Today’s Topic: Taking a cue from Adam Brown’s recent post, write a post documenting what you eat in a day! Feel free to add links to recommended recipes/shops/whatever. Make it an ideal day or a come-as-you-are day – no judgments either way. (Thank you, Katy of Bigfoot Child Have Diabetes for this topic.) To see other posts in this category, click here.
Here we are on Day 5 of 2015 Diabetes Blog Week. More than once this week I have strayed from the topic at hand and today is another one of those days. Rather than outline what I eat in a day, I am going to share one of my favorite cooking gadgets and highlight the most beautiful salad that I have ever made. Katy who submitted this topic won’t be mad at me because if she doesn’t already have a spiralizer, she will after she learns about zoodles and sees my beautiful salad.
Earlier this year on Facebook, my D-buddy Kate Cornell talked about fixing zoodles for dinner. I am not a very inspired cook, but this discussion interested me. Like what in the heck is a zoodle? Whenever I read what Kate is cooking, I always wish that her delicious low carb meals could beam through the Internet and land on my table. Unfortunately that hasn’t happened yet…
I was sufficiently intrigued with zoodles to find out from Kate that they are zucchini noodles that are made using a gadget called a spiralizer. Zoodles cook quickly and are an amazingly good substitute for noodles for those who want to eat low carb, increase the quantity of vegetables in their diet, or eat gluten-free. I asked Kate what brand of spiralizer she owns and ordered the same one (Gefu) from Amazon.
My spiralizer arrived and I spiralized zucchini (zoodles) and yellow squash (squoodles?) for dinner several times. They were delicious and so easy to prepare. Amazingly I have not yet served my zoodles with pasta sauce, but I will soon.
In early April I was having a friend over for supper and decided that I wanted to use my spiralizer to make either soup or a salad. I looked at photos online and found the most gorgeous vegan salad. You can find the photo and recipe here.
I do not follow a vegan diet and it is probably a sacrilege that I used this salad as a model for my chicken salad plate. But I did and I thought the result was great. (The other non-vegan part of the salad besides the chicken and probably the mayonnaise was that I used feta cheese instead of tofu.) Later on in April I had more friends over for dinner and once again plated the salad. I was universally complimented for the dinner and it was a great low-carb meal for me. I served bread both times with the salad and that is why the left side of the plate is empty in the photo.
Since then I have purchased a spiralizer cookbook called Inspiralized by Ali Maffucci. Ironically she learned about the spiralizer from her mother who has Type 1 diabetes. I also follow Maffucci’s blog. You can also Google spiralizer recipes and find great meal ideas.
The Gefu spiralizer is fine and I left it at my Arizona house. I have just ordered a new spiralizer for Minnesota and decided to buy one with more blades because Maffucci talks about blades 1-4 in her recipes and the Gefu has only 2. You can find spiralizers priced from about $15 to $50. I am not experienced enough to provide any advice.
Random spiralizer fact: According to Maffucci, one of her readers sent in a video with her child jumping rope with a zoodle.
Another fact: You can also use a spiralizer to make “rice” from vegetables or even spiraled buns.
Final fact: If I can do this, anyone can.
Test Guess and Go 
I do love a spiralizer. Mine is the little Gefu that works like a pencil sharpener. It is very hard to get a sweet potato through, but it is a whiz at zoodling. I clearly need to up my game! Your salad is beautiful.
I just bought one and am going to try it soon Laddie. We are transitioning to lchf and all of us already love zucchini. You pics look amazing!
I have a wonderful mandoline which I had used to make veggie noodles and similar things but that thing is extremely dangerous. I never lost a finger, but let’s just say my wife would leave the room when I would use it. So I bought a simple vegetti for $15 at BedBathandBeyond. It works great. One of our favorite meals is now zucchini spaghetti with spiralized zucchini quickly blanched with spaghetti sauce, meatballs and cheese. Thanks for sharing, every kitchen should have one of those.
Brian Brian Brian – I DID nearly lose the tip of my finger with the mandoline. Nice concept, terrible gadget……..
Since we’re talking spiralisers, there’s a great recipe for pad thai salad that I found on another blog: http://www.thelondoner.me/2015/01/pad-thai-salad-low-carb.html. They’re such a clever idea and give me heaps more inspiration to eat veggies. Thanks for sharing.
I like spaghetti squash too! I have never tried a spiralizer yet. Gotta head to Amazon and get one:)
I also love mine – got it at Target. Top the noodles with a little basil, tomato, and parmesan, and you’re all set. I make cauliflower rice by putting raw florets in a food processer and pulsing for just a couple seconds. Yummy.
PS you can also do parsnips and turnips. And for a little zip, one of those big white Chinese daikon radishes (but in a small amount because they are very strong tasting.
Oh my… Zoodle. This is the single greatest thing I could’ve stumbled across today. And a… Zoodle maker. Must have this. And that salad looks marvelous. This becomes my mission for the weekend, to either find a place that has Zoodles or to make my own. It’s on. Thanks for this, Laddie!!!
I received a vegetable noodle maker at my bridal shower, but I’ve never used it (and that was almost a year ago!) This inspired me to do so, but it will probably be another year before I get a single meal planned in advance (this is why I never cook. I have zero patience for meal planning before I go to the grocery store and just buy random things to eat separately). Having a good Thai restaurant less than 100 steps from my front door doesn’t help…
Thanks for the shout-out! I posted my Zoodle recipe today as well. Great minds. 🙂 Your salad is fantastic! I have yet to use my spiralizer for that. Now I will! I’m going to check out the cookbook too. Thanks Laddie!
That’s a beautiful salad,& you’ve reminded me that we do in fact own a Spiralizer which I haven’t used in forever. And now I want to.(gonna get the cookbook for ideas) Thank you!
That’s a beautiful salad,& reminds me that I do own a Spiralizer which I haven’t used in forever. Inspired to get a cookbook and start using it more. Thank you!
This is so fun and looks delicious!
I was just at Target this afternoon and they have them for $14.99
That’s it, your post (and all these comments) has made me decide that I’m finally going to go get one! TODAY. I often make ‘zoodles’ but do them by hand with a grater, peeler or knife. Thanks for the shove/post I needed! 🙂
The vegan spiralized salad turned chickenized just made me giggle.
I have a spiralizer but it’s just one of the cheap ones and I sliced my finger so bad on it that I haven’t used it again.
Now i want to.
I’ve been curious about spiralizers and you just inspired me to get one. Beautiful salads!
Your salads are beautiful and look so delicious! If you figure out how to beam food through the Internet, send some my way too! 😉
Wow! Such a beautiful way to present food. It makes it look like art
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