Three Ways to Make Noodles from Zucchini and Other Vegetables (and Recipes with Vegetable Noodles)

Low-Carb Zucchini "Noodles" are delicious and easy to make.

Have you noticed how many cooks are suddenly making "noodles" from zucchini and other types of vegetables?  I think the abundance of vegetable noodles popping up everywhere is mostly due to an amazing machine called the Spiralizer.  I'm a little obsessed with my Spiralizer lately, so watch for a few dishes with vegetable noodles coming up soon on the blog. But for those who don't want to spend nearly $35.00 for a machine to make noodles, there are actually several less expensive noodle-making gadgets that work pretty well.  I have three different cooking tools that make noodles from vegetables, so I thought it would be a fun Meatless Monday post to compare them for anyone who's curious about vegetable noodles.

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Pan-Grilled Chicken with Green Olive, Caper, and Lemon Relish (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Can Be Paleo)

Easy pan-grilled chicken with a flavorful green olive relish and Mediterranean Salad with Hummus Dressing on the side.

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this easy Pan-Grilled Chicken with Green Olive, Caper, and Lemon Relish is delicious and quick to make on a stove-top grill pan, or grill it on an outdoor grill if you prefer.  It's really the green olive, caper, and lemon relish that makes this special for me and I think the relish would be great on pork chops or fish as well.)

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Fish Taco Cabbage Bowl (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Can Be Paleo)

Jake and I loved everything about these Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls!

I have high standards about what recipes actually end up making an appearance on Kalyn's Kitchen, so if you see a recipe here you know I really enjoyed the dish.  And then in that growing collection of recipes I enjoyed, occasionally something pops up that's a complete wow!  These Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls were so delicious that when my nephew Jake and I tested the recipe, we both kept saying over and over how good they were.  The Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls are definitely an offspring of the Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowls I made last year, also a wow for me.  Obviously I love cabbage, so if you're not a cabbage fan this may not be for you. However, if you like fish tacos with slaw and spicy mayo dressing give this a try and I bet you'll love it just like I did for a quick and healthy dinner!

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Baked Eggs Skillet with Avocado and Spicy Tomatoes (Paleo, Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

This Baked Eggs Skillet with Avocado and Spicy Tomatoes only needs a few minutes in the oven.

I'm always looking for new low-carb breakfast ideas, and recently when I had avocados in the fridge that needed to get used I came up with this Baked Eggs Skillet with Avocado and Spicy Tomatoes.  If you're wondering why my avocados were in the fridge, back in 2009 I shared a life-changing discovery that ripe avocados will stop ripening and last for several days longer if you store them in the fridge.  (Please tell me I'm not the only one who can't resist those bags of avocados at Costco and then has a hard time remembering to use them?  If you have the same problem, this trick of putting avocados in the fridge will really help!) I'm totally in favor of avocado for breakfast, and this was a quick and delicious breakfast for two that only needs about 10 minutes in the oven.

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Leftover Chicken Salad with Mustard, Hearts of Palm, and Olives (Paleo, Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Use leftover grilled or rotisserie chicken to make this Leftover Chicken Salad with Mustard, Hearts of Palm, and Olives.

When it's summer, grilled chicken breasts are always on the menu at my house.  And if I'm going to take the time to prep the chicken, marinate it, and then grill it, I'm probably going to make extra grilled chicken for leftovers.  I already have 20 Summers Salads to Make with Leftover Chicken, but that doesn't stop my brain from coming up with more ideas.  Not long ago I made Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken for a big family party, and with some of the leftover chicken I made this Leftover Chicken Salad with Mustard, Hearts of Palm, and Olives.  Not only was this a delicious low-carb salad, but if you choose ingredients carefully it's Paleo, Whole 30 approved, and gluten-free.  If grilled chicken isn't on the menu at your house, this would also be delicious with leftover rotisserie chicken, the ones that jump into your basket when you're at Costco.  Enjoy!

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Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado (Paleo, Low-Carb, Gluten Free)

This Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado has a dressing that's seasoned with green chile salsa.

I'm a big fan of taco salad, so recently when my niece and cooking assistant Kara was doing the Whole 30 challenge, I thought it would be fun to come up with a taco salad that's Whole 30 approved.  I also wanted a taco salad that didn't have beef, and this delicious Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado is the combination we came up with.   Simmering the meat with green chile salsa and other seasonings, using a little of the same salsa to add flavor to the dressing, plus adding green and red bell peppers and finely chopped fresh Poblano chiles to the salad greens gives this salad a lot of savory chile flavor with just a little heat.  Kara and I both loved the flavor of this turkey taco meat mixture; if you have family members who don't want salad it would be delicious inside tortillas for regular tacos as well.

