Next Level Zoodles with Creamy Corn Sauce

Today we take Zoodles to the next level, friends.

Today we say, Zoodles, quit it with the watery grossness.

We do not accept your sad and limp and vegetable-y tendencies.  We fully expect you to be filling and saucy and a little crispy in that happy-cooked-vegetable way.

And we are helping the cause by wrapping you up in a supremely sweet and savory creamy corn sauce that is starchy, thick, and worth storing in your fridge on its own as a little treat for toast, veggies, or just plain eating. That’s right, kids. I said just PLAIN EATING in reference to a creamy corn sauce. Did our beloved Creamy Cauliflower Sauce just send us a jealous emoji? Has Magic Green Sauce finally found its match? Are we going to love this sauce all the way right on through the end of summer until the sweet corn has been eaten by all the creamy corn sauce eaters of this blog? Answers – yes yes and yes.

Welcome to your Next Level Zoodles.

Reasons I think these zoodles are Next Level:

• Their non-watery game is strong. This is thanks to a very, very thick creamy corn sauce with lots of starch that helps the Zs hold themselves together. No weeping allowed. (There will still be a tiny bit of weeping. These are zoodles.)
• Well hello there, fitspo. We are eating zucchini in place of pasta. As in we just replaced a traditionally heavy carb with straight vegetable action. NBD.
• As a follow up to fitspo, the resemblance to mac and cheese in terms of thickness and comforting-ness is shocking. I mean this in the best way possible.
• These zoodles + this sauce works well as a blank-canvas approach. Think of it as a build-your-own zoodle bowl. Whatcha got in that crisper drawer, girlfriend? Let’s toss it in the mix. Dealing with leftover rotisserie chicken? Some extra herbs? Maybe some black beans or sun dried tomatoes or – I’m gonna say it – BACON? Free game.

Zoodles are life.

More accurately, this literally-3-ingredient creamy corn sauce should go on everything starting NOW and ending never.

Are you ready? Psh, you were born ready.

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Next Level Zoodles with Creamy Sweet Corn Sauce

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: 2-3 (we like to eat A LOT of noodles per serving)

 

Ingredients

• 3 zucchini, spiralized
• 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
• a few tablespoons of chopped onion, minced garlic, or a combo
• 4 ears fresh sweet corn, kernels cut off the cob
• ½ cup chicken broth, milk, water, etc.
• pinch of salt, to taste
• Parmesan, pepitas, fresh basil, or anything else your heart desires to add to the mix

Instructions

1. Heat the butter or olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion or garlic and saute until soft and fragrant. Add the corn kernels and saute for another 5-10 minutes until very soft and roasty-looking. Transfer to a blender and add the liquid. Puree until very smooth.
2. In the same pan, add a swish of olive oil and saute the zoodles for 2-3 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the corn sauce and toss to combine, adding extra liquid as needed to loosen the sauce. Top with something fresh, cheesy, crunchy, whatever you like... and enjoy your Masterpiece Creation, you boss you.

3.5.3208

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Healthy Garlic Herb Chicken Salad

I’m not really supposed to tell you this, but I don’t even love chicken salads.

Er, didn’t. Past tense.

Friends, meet this healthy GARLIC HERB CHICKEN SALAD. She is basic and simple and 10-minute-fast while still being (obvs) rocked out with flavor. She is also clean, real, get-back-your-glow food for a Monday dinner. And she is, as of this moment, my favorite chicken salad ever slash the best healthy chicken salad slash the only chicken salad that I like.

This salad – she knows us. She knows what we need and love. She is packing in the juicy summer tomatoes, fresh garden basil, rotisserie chicken (psh, girl knows you don’t have it in you to actually cook your own chicken in the summer), brown rice and/or quinoa, and Parmesan if you wanna fudge on the clean eating part just a lil bit.

And that creamy part that makes it hold all together? Healthy chicken salad means we are working with NO mayo. We’re talking about a mixture of: a handful of walnuts, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, more basil, and a little knob of garlic — all of which makes a clean, creamy dressing that rivals any of the best mayo-based sauces that a chicken salad has ever seen.

I get it, guys. I am right there with you.

You grilled out on Friday and went out for a big ol brunch on Saturday and then last night the cookie brownies made an appearance in your kitchen and now you are FEELING IT. Holy Monday, you are feeling it. And by you, I mean me. It’s summer, and the living is good, and the eating is even better. How much do you guys love it? I love it A LOT.

