Zucchini and summer squashes , serious nutritional power-packed veggies
Summer squashes and zucchini are high in vitamins A, B6, and C, folate, magnesium, fiber, riboflavin, phosphorus, and potassium. That’s a serious nutritional power-packed veggie. Yellow squash is also rich in manganese. This mineral helps to boost bone strength and helps the body’s ability to process fats and carbohydrates.
In the late summer here in South Florida we have a LOT of summer squashes and zucchinis.
So I had to really experiment with new and interesting ways to prepare them.
One of them is making spaghetti out of zucchini. It’s really easy when you have a good spiralizer.
This is a tool I can’t do without in my kitchen. It’s so useful for cutting vegetables, which I eat a lot to maintain my weight, in original and bite sizes.
You can find zucchini spaghetti in many raw food recipes, but I don’t digest it well when it’s raw, so I cook it a little with cumin, coriander and fennel or a few thyme sprigs.
Nutless pesto
With my Pitta dominant nature, I have to be careful with the amount of nuts I eat. Too many will create phlegm in my throat and digestive troubles.
So even though I love pesto, I had to find another way to make it.
The recipe below is from Rebecca Katz’ book One Bite at a Time, Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and Their Friends. An amazing book by the way filled with very flavorful recipes which I regularly use.
This nutless pesto is absolutely delicious with my zucchini spaghetti.
If you’re missing the cheesy taste simply add a little bit of nutritional yeast. Add 1 Tbsp at first and then depending on your taste, add more gradually.
Leave a comment, and let me know how you enjoy this recipe!
For more ideas on how to prepare summer squashes, check my black eye peas with butternut squash recipe!
- 1 zucchini
- 3 handfuls of arugula
- A handful of basil leaves
- One garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbsp of lemon juice
- Olive oil
- Thyme sprigs
- Salt to taste
- Prepare the pesto first. Add arugula, basil, garlic, lemon juice, 3 Tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt in a food processor. Blend. Stop and scrape sides with scapula. Then blend again and pour additional olive oil while blending until smooth but not too oily add. Add salt to taste.
- Using a spiralizer, make spaghetti with zucchini. Place zucchini spaghetti in a pan with a little bit of water, salt and thyme sprigs and cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Strain water, top spaghetti with arugula and basil pesto
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