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Power Greens Salad with Blueberries and Almonds (Paleo, Gluten-Free, Vegan)

This delicious healthy salad has power greens, blueberries, and almonds to help you eat your SuperFoods.

It's Father's Day in the U.S., and all day today I'll be thinking about my amazing father, and wishing I could spend a few hours with him.  My dad was a loving and intelligent guy who liked music, reading, Kentucky Fried Chicken, tartar sauce, and any dish that had shrimp in it, and if he was still here there's no doubt I'd be making his favorite Shrimp and Macaroni Salad today.  I don't think anything can prepare you for the loss you feel when both your parents are gone, but I'm still grateful for holidays like today and how they remind me of what amazing parents I had.  If you're lucky enough to be spending the day with your dad, I hope you have a wonderful time.

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Cuban Flank Steak Recipe (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Can Be Paleo)

Flank steak is delicious when it's marinated in Cuban flavors and grilled.

 (For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites,  and this Cuban Flank Steak is one of my most-used ways to cook beef on the grill.   If you're grilling for a beef-loving Dad this weekend, I can promise this will be a hit!)

In one of my previous lives, before I became a food blogger and a South Beach Dieter, I used to be president of my local teacher's association, aka the teacher's union. This was a demanding high-pressure job that I sometimes loved, sometimes hated, but one thing I did enjoy about the job was the chance to travel. I went all over the U.S., and it was in Miami Beach that I had my first experience with Cuban food. I loved the way beef and pork were marinated in lime juice in the Cuban cuisine, so a few years ago I tried to re-create that flavor in this flank steak. If you like flank steak, give this flavorful Cuban-style marinade a try!

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Recipe for Spinach Salad with Bacon Dressing (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Can Be Paleo)

It only takes the tiniest bit of bacon to add great flavor to this Spinach Salad with Bacon Dressing!

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this flavorful salad dressing with a little chopped bacon is something I've been making for years.  The recipe has been hanging out way back in the archives on the blog since 2005 without a single photo, and I finally remembered to take some pictures to update the post!)   

Spinach salad with bacon is a culinary classic, and in the very early days of my blog I came up with this spinach salad that features a slightly creamy dressing with chopped bacon.   It only takes the tiniest amount of bacon to make this Spinach Salad with Bacon Dressing really taste amazing, and I use pre-cooked bacon and then crisp it in the microwave and blot away as much fat as possible, so if you're someone who normally avoids bacon because of the saturated fat, please do not call the bacon police!  There are endless combinations of ingredients you can add to the salad besides the bacon dressing, but sliced mini-peppers, olives, sunflower seeds, and Feta like you see in this photo is probably my favorite.  And if you're not adverse to a little bacon once in a while, this bacon dressing is also fantastic drizzled over sliced tomatoes!

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Roasted Barramundi with Tomato and Olive Relish (Low-Carb, Paleo, Gluten-Free)

My niece Kara and I both loved this Roasted Barramundi with Tomato and Olive Relish.

A few weeks ago I had a fun cooking day with my gorgeous niece Kara, and we came up with this recipe for Roasted Barramundi with Olive Relish.  The recipe was so good that Kara has already made it at home (and sent me the photo) before I managed to get it up on the blog!  We tried this out when Kara was doing the Whole 30 eating plan, and for people who care about such things this recipe is completely in line with Whole 30 or Paleo eating, and it's also South Beach Diet Phase One.  But even if you don't care the tiniest little bit about any of that, you should make this because it's amazingly delicious, and easy to make after a long day at work.  If it's getting warm where you live, I recommend roasting the fish in a toaster oven to keep the kitchen cool.

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Fried Cauliflower Rice with Shrimp, Sugar Snap Peas, and Red Pepper (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Can Be Paleo)

I'm pretty excited about this recipe for Fried Cauiflower "Rice" with Shrimp, Sugar Snap Peas, and Red Pepper!

More than four years ago I first made Cauliflower Rice, a dish of finely chopped cauliflower that's sauteed and eaten as rice, and I liked it but for some reason I didn't get inspired to experiment with it much more.  Then the Pinterest exploded with ideas for cauliflower rice, and I got intrigued with the idea again.  Recently I found myself with cauliflower, sugar snap peas, red bell peppers, and cooked shrimp all in the fridge on a day my nephew Jake was coming to cook, and we experimented a bit and came up with this recipe for Fried Cauliflower Rice with Shrimp, Sugar Snap Peas, and Red Pepper.  Not only did we absolutely love this (even Jake, who is definitely not a cauliflower fan) but it was so good that I quickly ate my leftovers for breakfast the next day, wishing I had more.

