Long before I found Paleo, I was unapologetically obsessed with carbs. Not knowing any better, that really meant I was rather preoccupied with grains. I didn’t think a meal was complete without some kind of “heart healthy whole grain” product of one type or another. In fact, I never thought I would be able to remove bread and pasta from my life at all. I thought it would be impossible. Luckily, that didn’t turn out to be true. I could “give them up” and quite happily.
I don’t generally advocate for, or recommend, any kind of Paleo “substitute” foods. You’ll notice there aren’t a lot of desserts or treats on this site, even of the savory kind. That doesn’t mean I’m perfect and I definitely do treat myself once in a while! My vices these days are more likely to be a glass of red and a cheese plate than a piece of pie or a bread basket, that’s all.
While I don’t miss pasta in and of itself – it’s actually pretty bland, really – I DO sometimes miss the variety that it could bring to the table. Twirling spaghetti around your fork is pretty fun and who doesn’t love slurping noodles or piling chopsticks high with deliciousnes?.
So what’s my favorite way to still enjoy noodle-y goodness without a gluten-fest? Making vegetable noodles, of course! You can turn to the old favorite standby, spaghetti squash, or you can even turn all kinds of vegetables into swirly, twirly plates or bowls of awesomeness, using any of these tools below.
The Vegetable Noodle Spiralizer
I’m not going to lie to you, this one is my favorite. It’s super easy to use, cleans up in the dishwasher and can turn sweet potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini, beets, carrots, cucumbers and a whole bunch of other things into fork-twirling goodness. The only downside to this one is the fact that it does take up a little storage space. If the Spiralizer is a bit too large for your kitchen, keep reading!
The Handheld Vegetable Noodle Maker
This model takes up much less space and can fit in a standard kitchen drawer. It’s perfect for zucchini and carrot noodles, but it won’t be any good for the larger, tougher vegetables.
The Julienne Peeler
Again, this is nice and compact – and it’s sturdy, too. If all you want to do is make occastional zucchini or cucumber noodles, all you need is this handy dandy tool.
Using any one of those options above gives you a way to make vegetable noodles that will suit your needs, budget and storage space requirements. Hoorah!
I’ve also included recipes below for vegetable options that don’t need spiralizing, like cabbage and spaghetti squash: enjoy!
Have you ever made lots of noodles ahead of time and frozen them for convenience? If yes, does it work well?
Here is a great post which goes through which veggie noodles can be frozen or refrigerated in advance – hope it helps! 🙂
http://www.inspiralized.com/2013/10/04/ground-rules-spiralizing-and-storing-noodles/
I can’t access these recipes. When I click on the photos, it just opens up the photo. There are apparently no links attached to these photos anymore. At least not the ones I tried. It looks like you recently upgraded your website, though. Maybe this page fell through the cracks. 🙂
Oh, phooey, you’re totally right! I guess we broke this page with a missing gallery plugin. Hmm.. I’ll see what I can salvage!