Monday, July 20, 2009

Raw Creamy Zucchini Salad

This is by far my favorite raw meal that I've made. I keep coming back to it over and over again.


Creamy Zucchini Salad! This stuff is amazing and so simple! I don't know where I first saw it...I think here then here and it probably originated here...but basically (since I don't have a spiralizer) I shred up one zucchini (skin and all, length of zucchini) with my cheese grater, mix it up with 1/2 of a mashed avocado, juice from 1/2 a lemon, and some sea salt.

Kind of like a deconstructed guacamole salad + some zucchini?


I added some raw onion and tomato to the mix and plated it on top of some organic baby spinach. I mixed it all together when I got ready to eat it...Heather's right, who needs ranch or blue cheese when you have this creamy goodness?!


On the side I served it with some non-raw steamed acorn squash and (probably a bit much) Smart Balance Light (my "margarine" of choice) and some sea salt. (I wasn't too hungry tonight due to some happy hour cocktails and calamari...normally this wouldn't fill me up, but it hit the spot tonight.)

What I like most about the shredded zucchini, is that it's a fantastic stand in for pasta! It makes a very tasty (and nutritious) base for raw pasta meals. I've used it to make pesto "pasta":

I mixed up a "pesto" sauce with some fresh basil, olive oil, parm (so, not completely raw due to this addition) and sea salt. I topped this one with some avocado. Tasty!

I've also topped it with a raw tomato sauce that turned out nasty. Note: Don't blend raw mushrooms and raw tomatoes together in the attempt to make a raw pasta sauce sans sun dried tomatoes. It will come out brown and NASTY! :)

I haven't been too adventurous in my raw meals yet; been keeping it pretty simple since that's all I have time for.

But that is why I love this dish! A) Avocados are one of my fave foods, B) Zucchini is probably my favorite veggie, C) This takes all of 5 minutes to make. So...If you haven't tried this combo PLEASE go out and do it now! Matt even had a bite (unwillingly) and said it "wasn't bad at all." So, I guess that means it's pretty YUM.

***
Ran 14.49 miles this Sunday with TNT. Felt great! Back in the game baby ;)

16 comments:

  1. um...yum. anything with avocado is amazing. I seriously planned my entire dinner around it because I was craving it so bad today. :) I'll definitely have to give it a try. Nice job on the 14.49. :D

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  2. That looks quite delicious. Of course, avocodo is yummy anyway,right? ;)

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  3. your recipes are looking yummy girl!!!

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  4. I love zucchini! I may have to give this a try...

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  5. You are so creative! The recipe looks great.

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  6. Um, that meal looks amazing. Love love love pesto :)

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  7. The zucchini and pesto sounds and looks so good. I'll be making that!

    Way to feel back in it. Great run.

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  8. That looks really good.

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  9. Looks delish! Anything with avacado and tomato is always good! Great job on the run this weekend!!

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  10. I looove avocados too but they are just so dang expensive!!! so I don't get to enjoy they're goodness too often.

    Congrats on the run and the raw meal successes!

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  11. Maybe I will try it sometime -- I am kind of like Matt -- it doesn't look so bad, and a healthy guac substitute. We also cookup strands of zucchini and squash in a little butter and garlic and it is just great.

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  12. i made something like this and you are right it's super easy and very satisfing!!

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  13. im over here by way of miss lilu!

    okay so im totally a zucchini spaghetti ADDICT! i got a spiralizer about a month ago and im obsessed! this recipe sounds to die for as i loooove avacado. i have some other great recipes with it if you're interested. also just made a healthy/lowfat cream type sauce last week that was AMAZING with it.

    omg im hungry.

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  14. I'm totally behind in bloggy land just catching up. This looks AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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