Zucchini Pasta with Avocado Cashew Sauce

This is my new favorite way to eat zucchini! It’s delicious, super quick, and healthy. Everyone loves recipes for pasta and this is a healthy alternative and it has it delicious cream sauce with avocado and cashews so it has some healthy fats instead of butter and oil. 

So before you start, you will need a pasta maker. There are a few options out there like this one on eBay, or this can fit more sizes of veggies. But I opted to buy a simple julienne peeler since it has other uses too.

Ingredients:

• 1 large zucchini or 2-3 if feeding 4 or more people
• 1/2 cup cashews – soaked in water for about 30 minutes
• 1 avocado
• half a clove of garlic
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup of water or more if needed to create correct consistency
• 1/4 teaspoon of Mediterranean sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 6-8 fresh basil leaves
•  tablespoons olive oil
• half a handful of fresh parsley

Start with soaking the cashews in a bowl of water and set that aside for about 30 minutes.

Cut the ends off your zucchini and then slice them with your choice of slicer. Here is what mine looked like after using the julienne peeler a few times. I did not julienne the center meat and seeds, that part goes in the compost. Place the zucchini noodles in a strainer in the sink to let the excess water drain out while you prepare the sauce.

So I have yet to upgrade my little mini food processor but this was still an easy one to make. Here is what mine looks like.

How to make cream sauce for pasta: you basically throw the remaining ingredients into the food processor and let it go until you have a nice sauce with the consistency you prefer. I like it a little thick but you may want it thinner. So once it is all well blended just add a little more water and lemon juice to thin it out. Way to easy! 

This dish is now ready to eat as is, or you can warm your noodles by steaming them for 5 minutes on the stove.

This would go perfect with some grilled chicken breast for the non-vegans, or a beet salad!

Today was a day of many firsts!

Today was a day of many firsts! So exciting! First movie making experience, first blog entry, first cauliflower recipe, first day working from home!

First time creating a video with iMovie, here’s the link. Only took me 4 hours to edit and create the video and then upload it to YouTube. I will be making many more of these for Jade Star Acupuncture since I am managing their social media and helping them grow their business.

First time making Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice which turned out delicious! I used the super easy recipe from Popular Paleo, they have some great healthy alternatives to some of my all time fav dishes. The recipe was super simple but I sure learned a few lessons! The first step is to grate the cauliflower, so I used my little 2 cup food processor which was new to me. The cauliflower took a while since I had to do it in small batches to get a whole head all chopped up. Plus the onion and garlic had to be minced. By the time I was done I had tiny bits of white scattered around the counter, stove, and floor. Luckily I have my pup to clean the floor up.

Onion and garlic cooking in coconut oil

This was the first time I used coconut oil to cool and I loved the smell of it! Super healthy alternative to other cooking oils.

This jar is from Trader Joe’s is perfect and only $5.99 Coconut Oil

My fearless cauliflower

The finished product!

The fiancé is not home yet to test it out but when I told him today’s recipe he was pretty excited, “Anything with cilantro and lime has to be amazing!”

After cooking I put it in a Tupperware and in the fridge to save for dinner. I think it would go well with stir-fry veggies over it, or even a mexican dish.

Today was also the first time I have worked from home! Super exciting! And very productive! I think I might like this new gig. Sure beats having a dress code, strict hours, long drive to work, and lonngggg hours!

I plan to make blogging, social media marketing for small businesses, and office organization my new full-time job, and much of this can be done from home or even on the go. Once this is a successful venture for me I will be sure to share my ideas to help others escape the corporate rat race and relax at home. This enables us to see our families more, to pursue our own hobbies and interests, and to have a happier relationship(soon to be marriage for me!).

I look forward to getting to know the blogging world and make some fabulous new friends! Here’s to my first blog!