After a 5 mile run along the beach this morning, I walked through the Santa Monica farmer’s market to see what looked good- everything, of course!  I picked up some Chinese eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower, grapes, arugula, dill and chives.  I knew I wanted to do something with the zucchini and fresh herbs but wasn’t sure what.

When I got home I remembered that while at a Linen’s and Things close-out sale a few months back, I picked up what I thought was a vegetable peeler that turned out to be a julienne-peeler-thingy for a buck.  I never found any use for it but had this idea that I could use it to turn the zucchini into a sort of vegetable pasta.

The dish turned out to be super tasty.  The zucchini turned out to be a great alternative to pasta that is much lower in calories and higher in vitamins than any kind of regular or whole wheat pasta.  This dish would work well on nearly any kind of diet (atkins, south beach, ultralight, weight watchers) as the carbs, fat and calories are low but the flavor is high.

Squash pasta with fresh herbs

• 1 medium zucchini (for two small servings), julienned into long strips
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1t olive oil
• 1T each fresh dill, chives and parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add the olive oil and garlic and saute for about 30 seconds.  Add the zucchini and gently saute until it just starts to soften, about 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat, add the herbs, salt and pepper.  Serve immediately as a vegetable side dish, a substitute for pasta, or even as a vegan main course with a side of something with protein, like tofu, beans, lentils, etc…

This worked out so well that I’m already planning to try some variations of this with meat and tomato sauce and maybe peppers and onions.  What about squash alfredo?!?!   YUM! I’ll probably try to turn the eggplant into some kind of similar dish with a nice sauce and serve it as a vegetarian main course. I’ll post the recipe if it works out.

I hope you can do something interesting with these ideas.  Let me know what you come up with!

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