Zoodle what?

I love zucchini. There I’ve said it. This green vegetable and I are in love and I don’t care who knows it. As a little girl my grandpa, who was quite the story teller, told one about how the zucchini got its name. It had to do with a boy who had a brother named Kenny who wanted to go to the zoo (zoo + Kenny = zucchini, get it?). Perhaps my love affair began right there.

Fast forward to today when the rainy day, plus sick kiddos, of course equaled…SOUP! Chicken noodle was what I had in mind but since I’d like to avoid carb-filled noodles I introduce to you the zoodle! A swanky way of spiralizing your veggies for maximum fancy effect. Look up spiralizers on Amazon and you’ll find a wide variety from the simple hand held ones to the more sophisticated versions. Mine falls somewhere in the middle.

You can pretty much make the rest of the soup like a traditional chicken noodle and then pop these curly beauties in for the last few minutes of cooking. They cook so fast you won’t need to let them simmer for long at all. Here’s what my pot of soup looked like after I zoodleized it. (Pretty sure that’s a word).

The house smelled wonderful as it cooked and Big Sister (the sickest kid) enjoyed a cup for dinner. Hope you enjoy it as well and let me know how you make your rainy/sick day soup.

Happy Zoodling!

xoxo

Sandy

Chicken Zoodle Soup

Ingredients:

1 whole roast chicken, pulled off bone and meat shredded (the kind you can pick up at the store, easy right?)

One large onion diced (I like onion so I used 1 large & 1 small)

3 stalks celery chopped

2-3 cups chopped carrots (your preference here)

3-4 medium to large zucchini or crook neck yellow squash (I used both)

3 32oz containers chicken broth, (less if you’d like to make less soup)

1 tsp. poultry seasoning

1-2 tsp. salt, or to taste (I love the Real salt brand, check it out)

1-2 tsp. garlic, or to taste (I used the pre-chopped roasted kind in the little jar)

4 tbsp. avocado or coconut oil (these are the best oils for paleo cooking and are also delicious)

Directions:

Using a heavy bottomed sauce pot (I love my cast iron dutch oven) over medium high heat sauté onions in oil until translucent. Add celery, carrots, garlic, salt and poultry seasoning. Continue to sauté for about 5 minutes. I found that my whole roast chicken had given off a lot of juice in the container so I then poured this into the pot while the veggies cooked down, it added great flavor to the soup. Next add the broth and the shredded chicken. At this point you can add more seasonings to the soup if you’d like. Bring to a boil then reduce and simmer for about a half hour or until the carrots are soft. At this point you can add the zoodles and let simmer for another 5 minutes. You can serve right away or wait and let the flavors meld, the longer the better.