Adventures in Eating

How our garden looked at the beginning of the season

Jon and I created our first garden this year. At the moment, it's pretty wild and out of control. Being away for several weekends for weddings and other various events has made for a pretty chaotic scene in our backyard. The zucchini plants are enormous and the tomato plants have basically taken over everything and are spilling out the tops of our raised beds... Despite the craziness, having a garden is something Jon and I both love. However, if you have ever had a zucchini plant (or a tomato plant), you know what I mean when I say that those things grow like weeds. Moral of the story is that we have a ton of zucchini... and that means we get creative when trying to use it.

Last night I decided to make something different and new for dinner with our abundance of zucchini. I recently ordered a vegetable noodle-maker (basically you just attach a hearty vegetable to it, spin it, and it makes noodles--crazy! You should get one.), so I decided to spin some of our zucchini into noodles for pasta. I looked around in our cabinets (which are pretty barren) and found that we had some organic sun-dried tomatoes, so I decided to try my hand at making a sauce out of them with some of our fresh herbs from our window garden... 

Let's just say it was super freakin' delicious and I'm passing on the recipe to you so you can find out for yourself!


ZUCCHINI PASTA W/ CHICKEN & HOMEMADE SUN-DRIED TOMATO BASIL SAUCE
(Recipe makes 2 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

Zucchini Pasta w/ Sun-dried Tomato Basil Sauce

Pasta:
-1 large zucchini

Sauce:
-1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes
-1 1/2 cups milk (or almond milk if you are going dairy free)
-Few pinches of fresh basil, oregano, and thyme
-1 tablespoon fresh garlic
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper
-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Chicken:
-1 tbsp olive oil
-5 chicken tenderloins
-Dash of salt and pepper
-Few pinches of flour

DIRECTIONS:
Place the zucchini in a Tri-Blade Turning Vegetable Slicer (using as directed for noodles) and spin until you get to the end of the zucchini. Place the "noodles" into a small pot and set aside (or freeze them to use for later!). 

Cut the 5 chicken tenderloins into cubes and place them into a small bowl. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour and stir until lightly coated. Set aside. 

In a food processor, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, milk, garlic, and fresh herbs and pulse until well blended. Transfer to a sauce pan and heat on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. Add in salt, pepper and cayenne, making sure to stir frequently or the oil from the tomatoes will start to separate. 

While the sauce is cooking, heat up a frying pan with some olive oil on medium heat. When the pan is hot, add in the chicken. Cook the chicken until it has just turned white and add it to the sauce (doing it this way prevents the chicken from drying out and keeps it tender). 

Take your pot of zucchini noodles and heat them up on medium heat for about 5 minutes (you just want them to be warm). 

When your zucchini is done, transfer to a bowl and top with sauce! Garnish with fresh basil and thyme and voila! Easy meal that is super tasty! 

--Kayla