June Cooking Tool of the Month and Zucchini Rolls by Nicole

June Cooking Tool of the Month – Spiralizer

I am happy to announce June’s Cooking Tool of the Month! It’s a blazing 95+ degrees here in Texas so I thought what a great way to get the summer started by making raw pasta! The spiralizer gadget is one of those things that isn’t essential but makes cooking more fun. I will show you alternative ways to make veggie pasta next week. Most likely there will be no cooking videos this month because they take about 4 hours to film, download, edit and upload and I will be packing and moving to Austin in the next 2 weeks! Yay! In other words I don’t have time! But we have some wonderful guest posts using the Cooking Tool of the Month in fabulous ways! Today we begin the month with a delish recipe from Nicole of A Dash of Compassion. She is a raw food goddess!

Zucchini rolls with Sunflower Cilantro Sauce by Nicole

Some people might think spiralizers are one of those specialty kitchen gadgets that only gets used once or twice and then ends up collecting dust while sitting unused in a dark corner of your kitchen shelf. I thought the same thing, too. That is, until I bought one. Since then, it has made a regular appearance when I’m looking for light, easy meals or unique appetizers for dinner guests.

If you’ve decided to invest in this essential tool, buying a good quality spiralizer is a must. I originally bought a smaller, cheaper spiralizer like this one but it just didn’t cut it, so I opted to upgrade to this one and I’m so glad I did. This well-designed gadget includes suction feet for stability, sharp interchangeable blades with a handy storage system and a well-positioned handle. It is also very easy to wash up.

Spiralizers magically turn vegetables into spaghetti strips, spirals, curls and fine curly slices. The type of vegetable will alter the result—for example, firm yet easily sliced vegetables like zucchini seem to make the easiest spaghetti. One of my favourite meals involves spiralizing zucchini, coating it in a spicy sauce and then rolling it in rice paper wrappers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Zucchini rolls with Sunflower Cilantro Sauce

Makes 10-12 rolls

For the sauce:

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

3 tbsp sunflower seed butter

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp Braggs (or tamari)

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1/4 tsp samal oelek (chili paste) (optional)

2 tbsp sunflower oil

For the rolls:

3 zucchini

1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

Handful of fresh cilantro

Handful of mixed lettuce greens

Rice paper

Preparation

To make the sauce, blend all ingredients except the sunflower oil in a high-speed blender until smooth. Scrap down the sides of the blender with a spatula as needed. Add the sunflower oil and blend until emulsified.

Use a spiralizer to make noodles out of the zucchini. Put them in a large bowl and mix in the sauce, coating all of the zucchini noodles well.

To make the rolls, soak a rice paper wrapper in a warm pan of water until soft. Carefully place the softened wrapper on a cutting board and layer the filling ingredients in the middle in the following order: a small handful of salad greens, a small handful of zucchini noodles, 2 or 3 slices of red pepper, and a small handful of cilantro. Roll up the rice paper by folding the bottom of the wrapper up over the filling, then folding in both of the sides and continue rolling up towards the top of the wrapper to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers to use up all filling ingredients. Serve immediately.

Nicole Axworthy is a writer, editor, recipe creator, wife, and mother of two adorable rescue cats, Leola and Eli. She loves animals too much to eat them, and she’s discovered that teaching others through food is an effective vegan outreach tool. On her blog, A Dash of Compassion, Nicole shares wholesome, all-natural vegan dessert recipes to inspire others to think differently about what they eat.

Have you used a spiralizer before? What is your favorite sauce to put on raw pasta? 

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