the recipe from here because I didn’t have 1. the equipment 2. the ingredients and 3. the time to make this recipe as she made it. She was a bit intensive. Plus, I only wanted to feed two, not four. So anyway my end result was probably very similar. We loved it and slurped up every last noodle.

The red pepper flakes gave this a really nice spice which was perfect. Don’t skimp on that or the cheese. Feta is my recent cheese love and it plus the parmesan help amp up the flavor. 

All in all, this was a light, guilt-free, very refreshing dish that makes you feel good about yourself afterward. It’s the food equivalent of running a mile.  Except more enjoyable.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Spaghetti 

• 1 whole zucchini 
• Half dollar size handful of wheat pasta 

For the garlic olive oil sauce:

• 3 TBS olive oil
• Heaping 1/2 tbs minced garlic
• 5 dashes red pep flakes (if you container has the holes. Otherwise probably just ¼ tsp.)
• 1 tbs chopped basil
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• Feta and Parmesan on top

Basil olive oil mix:

• ¼ cup basil
• 2 tbs olive oil

For the pasta and zucchini:

1. While the water is boiling, use a veggie peeler and cut thin strips of zucchini. Stop when you reach the middle- only peeled till the mushy seed part. Then, use a paring knife to cut the strips into strands (or if you're an expert peeler, just peel them into strands).  Season with salt and pepper. If your zucchini is very thin, leave it be. If it is on the thicker side, put a colander over the pot of boiling pasta and steam them for a few minutes.
2. Put fresh basil leaves in a food processor or finely chop. Heat the 3 TBS olive oil in a pan and add garlic. Saute until garlic is light brown.  Add the red pepper flakes, stir for a minute and then add the basil. Remove from heat.
3. Make the basil-olive oil sauce by putting the leftover minced basil and 2 TBS olive oil in a blender. Liquefy.  Then, in the same pan used for the other olive oil mix, heat for a minute to combine the flavors.  The recipe said to strain this but I don’t have a small sieve so that was out of the question for me. Instead we threw the entire thing into the pasta and it was delicious.
4. When pasta is cooked and strained, add the zucchini, olive oil sauces and cheese into a large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Top with more feta and parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!