Salmon and Spiralized Vegetables + Tomato Pesto Dill Cream Sauce

First, spiralize the 3 zucchini and 1 big rose-orange sweet potato. The vegetable noodles will be very long. Cut them with a scissor if you'd like, then put it in a big roasting pan. Drizzle with 3-4T EVOO and sprinkle with 1t Himalayan pink salt. Roast this uncovered in a 325° oven for 20 minutes. Put this in a smaller baking dish as the bottom layer.

Meanwhile make the sauce. Begin by sautéing the first chopped vegetables in 2-3T EVOO over medium heat, then add the next ingredients. Simmer over low heat until soft, about 40 minutes, then remove from the heat and let it cool 15 minutes or so...

1 lg. purple shallot = 2c chopped

ends of the spiralized vegetables

1/4 lg. green bell pepper

5 big garlic cloves

1T dry parsley

1/3c tomato pesto

1t Penzeys Smoky 4/S

28oz. crushed tomatoes

1t Himalayan pink salt

2T dark Balsamic vinegar

1t sharp Hungarian paprika

Top left filet is skinned

While the sauce is simmering, put 20oz. of salmon filets grey skin side down in a non-stick pan. Slowly heat them until the color changes just a bit. Remove them from the heat, remove and discard the skin. 

Arrange the fish over the vegetable 'noodles.' Add a thin layer of the sauce as it is now. Set aside 1c. After 5 minutes or so, to this cup of cooled sauce, add sour cream, dill and stir this together. 

Shown before final 15 minute heating

2/3c whole fat sour cream

2t dry dill

Spoon the dill cream sauce over everything.Refrigerate the unused tomato-vegetable sauce to use over baked chicken, plain pasta or spaghetti and meatballs, in the future. Cover the sauced fish and vegetable noodles. Heat in a preheated 300° oven, 15 minutes or so before serving. . .Lin

Spiralized Zucchini Stir-Fry

Spiralize:

1 sm. - med. green zucchini

1 sm. - med. yellow zucchini

2 sm. peeled kohlrabi

5 lg. garlic cloves - sliced thin

Set these aside for now.

2T toasted (dark) sesame oil

6 oz. sliced mushrooms

⅛-¼ red pepper - sliced

Heat up your wok and add the oil.  After a couple minutes, add a couple pieces of mushrooms and peppers. The oil in the wok should sizzle when you add these.  If so the temperature is right - add the rest of them.  If not, wait until the pieces in the oil begin to sizzle then add the rest.  Stir, then cover with a small domed cover to steam-sauté for a couple minutes.

Now Add:
1 lg. purple shallot - sliced

½c salt and pepper cashews

After a few minutes, cut the spiralized vegetables into smaller strands with scissors.  Toss those into the wok along with the sliced garlic.  Stir, add any Asian sauce you like, stir and cover again.  Let steam-sauté' a couple minutes, uncover, stir until everything's done the way you like it.  Makes 2 servings. . .Lin

Healthy, Colorful, Fresh Vegetable "Ramen" - Gluten-Free

2 sm.-med. zucchini

1 med.-lg. sweet potato

1 med. onion

~ or a bunch of green onions

a handful of fresh spinach

3 lg. cloves of garlic

1" cube of fresh (frozen) ginger

1-2T toasted (dark) sesame oil

2t sugar
½-1T sea salt
1T chili paste

2T lemon juice

⅓c peanut butter
2T tahini paste - optional

2T crushed toasted sesame seeds

~ plus more for garnish

This is my modification of a recipe I saw on Naturally Danny Seo, on NBC's Saturday morning E/I  (educational/informational) programming.  There are some wonderful shows on Saturday mornings these days!

Using your spiralizer. . .you do have one, right?  If not, stop reading and go, right now, to your local kitchen store (you do have one, right?) and buy one.  You'll be glad you did!  I'm not a fan of single-purpose gadgets, but since having mine, after the first time I used it I knew I'd never be without one!  It seems the general consensus is that the Paderno is the best *  This price is excellent! 

I'm always amazed at how changing the texture of food makes it so much more dimensional, in every way!  Once your zucchini and sweet potato are spiralized into long cooked-spaghetti-type strands you'll probably need to cut them up a bit to make them easier to eat.  Set them aside for now.  My dogs are big vegetable eaters, so they already had one zucchini "funky mushroom" as well as the one from the sweet potato, before I took this photo.  😁

Put the rough-chopped spinach and sliced onion into a 5qt. pot along with 6 cups of cold, fresh water, and bring to a simmer.  Add spiralized vegetables and continue to cook another 5-10 minutes on low heat.  Using a colander, remove the vegetables out of the pot, into a large glass bowl.

Finely chop the garlic and ginger and put that group of ingredients into the hot cooking liquid, stirring well.  If you want to keep the seeds out of the chili paste, it can be measured into a strainer then put in the hot liquid and stirred a while.  The seeds and pulp can be easily discarded.  Bring to a quick boil, then simmer 5 minutes.   Take off heat, let stand covered another 5 minutes before serving.


Any leftovers can be gently reheated for several days.  In fairness to packaged ramen, this tastes very different, but is far healthier.  Basically it's a Thai-type vegetable soup. . .Lin

Vegetable Spaghetti with a Meaty Red Sauce

Raw Sweet Potato & Zucchini Spirals

After Baking

 2 lg. zucchini

1 lg. sweet potato

Scrub the vegetables and remove any bad spots on the sweet potato, cut a straight end off both ends of each vegetable.  Spiralize them, then put them in a sm.-med. size roasting pan.  Drizzle with Italian flavored extra virgin olive oil, and a good sprinkle of salt.  Mix well.  Bake this at 325° for 30 minutes.  Be sure to check them and gently stir about half way through the cooking time, to keep them coated with the seasoned oil so they don't dry out.  Take out of the oven after baking.

1½# lean ground meat, single or mixed

~ beef, turkey, chicken, bison, venison

⅓ of a large onion - diced

1t Rosemary Seasoning*

28oz. Hunt's crushed tomatoes

28oz. Hunt's petite diced tomatoes

½c Vodka

1T sugar

1-2T Italian Seasoning

1T Rosemary Seasoning* 

1T fresh ground garlic salt

8oz. fresh mushrooms - sliced

½ of a lg. green pepper - chopped

remaining ⅔ of the large onion - chopped

Break up the meat in a large non-stick frying pan.  Add onion and Rosemary Seasoning.  Stir, sauté until almost browned.  Drain off all the fat.  Put the meat into a large pot.  Add remaining ingredients, simmer for an hour or so.  Ladle the sauce over the vegetable noodles with just enough to cover them all.  Sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, return to the oven and heat for 10 minutes at 325°. . .Lin