If you absolutely hate cauliflower, this is probably not for you.  But if you like cauliflower, even just a little, I promise you will be totally surprised at how delicious grain-free cauliflower fried rice can be.  I was trying to make a dish that's as close as possible to authentic fried rice, which I think is partly what made it so good, and it may be helpful to read about The Principles of Chinese Cooking before trying this if you haven't done much stir-frying.  But as long as you have all your ingredients prepped before you start to cook, and remember to keep stirring when the heat is high, this is actually not that hard to make. And if you're someone who loves fried rice but is trying to avoid carbs, this might become your new favorite recipe!

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Spicy Roasted Shrimp with Garlic, Sumac, and Aleppo Pepper (Low-Carb, Can Be Paleo)

Spicy Roasted Shrimp with Garlic, Sumac, and Aleppo Pepper cook in less than 10 minutes!

At my house it's unseasonably cool and gloomy today, and on a day like this I would happily turn on the oven for these Spicy Roasted Shrimp with Garlic, Sumac, and Aleppo Pepper.  But soon enough it will be too hot to think about roasting anything, so if you like shrimp I urge you to hurry and try this ultra-easy and quick recipe before the hot weather gets here!  Despite the Aleppo Pepper in the recipe this is only slightly spicy, and the Sumac adds a delicious citrusy note that's great with the shrimp.  You can eat this with a squeeze of lemon for a Paleo version, or try the Sour Cream and Tahini Sauce that's shown in the background.  I made this twice in a week and the shrimp disappeared quickly both times; hope you enjoy!

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Mediterranean Spaghetti Squash Sauteed with Vegetables and Feta (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Roasted spaghetti squash combines perfectly with mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, and Feta!

I think most bloggers would agree that one very fun thing about writing a blog is getting nice e-mails and comments from readers.  And sometimes those very nice readers will send you recipes that you love and plan to make over and over, which makes the nice e-mails even better.  This amazing recipe for Mediterranean Spaghetti Squash Sauteed with Vegetables and Feta came from a nice reader named Joyce.  She described the recipe to me and said if it sounded like something I'd like to try she would take a stab at writing up the recipe, and oh boy, did I ever want to try it.  Jake and I made this late in the afternoon on a long cooking day, making only a few minimal changes to Joyce's recipe, and before the night was over I had polished off all my share of the leftovers!  Even if you're not wild about spaghetti squash, if you like the other flavors here I'm willing to bet you'll like it as much as we did.

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Roasted Turnips with Balsamic Vinegar and Thyme (Paleo, Low-Carb)

Turnips don't get much respect, but these Roasted Turnips with Balsamic Vinegar and Thyme are delicious!

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, April 2014.)  Kale has had it's place in the food spotlight, and now cauliflower seems to be the new trendy vegetable, but turnips don't get much respect.   I grew up eating raw turnips as a snack (thanks mom!) but I'd never cooked turnips until 2007.  Then one day I thought to myself, "I wonder how roasted turnips with a bit of balsamic vinegar would taste?" I wasn't sure where the idea came from (although I found Roasted Kohlrabi on A Veggie Venture, which might have inspired it.)  I peeled some turnips, tossed them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and decided they were very good indeed.  When I decided to update this recipe with better photos, I added a little dried thyme to the turnips (and a little Feta cheese sprinkled over the top would also be a nice addition.)   I cooked the turnips in my countertop toaster oven, which makes them a good option when you don't want to turn on the oven.  If you've never thought of turnips as a side dish option, I hope you'll give them a try.

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Recipe for Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowl

This Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowl is just the right amount of spicy for me, but you can use less heat.

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowl that was inspired by my good friend Jeanne is something I've made over and over.  Cut up your own cabbage or use a coleslaw mix without carrots if you're making this for Phase one.)

I love it when I get a good cooking idea from one of my favorite people, and my friend Jeanne was the brains behind this Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowl recipe, which I've already cooked and devoured several times.  Jeanne has already made an appearance on the blog, because one of my all-time favorite salad recipes was created in honor of her wedding.  Then last summer she came for lunch to check out the new house, and I made two of my favorite recipes for her.  Jeanne had the brilliant idea to pile the meat from Quick Sriracha Beef Lettuce Wraps on top of Spicy Mexican Slaw, and this recipe was born.  The creamy coolness of the cabbage slaw is the perfect partner to the spicy Sriracha beef in this recipe; hope you enjoy!

