More squash

I saw an online video on how to make squash noodles. It look easy and interesting and I thought maybe I could get the boys eating more veggies this way. (Plus, I have a bad habit of eating my weight in pasta...) The only tricky thing I ran into came up when I actually sat down to make my grocery list and reviewed the video. It says to use "summer squash" - a category which includes many, many different kids of squash. In the recipe (below), it suggested using zucchini, and the video seemed to use yellow zucchini. So I opted to get 2 yellow and one green zucchini and try from there...

Prep time was stupid easy. The boys were playing in the backyard while Jay was mowing the lawn. I carted everything out on my handy serving tray (one of my fave purchases!) and set up shop on the patio table. The boys were curios and sampled the zucchini ribbons as I peeled them off. Those ended up keeping spat into the grass, mostly.

I was unsure whether or not to use the outside peel of the zucchinis. So instead of throwing all caution to the wind, I picked a few of the brightly coloured thicker peels and tossed them in the bowl with the others, and discarded the rest. In the end, I'm glad I only used a few - I was worried they wouldn't soften enough but that wasn't a problem. The bitter aftertaste they left was, not unpleasant, but just not well matched with the rest of the meal.

While outside, I also whipped up my fave chickpea salad, and had to fend off suddenly starving boys as they raided my salad bowl with their grubby little fists.

While they finished playing, I ran inside to cook the zucchini strips. Splashed some olive oil into a high sided frying pan, added some pre-diced garlic, sea salt and fresh ground pepper, then tossed in the noodles. Stirred them around for a couple of minutes, and voila!

No pictures, since it was made and devoured so quickly (Jay and I liked it), but here's the recipe, modified from the original posting on Summer Tomato:

• 3 summer squash such as zucchini
• 1/2 jar thick style pasta sauce
  
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Chop off ends of zucchini and peel as in video. Discard the outer peel.

Heat oil and garlic in large pan on stovetop. Add salt and pepper. Add noddles, toss to coat in oil and spice mixture. Cook for 3- 5 minutes on medium heat, turning often to cook evenly. Do not overcook - they will get soft and mushy quickly since they are so thin.

Heat pasta sauce and serve over noodles. Top with fresh parmesean cheese, if you like!

The boys weren't crazy about the pasta. They each tried a bite or two and shuddered. They did lick off all the sauce. Jay and I found it to be very tasty! To round out our meals, I brought out a container of knock-off guac (store bought guacamole - how depressing is that?!) and some corn chips. The boys had fun playing with that for a bit. Then we gathered some more raspberries from the untended patches growing in the yard and stuffed ourselves silly. Yum!