I love when a food comes along that can do double duty… Or more!
When healthy foods are versatile and can adapt well to lots of different preparations, it opens so many doors in terms of how frequently and easily one can make them a part of their nutritional routine - a blessing for anyone looking to get and stay healthy for the long haul!
One of my favorite vegetables that absolutely fits the above criteria is zucchini. I eat it all the time, in lots of different ways… I like to eat a lot of volume (as I’m sure you well know if you follow my blog), so any food that embodies that description is near and dear to my heart!
No matter how you incorporate it, zucchini is a fantastic volume food - meaning you can eat a lot of it for relatively few calories. 100 grams of zucchini has only 17 calories, making it one of the best nutritional bargains in term of volume ever! :)
Because of its mild and unobtrusive flavor, it can be used in many different kinds of dishes, both savory and sweet…
Zucchini in a scramble with eggs and broccoli, for example :)
It can be simply sautéed with garlic and spices as a side dish, roasted with a little parmesan cheese, cooked into a nice ratatouille, “spiralized” into noodles (often called “zoodles”), pureed into soups, used as “boats” to hold a tasty filling (see my own recipe for it HERE)... The possibilities are essentially endless when it comes to making zucchini a part of your meal!
Zucchini noodles with meatballs (zucchini in the mix too, for volume and moisture!) - one of our favorites!
You can also grate zucchini into your sweet morning (protein) oatmeal for extra volume, incorporate it to your breads or muffins for added moisture, or even have it stand in for apples in a pie - I’ve never tried that last one, but I saw a recipe for it awhile back and am interested in how it might turn out! I don’t love apple pie (or any pie for that matter) in general though, so I haven’t been in a huge rush to give it a shot… Regardless, there’s a place for zucchini in lots of sweet applications, you just have to get creative (or search the web!) to find out how and give your sweets an extra punch of nutrition!
Zucchini pineapple baked oatmeal bread, anyone?
So how will you add extra servings of veggies, plenty of volume, and lots of nutrients to your diet this week using zucchini?
Please feel free to comment, upvote, or resteem if you’d like! :)
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Never was a fan of zucchini. It just never tasted right to me. Maybe I just never had it prepared correctly.
Awww! Well I guess it's not for everyone, because nothing ever is :) But I would suggest grilling or sautéing it, adding TONS of flavor (garlic, fresh herbs, etc.)... Also, if you have room for it in your nutrition plan, a little bit of butter can help a lot! Cheers, friend!
Ahhhhhhh, we built a small veggie patch a few months ago... and guess what our best grower has been? Zuccini! We've been grilling it and my wife made a quiche over the weekend to try and use it up... they've been growing absolutely massive. They're so good. In our very limited experience they absolutely seem to be the easiest thing to grow...
Wow!!! That's amazing! How big are they getting?? I hear they approach the size of a small child if you let them go haha! I'd so love to have a veggie patch someday :) How fun that you guys are experimenting with your crop - cheers to a healthy summer!
Thank you for some very good ideas with Zucchini, they versatile indeed
You're very welcome! Yes, I'm so thankful for them - they make my life so much easier! :)