Zucchini Noodles (Zoodles) w/Peanut Sauce

This recipe was inspired by a zucchini given to me by my parents.  Ryan and I traveled to Northern California for his birthday and spent a socially-distant afternoon with my parents.  As we were leaving, they gathered some amazing produce for us to share with his mom, who insisted on us taking some of it home for ourselves.  Both the zucchini and kale from this recipe are from my parents' garden.  When I was trying to think of what to do with the zucchini, I looked at pinterest for probably 30 minutes before deciding to do a zoodle recipe.  It's been a long time since I've broken out the spiralizer, but it seemed like the best way to honor the zucchini as the star ingredient of this dish.

When I make stir fried dishes, I love to add a ton of different veggies, so I added the kale from the garden, some bell peppers and shredded carrots as well.  To make the recipe a little more hearty, I added some chicken, peanuts, and a spicy peanut sauce.  Overall, the dish was delicious, filling, and healthy! Those are the three things I try to work into all of my recipes because I think it's so important.  If I'm not going to have any starch/carbs in a recipe I need to make sure to offset that with protein or nuts to make sure that I'm still making a dish that can stand on its own.  There's nothing worse than eating lunch or dinner and then finding yourself hungry an hour or two later and snacking on something unhealthy.

It's been a while since I made a zoodle recipe.  I bought a spiralizer a few years ago and used it a few times right away and then pretty much tucked it away and never thought about it again.  When I was thinking about how to best use this amazing zucchini, the idea popped into my head to make zucchini noodles and I couldn't think of any other way to honor the ingredient.  It's also super important to me that recipes keep well, especially now that I'm back to work and meal prepping.  Sometimes, zucchinis can get a little soggy after they cool and it's a huge turnoff for me.  By spiralizing the zucchinis, you cut out the middle part and keep your zucchini texture intact.  If you've never spiralized a zucchini (or any vegetable), I highly recommend you try it.  It's definitely not an everyday activity, but it's a great way to sub out wheat pasta for a healthy, veggie based alternative.

Total Time: 20-25 minutes

Servings: 4-5

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic

3 ribs kale

2 red bell pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded carrot

2 tbs sesame oil

2 medium zucchinis

1 1/2 cups chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

3/4 cup salted peanuts

Peanut Sauce:

1/2 cup Peanut Butter

1 tbs rice vinegar

1 tbs hot sauce

4 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs toasted sesame oil

Instructions:

1. Chop the kale and bell pepper into bite-sized pieces.  Spiralize the zucchinis using the standard spiralizer setting.
2. Combine the peanut sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Mince the garlic and add it to a large saute pan or wok with the sesame oil for 60 seconds.
4. Add the bell peppers and saute for about 2 minutes, until they begin to soften.  Add the carrots and kale and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the spiralized zucchini and cooked chicken to the pan and cook another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Remove from heat and toss with the peanut sauce.  Plate and top with a handful of peanuts.