Zucchini Noodles with Asparagus, Sundried Tomatoes + Shrimp

Phew, that’s a mouthful of a title, am I right?

Yup, my obsession with zucchini noodles is still going strong. I will tell anyone who will listen to get a spiralizer (I love this handheld one from Amazon, perfect for my teeny apartment kitchen) and start spiralizing their zucchini into beautiful bowls of “noodles.”

The benefits of zucchini noodles:

1.) Extremely waistline friendly. You’re pretty much eating a giant bowl of veggies and you’ll be happy about it.

2.) Zucchini noodles only take about 3 minutes to cook on a skillet while with regular pasta, you have to wait for the water to boil and then about 8 minutes for the pasta to cook. And if Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese taught me anything as a child, I really don’t have the patience to wait for water to boil.

3.) Just a continuation on #2, I am usually pretty hungry when I get home and I need to eat dinner pretty quickly. A healthy dinner in less than 10 minutes? It’s a no-brainer.

4.) You can get pretty creative and make awesome dishes + desk lunches that will make you one happy worker. Aside from my favorite tomato + pesto combo, I’ve also used zucchini noodles in a pho to combat a super fun sinus infection. Pad thai, lo mein, zucchini noodles can do it all.

I created this zucchini noodles recipe out of pure necessity: I had produce I needed to use and I was starving. Heating up a skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil, I added a little salt + pepper and a very healthy sprinkle of red pepper flakes to give the oil a real kick. Sautéing the asparagus for about 8 minutes, I decided the asparagus looked a little lonely.

Can vegetables look lonely? Well, if they can, these asparagus (asparaguses? Asparagusi?) definitely did.

Thanks to Disney movies, I can’t shake the feeling sometimes that inanimate objects and produce actually come alive when I’m not looking. So overcome with guilt, I peeked into my fridge to see what else I could toss into the skillet. Three words:

Sun. Dried. Tomatoes.

I’m so faaaancy. You don’t even knooowww.

Into the skillet went the sun-dried tomatoes and I let the veggies simmer on low for a few minutes and tossed to evenly coat the red pepper flake-infused olive oil. A quick toss of the zucchini noodles into the skillet to quickly cook the noodles and combine the ingredients.

Holy flavor explosion, guys!!

The second time I made this dish, I added some shrimp into the skillet to bolster this dish with protein. But here’s another thought: Remember that langostino from my spicy corn + feta salad?

YUP. Just sayin’.