One of my hobbies that I'd never admit to anyone in person or online profile is that I love wandering the aisles of HomeGoods, TJMaxx, Marshalls, Ross, Burkes, all of those discount department type stores. I'll spend a lunch break maybe once a week browsing. I don't always buy something, but when I do, it's something I've carried around the entire store with me to weigh my decision. One such thing was this tiny Joie veggie spiralizer, or zoodler. It sat in my uncategorizable kitchen things drawer for weeks before I used it though, but once I did, yesss. It makes having zucchini noodles in a pasta dish so easy.
Zoodles, while a commendable dinner choice, are not my favorite. I've got a few recipes that are zoodle only, but they leave me hungry again later usually. So when I came across this ginger garlic noodle with zucchini and scallions recipe from Real Life Dinner, I knew it was time to use the apparatus. A few changes to the recipe I made include not using whole wheat noodles because I hate them, and using Laxmi ginger garlic paste because a friend gifted me a huge jar before she moved cross country.
It's very easy to use, and probably the only drawback is that it seems to be fit only for medium sized zucchini. Which if that's your zoodle of choice, then you're going to need one. You can find them on Amazon, or keep your eyes open at your favorite discount store. I think I got this at TJMaxx, but sometimes when you go to a few of those stores in the same day, they blend together.
I put the funny cone shaped end leftovers from zoodling into my vegetable stock bag, and enjoyed these noodle-zoodles for lunch today, with plenty for leftovers tomorrow. I've got some allergy issues going on from the wild variances in the weather thanks to the hurricane activity but little things like these spicy noodles and plenty of anti-inflammatory drugs seem to be helping a bit, for now. More hurricanes and unexpected weather phenomena await.
You can use zoodles in other recipes that call for spaghetti too, like squid ink pasta or preserved lemon butter pasta.