For starters, if you don’t have a julienne peeler – buy one now! One of the best kitchen tools I own! They are very inexpensive and amazing! I went to dinner with one of my girlfriends in Boston this past weekend to an Italian Restaurant. I was inspired by all the Italian dishes. Seeing that I don’t eat pasta anymore, I needed to get creative! I do miss having pasta (just don’t miss how it makes me feel). My Mom also used to make us homemade Spg & Meatballs every Sunday growing up, so I turned a craving and a tradition into a meal. I used a julienne peeler on the zucchini to make ‘zoodles’ and I took sweet sausage out of the casing and rolled into balls to make meatballs. I normally will make my own fresh sauce but I was very hungry so I used Trader Joes homemade sauce that passed my Nutrition Facts standards. 🙂 Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did. It’s very easy, took about 20 mins, if that. Quick, yummy “Italian” meal! Enjoyyyy!!
Ingredients
2 Large Zucchini (This made me 3 meals).
1 Package Sweet Sausage (5 links)
1 Can Tomato Sauce of your choice (I used Trader Joes homemade sauce)
1 Garlic Clove
Fresh Parsley
Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper (if desired)
Directions
Heat a large pan on medium heat with olive oil and chopped up garlic.
While the pan is heating, remove the casing of your sausage links and mix all together in a ball. Use a spoon to cup out the sausage and roll into balls (you can make the meatballs as big/small as you want). When the pan is hot, place the balls into the pan and cook on each sides until cooked through (10 – 15 mins).
While the meatballs are cooking. Use your julienne peeler to peel the zucchini strips.
Optional: Use paper towels if necessary to remove any excess water from the zucchini so your dish isn’t too watery.
When the meatballs are done, put into a bowl to the side and saute the zucchini in the olive oil/garlic/sausage fat for about 3 mins. I like the zucchini to stay firm and not too mushy so I saute this quick.
Heat the tomato sauce in a pan (2 mins).
Place the ‘zoodles’ in a bowl/plate, top with sauce, meatballs and chopped from parsley. Season with Salt/Pepper if desired.
Happy Noming!! 🙂 🙂
thedailydiehl 
Katie- zoodles are so good. I would have never thought of doing that. I made them to night with bison meatballs with some leftover sweet red peppers, garlic and some left over red onions. Was so good. Really hit the spot with out having pasta anymore.
Keep the recipes coming.
BTW the stuffed peppers with sweet potato and chicken was amazing.
Matt
Matt, I love this!!!! I’m glad you’re enjoying everything! People always think eating healthy means starvation and a lot of boring salads! Now you’re understanding that’s not true! I’ll def keep recipes coming! Stay tuned! 🙂 🙂
I also wasn’t willing to get out of my comfort zone of chicken and broccoli! Now I’m having all kinds of different foods that I would have thought of eating a year ago. Why didn’t anyone tell me avocados were so good on a burger or to throw some peppers, cilantro, and mango on a piece of fish with lime and lemon juice!
Haha!! Right! All that tastes even better than the crap out there!
Matt – Try the egg/avocado/bacon for breakfast! It’s amazing!
I have all of that at home. I will be making that tomorrow morning.
And you couldn’t be more right about all the crap out there. I can’t believe I was eating that instead of what I’m eating now! Its so much better and I haven’t felt better in years.