The Spiralizer: Making Grain-Free "Pasta"

I've been testing recipes found on the Interwebs lately. I am convinced that we can make foods comparable to the pastas, breads, and other grain-filled comfort foods we love but can't eat on this diet. Luckily, the Paleo diet has been around for a while now, and blogs are full of SCD legal (or almost legal and tweakable) recipes.

For Father's Day, I made James the Paleo Banana Nut Waffles from Joyful Abode, and I can tell you with complete sincerity that they were DELICIOUS. And I don't even like bananas. Because they are made with protein-packed almond flour instead of "normal" grain flour, they are very, very filling. I couldn't even eat two squares, but I was full until lunch. Two squares took care of James' man-size appetite, too.

Tonight, we did hamburgers again, but instead of pricey portabella mushrooms, I tried an almond flour bun recipe. No link, because it was not a success. The directions were a little vague. The last step was "add enough water or flour to make a muffin-batter-like consistency." Well, my muffin batter is usually very thick, so that's what I did. I guess that's not what was meant, though, because they did not come out like hamburger buns at all. They had the taste and texture of sweet cornbread muffins, full of crumbly goodness. James smashed two down to make something more bun-like, and the bottom one held halfway through burger consumption before crumbling. So I'll have to find a different, better bun recipe, but with a little bit of tweaking, I will have amazingly delicious sweet cornbread muffins. Maybe even jalapeno-cheddar mini muffins. Mmmmmm.

Another meal we made (which will be posted with recipe and pictures next time we make it) was a walnut-based Alfredo-style sauce. The texture seemed a little...grainy. I think if I soak the walnuts overnight instead of just a couple hours, the texture will be creamier. It didn't matter so much, though, because once it was on the pasta, the tiny bit of graininess seemed like Parmesan cheese stirred in. A non-SCD friend even said it was really good.

Did you catch that, though? I said "on the PASTA" in that last paragraph! That's right, we made pasta with no wheat or any other grains. It was made of zucchini.

Lots of places on the Web say you can make zucchini pasta with a vegetable peeler. It comes out like fettuccine. I don't have the patience for that, and I wanted spaghetti-style noodles, so I got myself a spiralizer!

Joyce Chen 51-0662 Saladacco Spiral Slicer, White

Okay, okay, so it's not really called a spiralizer. It's a spiral slicer. But doesn't spiralizer sound like more fun?

To make noodles, I cut the vegetables into appropriately-sized chunks, at least one inch in diameter and no more than three inches long.

Zucchini and carrots, ready to be spiralized!

To make spaghetti-style strands, I set the lever on the front to the left, raising the sharp little teeth.

Those little teeth are mighty sharp.

With the lever to the right, the teeth go down for fettuccine-style noodles.

The teeth are hiding.

I put a chunk of zucchini in the middle and pressed down so it is impaled on the peg.

Impaled zucchini.

Then I aligned the pegs on the top presser part with the middle of the top of the zucchini chunk.

Poor zucchini, about to be impaled again.

I attached the top of the spiralizer to the bottom and pressed the handle down firmly to push the pegs into the zucchini, holding it firmly in place. I turned the handle clockwise, with consistent downward pressure...

Behold...zucchini spaghetti noodles!

And voila! Super thin spaghetti-style strands of zucchini.

Not worms, I promise.

The strands can actually be quite long, so I recommend cutting shorter chunks of zucchini.

That's one loooooong noodle!

With the lever flipped the other way, and a one-inch-wide chunk of zucchini, the noodles came out flat and curly.

Spirally but flat, less worm-like.

I say "noodles," but really it's just one long noodle.

Maybe smaller chunks would be better?

I cut the next chunk of zucchini as the directions stated, three-quarters of the way through.

Sliced, but not completely.

I must've cut it a bit deeper than I intended, because this happened:

Woops.

So I tried it with a carrot instead!

Carrot pasta? Who'da thunk?

I don't even know what to call these, but I've seen pasta this shape before!

Cute little pasta pieces!

I tried another carrot chunk, this time with just one slice down the middle, and got pieces like this:

Thicker carrot pieces.

All in all, with half of a small carrot and one small zucchini, I had these bits leftover (to be added to vegetable stock or chopped and put on salad):

The not-so-pretty leftovers.

 And I had this much vegetable noodles:

Not bad for a vegetable and a half!

Zucchini noodles can either be eaten raw or boiled. I've read that boiling them gives a texture much like real pasta, but if you boil them too long, they will fall apart. The thin spaghetti-style strands are a bit crunchier than al dente pasta when raw. I don't mind the raw texture, and cooked zucchini has less in the way of nutrients than raw zucchini. Early in the diet, though, cooked, peeled, and seeded zucchini is recommended because it is easier to digest.

Noodles can be made from so many different vegetables! As long as they're not squishy (like tomatoes) or hollow (like bell peppers), you can use just about anything to go with whatever sauce you're making. This would also make quick work of making fancy garnishes and salad toppings, possibly impressing guests so much they won't notice they're eating such healthy, grain-free fare.

I was planning on finding a grain-free recipe for something a little more like traditional pasta, maybe with coconut flour or almond flour, but this is so freaking easy, I don't think I'll bother. I got a whole dinner plate of pasta, did you see that? It only took a couple of minutes to chop and spiralize all that. Making regular pasta is way more work. I'd rather play with Shelby instead.