A paleo approach to cooking and meal planning can offer some fun and nutritious substitutes to old time favorites. One of these wonderful substitutes for pasta noodles is zoodles. These are just zucchini cut into noodle-like spirals and served raw with your favorite Italian sauce and meat. These are faster and easier to make than regular pasta as well as being naturally gluten-free and a great way to incorporate more nutritious veggies into your diet. 
Mel's Italian Sauce with Zoodles
Author: Melanie Dearing
Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: Recipes
Ingredients
- 3 – 4 Zucchini cut into spirals (I use Paderno Tri-Blade vegetable slicer)
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil (optional)
- 2 tsp. fine ground Celtic salt
- 2 24 oz. jars Italian sauce (I like butternut squash sauce from Costco)
- 1 lb. Italian chicken sausage cut into slices (I like Coleman’s)
- 2 Tbsp. avocado oil
- 1 medium onion diced (optional)
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms (optional)
- 1 Tbsp. minced garlic (optional)
- 1 Tbsp. dried Italian seasoning (optional)
- 2 Tbsp. fresh basil and/or parsley (optional)
- 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup coconut aminos
- 1 Tbsp. Trader Joe’s 21 salute seasoning
Instructions
- Spiral cut zucchini and place in large bowl.
- Mix with olive oil and dried Italian seasoning or salt and set aside.
- Sauté onion and mushroom.
- Add sliced chicken sausage and garlic and heat through.
- Add sauce, vinegar, aminos, seasoning and fresh herbs.
- Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes stirring frequently.
- Place desired amount of zoodles on each plate and spoon sauce on top.