But I also love the feeling of getting a grip on the amazing summer eating situation by channeling the best of fresh, vibrant summer flavors into something that fits the clean eating bill. Especially on a Monday.

Boom. We are all over this healthy chicken salad as meal prep situation.

A post-weekend detox never tasted better.

RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU LOVE THIS KINDA FOOOOOD.

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Healthy Garlic Herb Chicken Salad

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: 6

 

Ingredients

Salad Base:

• 2 cups cooked mixed brown rice and quinoa (I use the pre-cooked Seeds of Change mix)
• 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped (store-bought rotisserie chicken works like a charm)
• 2 cups tomatoes, chopped

Creamy Basil Dressing:

• ½ cup walnuts (can sub almonds)
• ¾ cup olive oil
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup basil
• ½ cup parsley
• 1 clove garlic
• juice of two lemons
• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Toss the brown rice / quinoa, chicken, and tomatoes together.
2. For the dressing, whiz everything together in the food processor until mostly smooth and a little bit creamy. Taste and adjust as necessary.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients - letting it all sit together for 30 minutes helps the flavors become x-tra delicious.

Notes

Other add-in possibilities: greens - I like to add a handful of chopped baby spinach just before serving, Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese - I mean, not super healthy, but your secret is safe with me! pepperoncinis for a salty tangy bite, roasted corn, and maybe more seeds or nuts like pepitas, pistachios, or almonds. Possibilities abound! Go wild.

3.5.3208

 

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Being Fully Alive in the Summer

The sun right now – ugh, the morning summer sun. ♡ PLEASE NEVER LEAVE.

It’s streaming through the pines outside the windows and making the quiet morning lake glitter with just the right amount of natural bling just beyond that green line of trees. Dad is sipping a steaming coffee after a traditional morning swim, Mom is planning some kind of competitive family olympics, Bjork is deeply immersed in his 97th nonfiction book of the week (literally at this moment I can hear him explaining to my mom, “yeah, it’s called The Tax and Legal Playbook and it’s, yeah, no, it’s actually really good” and I am throwing up a little bit in my mouth), and my sister just called to say she’d be here later tonight just in time for the night games. There’s a cheapy page-turner of a mystery novel waiting for me on the cushy chaise lounge outside next to the picnic table, and the little green hammock hasn’t stopped swinging since the moment my brother hung it and popped inside yesterday. I just wrapped up a 10am breakfast of chocolate granola + mom’s banana bread complete with a green smoothie on the side just so my whole family can roll their eyes at me for being THAT sister.

We call this “Up North” – and it is simultaneously a place, a mindset, and a practice of getting away and going off-grid.

Almost every year when we get to the end of summer, I find myself eyeballs-deep in regret: WHY. HOW. NO NO NO. It’s already almost gone and I SHOULD HAVE TREATED MYSELF TO MORE SUMMER. Why didn’t I sit outside in the sun with every free second I had? Why didn’t I go swimming in lakes and binge-read mystery novels and eat grilled romaine with jalapeño ranch (current obsession) and dad’s pork chops and loaded peanut butter cup nice cream like it was my last day of life?

The cabin, aka a week up north with my family, is the best method of Fully-Alive Summer Living I know and one of the only ways to get rid of end-of-summer regret.

If there ever were a time to get in the lake – not just look at it, we’re talking about actually jumping in the water – to read cheesy books that you might never want to tell anyone about (or fine, smart nonfiction, but WHO ARE YOU), to spend three days straight in the same grey tee-shirt, with no makeup and a summery little top knot to seal the deal, this would be the time.

I mentioned this end-of-summer regret concept, and my go-live-large-in-August sort of mantra in a post earlier this week, but it’s worth mentioning again (for my own sake and for yours):

Be good to your summer self, sweet reader. Especially all you readers, myself included, who live in a place where there is a big white winter just a few months around the bend. Give yourself extra time, extra space, extra breathing room for the love of all things summer, including but not limited to juicy watermelon, sunsets, bike rides, and sand between your toes. Take a weekend mini-vacation. Or staycation – yes yes yes, do an easy and stress-free staycation. Jump in a lake. Meet someone for happy hour, sit outside, and then skip dinner in favor of post-HH ice cream just because you can. Take deep breaths and get enough sleep and drink in all the summer around you. It really is the most delicious.

 

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