Clean Eating: Zucchini Pasta

First things first: Hallelujah Friday!! I'm so thankful it's the weekend it's not even funny. Unfortunately, Daniel and I are moving next Saturday, so I doubt I'm going to get much down time for the next few days (seeing as we haven't packed one single box yet...cue my inevitable #panicattack).

That being said, I'm going to need to keep my energy up this next week between working and packing up my entire life (and everything in between that), which is where this post comes in! I don't know about the rest of you, but my go-to meal usually involves all the carbs ever. Because, donuts? Anyway, what's great about this Zucchini pasta is that it's like eating pasta but much better for you for two reasons: 1. Less carbs than actual pasta, and 2. You get your daily dose of veggies! Oh yeah, and the added bonus is that it's actually quite tasty!

So, let's get down to it...here's what you need:

• 2-3 large zucchinis
• spiralizer (to make the "pasta")
• 1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 cup of raw minced almonds
• freshly grated parmesan
• 1 Tbsp of minced garlic
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

I'm not exactly a super precise chef seeing as I usually just throw things together, so those measurements are definitely approximate and can be modified to taste. Start off by getting your ingredients ready; spiralize all of your zucchinis until you have a mound of zucchini "pasta," slice your tomatoes and grate your parmesan. Next put your garlic and olive oil in a pan and let it simmer (but don't let the garlic brown). Once the pan is hot, add in your zucchini pasta, and make sure it gets stirred around so it will all heat equally and get coated in the olive oil. The point is to let the zucchini cook and get a little bit seared, but mostly to heat it up. Once it's been heated sufficiently, add in the tomatoes and almonds (mix them around to make sure they get cooked as well). Remove the "pasta" from heat once it's been thoroughly cooked, and add in any extra olive oil, salt, or pepper in to taste. Sprinkle some parmesan on top & serve while hot...that's it!

Isn't that the easiest recipe in the world? Totally doable. The hardest part about it is probably spiralizing the zucchini, and that doesn't even take that long. Guys, I'm a big fan of this meal; I really like it, and was surprised at the fact that it actually filled me up! I'm normally always hungry like 5 seconds after I eat, and I've never been a big believer on things like vegetables replacing my carbs, but in all honesty: it's pretty damn good.

That being said, I hope you all take my word for it and give it a try! Trust me, you'll be doing YOURSELF a favor more than me.

Alright guys, well that's about it for me. Is anyone doing anything spectacular this weekend?! Or does anyone have any good packing tips for me? We're only moving about 10 minutes away from where we are now, but I'm at the point that I just don't want to acknowledge that it's happening because I can't possibly fathom getting this place packed up in time. SOS...we need help!!

xo, grace

P.S.- On a completely unrelated sidenote, I just finished watching Dirty Dancing for the first time in my life. It literally took me 24 years of being on this earth to finally witness the glory that is Patrick Swayze and his back muscles. And omg guys. All I can say is, Nobody puts baby in the corner!!!