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Pressure Cooker All-Beef Ancho and Anaheim Chili (Low-Carb, Can Be Paleo)

All beef chili with Ancho and Anaheim chile peppers, made in the pressure cooker.

I'm always trying to eat more vegetables and skip the meat, but when a reader asked me on Facebook about a recipe for beef chili without beans, it seemed like a perfect dish to try in my new Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker.  And I was impressed with how only 15 minutes at high pressure produced meat that was falling-apart tender, as if you had cooked it all day in the slow cooker.  When we tested the recipe I liked this best with a generous amount of cheese and sour cream to cool down the spicy flavor from the ground Ancho chiles and diced anaheims, but this Pressure Cooker All-Beef Ancho and Anaheim Chili Can Be Paleo if you eat it without the toppings.  You better make it soon though, because chili-eating days aren't going to be along for much longer, and I couldn't be happier about the warmer weather that's coming!

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South Beach Diet Friendly Chicken Nuggets with Almond Meal (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Make your own South Beach Diet Friendly Chicken Nuggets and they're Low-Carb and Gluten-Free!

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and these delicious South Beach Diet Friendly Chicken Nuggets are coated with almond meal for amazing flavor in a chicken nugget that's low-carb and Gluten-free.)

I'm not a mom who's trying to feed kids while sticking to the South Beach Diet, but if I was, I'm guessing I'd be even more excited about this way of making chicken nuggets so they're South Beach Diet friendly. The inspiration for the recipe came from my lovely friend Bonnie who adapted a recipe that used Bisquick into a South Beach approved version using almond meal or almond flour.  Bonnie's having great success on South Beach, trying out a new way of cooking and eating that she says she knows she will stick to for the rest of her life, and this chicken recipe is one of her great experiments. (Thanks Bonnie!)

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Ottolenghi's Turkey-Zucchini Meatballs with Tzatziki Sauce and Sumac (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Ottolenghi's Turkey-Zucchini Meatballs with Tzatziki and Sumac, finally perfected!

I'm a long-time fan of Israeli-born chef Yotam Ottolenghi.  I have all his cookbooks and love his signature style of cooking with an emphasis on Middle Eastern flavors and herbs.  So when I saw a recipe for Turkey and Zucchini Burgers with Green Onion and Cumin in Jerusalem, I couldn't wait to experiment with it.  And then I tried over and over and over again to get the recipe to work as Turkey-Zucchini Meatballs, and no matter what I did my meatballs fell completely apart when I tried to cook them.  If the flavor combinations in this recipe hadn't been such a wow for me, I would have just given up on the idea, but I devoured every batch of meatballs that wasn't quite blog-worthy (and definitely not photo-worthy), so I kept pondering what made my meatballs so fragile compared to the burger patties in the book.  And I'm glad I persevered and cracked the meatballs code, because the final version of this recipe was such a keeper.  I did three important things to get the recipe to work as meatballs in my American kitchen.

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Barely-Cooked Asparagus with Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette (Low-Carb, Paleo, Gluten-Free)

This Asparagus with Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette was simple and bursting with flavor.

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and since there's a green-foods day coming up soon I can't think of anything better than a big plate of Barely Cooked Asparagus with Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette.  In Utah I'm noticing asparagus is starting to go on sale, enjoy!)

This easy recipe for barely-cooked asparagus drizzled with lemon-mustard vinaigrette was part of an asparagus binge I got started on after I made Roasted Wild Salmon and Asparagus with Double Lemon Oil.   I guess if you're going to binge on a certain food, eating a lot of asparagus is not all bad, wouldn't you agree?  And there are so many ways to make asparagus taste amazing with little effort, that when I see asparagus start to appear in the market every spring, I usually can't resist buying some!

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Cauliflower with Garlic and Lemon (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Paleo, Vegan)

Cauliflower, garlic, and lemon; three of my favorite flavors in one dish.

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, March 2014.)  Have you heard that cauliflower is the new trendy vegetable for 2014?  I don't know who decides these things, but personally I'm kind of excited to see a versatile and low-glycemic vegetable like cauliflower getting the spotlight!  My love for cauliflower is well documented in the recipe archives, but there are quite a few of my early cauliflower recipes that can really use a photo update, like this amazing way to cook cauliflower I posted in 2006 when I was infatuated with Mark Bittman's wonderful book The Best Recipes in the World.  In this recipe with Tuscan origins, the cauliflower is briefly simmered, then sauteed in a generous amount of olive oil that's been seasoned with garlic and finished with both lemon zest and lemon juice.  This is a pretty garlic-flavored dish, which was fine with me. But if you're not sure how much you like garlic, or if you're planning a romantic evening, you might want to reduce the amount of garlic.

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