On Tuesday, Ali from Inspiralized came over to share her amazing recipes and VEGETABLE pasta dishes — yes, vegetable pasta. Can you believe it? So delicious, low cal, and amazing. She uses a spiralizer to do this [read on if you have no clue what I'm talking about]. But, you don’t have to take my word for it.
Take Ali’s:
For those of you who weren’t at this Sunday’s first Hoboken Girl Social, let me introduce myself:
I’m Ali, and I run a food blog called Inspiralized.
The premise is simple: replace vegetable noodles with regular pasta noodles–and save yourself more than half the calories and carbs. But wait – vegetable noodles? Yup! There’s a lightweight kitchen countertop tool called a spiralizer that takes a vegetable (think zucchini) and “spiralizes” it into noodles. Then, you simply treat those noodles like regular pasta, add your favorite sauce and voila – a low-calorie, low-carb version of everyone’s favorite Italian dish: pasta!
Read more about all of this on Ali’s blog, Inspiralized.com – ebook coming soon!
Although I live in Jersey City now (I moved in January), I lived in Hoboken for about 3 years, and I’m always coming back to the places I miss most, including Anthony David’s, The Turtle Club, and of course, the summer farmer’s markets. Right before I met with Jen to make an Inspiralized dinner, I stopped at the Downtown Hoboken Farmer’s Market to stock up on zucchinis and other ingredients. I also picked up corn and a great cracked wheat loaf of bread. Today, we’re making a HobokenGirl exclusive: Grilled Veggie & Chicken Panzanella Zucchini Pasta, perfect for a summer down the shore!
Although the downtown farmer’s market (on Washington Street between Newark and Observer) didn’t have everything I needed for my recipe, it had a beautiful array of vegetables, and the zucchinis I snatched were larger than the ones you buy in the grocery store, which saves money and makes more zucchini noodles! All of the farmers were super friendly – one lady actually gave me a loaf of bread for half the price (and sliced it!)!
Tip: go to the market near the closing time, because the farmers want to get “rid” of their product, so they’re more likely to give it away for free or highly discounted!
My only real disappointment was that they didn’t have a great fruit and meat selection, whereas the Uptown Hoboken Farmer’s Market (on Hudson starting on 13th street on Thursdays) has more fruits and frozen farm-to-fork meats, which is helpful when trying to make a complete meal. This downtown market only had blueberries and some peaches. Womp womp. There were about 3 farms represented (Town Farm, Union Hill and Starbrite) and then Picklelicious, a nut vendor and an artisan bread maker (Knead). This market definitely had the basics – herbs, onions, lettuces, broccoli, squashes, potatoes, eggplants, corn, etc. Actually, I had to Google “garlic scapes” when I got home!
Alright already, let’s get to cooking. I hope you all enjoy this zucchini pasta recipe, and I hope you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and visit my blog Inspiralized.com daily to find more recipes! Thanks again to Jen of HobokenGirl for letting me come over and cook dinner – special thanks to Pierre as well (he’s even cuter in real life!)
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Here’s the delicious recipe that we wined and dined to:
Grilled Veggie and Chicken Panzanella Zucchini Pasta
NOTE: This recipe is meant to be enjoyed while down the shore at a barbecue! If you don’t have access to a grill, you can cook all of your veggies in a George Forman (like Jen and I did).
Nutritional Data*
Calories: 281.5
Carbohydrates: 35.12
Fat: 12.2 grams
Protein: 18.9 grams
*This is an estimate using CalorieCount.com.
Serving Size: 2
Time to prepare: 5 minutes
Time to cook: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 zucchinis, Blade A
- 1 cup loose arugula
- 1 slice of crusty whole wheat bread, cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 ear of fresh Jersey corn
- 8 stalks of asparagus
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 10 pitless Kalamata olives
- 1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese
- 1 chicken breast
- olive oil cooking spray
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp dried oregano flakes
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 1 pinch of onion powder
- 1 pinch of chili powder
- 1 pinch of garlic powder
Directions
1. Spray your corn with olive oil cooking spray and season lightly with salt, pepper and the chili powder. Place on grill for about 5 minutes, turning twice to grill evenly.
2. Place your chicken in a plate. Spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of garlic powder. Place on the grill and cook for about 3 minutes or until opaque. When done, set aside.
3. While chicken is cooking, spray your tomatoes and asparagus with olive oil cooking spray, season with onion powder, salt and pepper. When chicken is done, place on the grill for about 5 minutes. Set aside once finished.
4. Take your bread and lightly dab one side of each chunk with olive oil. When done, place on the grill for about 1 minute. When done, take off grill and set aside.
5. Place your zucchini pasta on the grill for about 1 minute or until it begins to soften and has some grill marks. Remove from grill and place in a big bowl. Add in red pepper flakes, oregano, garlic, and lemon juice. Mix to combine and then add in asparagus, tomatoes, shrimp, and arugula.
6. Divide onto plates and shave the corn off the cob with a knife onto each plate and top with feta cheese!
HG note: It was such a pleasure to spend the evening with Ali – not only are her blog and recipes amazing, but she is a doll — and so much fun to chat with! The food was absolutely delicious, low cal (under 300 calories for our whole dinner!) and super easy to make. Even my cooking-challenged self was able to manage – it was a miracle. Make sure to check out the HG Instagram page to see a little video of the Ali & her Inspiralized recipes in action!
What do you think of Inspiralized?