Spaghetti with meat sauce was probably the first thing I learned to cook as a child. It was my favourite for a very long time. Although the older I got the more it just felt like a meal that would weigh me down. My parents would always make spaghetti with ground beef, a can of spaghetti sauce, and some noodles. The beef always leaves me feeling greasy the next day and I always end up eating too many noodles leaving me to feel bloated. So while this was a childhood favourite as I grew it became more of a meal that came along with a “meal hangover”. The meal hangover also comes along with lasagnas, big beef burgers, sugary snacks, etc. Although this type of hangover doesn’t leave my bedridden for the day it always leaves me feeling heavier and unmotivated. So to avoid that today I decided to make spaghetti without the noodles and without the beef. I have also always wanted to try zucchini noodles so this was perfect timing!
I started by chopping up half a tomato for the sauce.
I then peeled a whole zucchini for the “noodles”.
I started cooking the tomatoes on low with some olive oil in a pan. I covered these and then filled a pot of water to boil.
After the tomatoes had a couple minutes by themselves to cook I added five small mushrooms.
I then also added three cloves of garlic. I left this all to cook on low while covered.
Once the vegetables started to look like this I decided to add about 100mL of tomato sauce.
Once I had mixed the sauce in I added some seasoning. I added red chili pepper flakes, salt, Italian seasoning, dried basil, and pepper.
After I let the sauce cook on low for about 5 minutes and it looked like this I put the zucchini in the pot and started cooking them. I started cooking the zucchini at the end as it only takes a couple minutes to boil.
Once the zucchini was done I strained it and let it sit for a few minutes to drain any excess water.
Once the zucchini was ready I was able to plate it. I served my “spaghetti” with parmesan. This meal was delicious. You can definitely tell the difference between this and real spaghetti but it was still amazing. This is probably one of my favourite things I have made during this assignment.
This spaghetti is so much lighter and does not weigh me down the way that regular noodle spaghetti with meat sauce does. This meal also includes so many more vegetables than the version my parents make does. Having fresh tomato, zucchini, and mushrooms already add so much to this meal, and then by removing the noodles the meal isn’t as carb-loaded which always makes me feel better after a meal. The vegetables just bring some nutrients which I personally believe should always be squeezed in somewhere.
That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!
All photos taken by myself.
