kitchen tools: the spiralizer

This whole spiralized vegetable trend has been around for sometime now but I only recently joined in. It was after a weekend away visiting girlfriends - consisting of lots of laughter, fun, and yummy food - that I decided I needed a way to indulge but in a cleaner, more responsible way. Enter my new spiralizer!

It took me a bit to decide on which brand of spiralizer to buy. There are a lot of opinions out there in the food blogging atmosphere which overwhelmed me so I narrowed it down to two brands that a few spiralizer aficionados recommended. Those two were the Paderno and the Veggetti. Both have their pros and cons, which you can find on both sites or really on any website so I won't bore you with the details. I ended up going with the Paderno because a) I’m a huge fan of Williams-Sonoma and trust their products b) I had a gift card to Williams-Sonoma and c) It came with a cookbook!

THE PLACE HOME | photo courtesy of Williams-Sonoma

After placing my order, I fully embraced this new world of spiralizing and did everything I could to prepare for this new kitchen tool to arrive. I researched and pinned multiple recipes to use with my Paderno, and then it became a matter of waiting for it to show up. As my husband, Sam, can attest, I was extremely excited when it showed up in the mail, maybe a little too excited.

I've tried numerous recipes so far but there are two in particular that I keep coming back to. My first stab at spiralizing was a recipe from Food Count, a safe beginner recipe of zoodles and turkey meatballs. I was so pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use my Paderno - love the sound of that my Paderno, man I’m a kitchen geek. Sam was not as pumped about the whole process as I was but we both agreed that the zoodles were absolutely delicious and we didn’t really miss the real stuff or at least the is what he told me!

THE PLACE HOME | photo courtesy of Food Count

My next venture in spiralizing was even more of a hit with my tasting panel i.e. Sam. I decided after my first spiralizer experience that I was ready to amp it up and move to more “advanced” vegetables. I tried this wonderful recipe from Nosh and Nourish for their Paleo Pad Thai with Carrot and Sweet Potato Noodles. The sweet potato was a piece of cake but then the carrot proved to fit into that “advanced” category that I thought I was ready for. It was a bit more difficult but I overcame the challenge and I felt like I deserved a Paderno gold star by the end of it. Together the carrots and sweet potato provided a great crunchy texture and mildly sweet taste, perfectly complementing the peanut sauce. I will say I did not follow the recipe exactly, I just used what I had on hand. I subbed soy sauce for coconut aminos, almond butter for sunflower butter, and to amp up the protein I skipped the eggs and grilled up some chicken creating a little Chicken Pad Thai action.

THE PLACE HOME | photo courtesy of Nosh and Nourish

I am very impressed with the versatility of my spiralizer and can’t wait to tackle more recipes and vegetables. Even though I am obsessed with my new tool, both of these recipes and other spiralizer specific recipes can be made just by julienning your veggies but I bet it won’t be as fun!

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