Zucchini Pasta Time!

I don't have a fancy camera, just my phone. My food is real and it is what it would look like if you made it in your own kitchen.

Recently, I made a lovely dish with chicken and zucchini noodles topped with my homemade pesto.

In our home, it's Mark and I. So we cook for 2. Well, I cook for 4 and cross my fingers for leftovers. We love food. The worst part is that Mark can eat whatever he likes and it doesn't seem to affect him at all since he is overly active at work for about 10 hours a day. Me not so much. If I even look at half the food he eats, I put on weight. Sometimes I don't mind this.

To me, it's not about the number on the scale but how I feel. Somedays I am happy to eat the same meal as Mark and other days I crave something lighter. These days is when I hit up dishes like my zucchini pasta with chicken.

First I made pesto.

I have a lovely basil plant that I am trying my best to revive every few days and so far it seems to be working. I picked as much basil as I could. I cup the herb in my hand and clap my hands together without crushing the herbs. By doing this, the fragrance of the herbs are highlighted. I can smell the basil through the kitchen now.

My basil plant... please live on!

I try to keep my cooking to whole foods and nonprocessed ingredients. I make sure I already had grated parmesan cheese in the fridge. Freshly grated parmesan is a staple in my fridge - just in ca. For nuts this time I chose a blend of pine nuts and macadamia nuts because why not? I didn't have enough basil from my little plant so I used baby spinach as well.

I add the basil, spinach, nuts, cheese to a mixer and blend them all together. Once all the ingredients are mixed I slowly add the Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the mixture until it is smooth. I save all my jars from food that I do purchase so I have spare jars around everywhere. I use a jar to store my pesto in the fridge. 

Homemade pesto that tastes as good as it looks.

I heat up my chicken on the stove with a little extra virgin olive oil and add salt, pepper and paprika (my flavour of choice right now) for taste. While my chicken cooks, I prepare my zucchini noodles. For my zucchini noodles, I simply take a smooth potato peeler, julienne peeler or vegetable spiral and peel up my zucchini. These utensils all perform the same task, just use whichever one you have on hand or that gives you the look of the dish that you are going for. To put more colour into your dish, you can also add carrot. Once my vegetables are peeled, I add a bit of salt to them and toss them with the salt in a bowl. If I am at the bottom of the container of nuts, the salt from that works a treat. You can either warm up the vegetables with your chicken and pesto or mix your chicken in with your vegetables and pesto.  

Untensils to spiral or peel zucchini for noodles.

The recipe:

Pesto:

Ingredients -

• 1 cup basil
• 1 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup of nuts ( your choosing)
• extra virgin olive oil

Instructions -

Place basil, spinach, parmesan cheese and nuts in a blender and blend until relatively smooth.

Add in extra virgin olive oil into the blender as it is still going until mixture is smooth but not runny.

Store in a jar in the fridge.

Chicken and Zucchini Noodles with Pesto: 

Ingredients -

• 1/2 kilo Chicken breasts
• 2 zucchini (whole)
• pesto
• extra virgin olive oil
• herbs and salt and pepper for taste

Instructions -

On the stove top, heat up olive oil in a pan on warm. Pat chicken with salt, pepper and any other herbs that you like. Cook chicken in extra virgin olive oil once the oil is warm.

Peel zucchini and place in a bowl. Add salt to zucchini and mix with hands until zucchini becomes softer.

Place zucchini, chicken and pesto in a bowl. Enjoy!

Plate up and enjoy your Zucchini Pasta!