I Love My Spiral Slicer & New Recipe Of The Week

 I love zucchini, but I can't spell it. I always have to have spell check correct it, I suppose I should spend five minutes and learn how to spell it! My favorite way to prepare it used to be slicing it, spraying my griddle, cooking it a few minutes on each side, sprinkling it with a little salt and then eating it! Simple and so delicious. It's one of those veggies I don't really like to share, but since I'm a nice person I do. However, I eat a lot of it as I'm cooking it so I get way more than my share.

Brieftons Spiral Slicer

Since I've quit eating pasta for the most part I've wanted to get a gadget that makes noodles out of vegetables like zucchini. (Yes! I spelled it correctly and it didn't even take me 5 minutes to learn)! I've done a bit of searching online for these different types of veggie noodle makers and I asked for one for Christmas. I went with a less expensive version, one that is fairly small, so it takes up very little room, requires no set up and it is very easy to clean. It is the Brieftons Spiral Slicer and so far it has served my purposes quite splendidly. For example, now I don't have to get my griddle out to cook my beloved zucchini. I twist it through the spiral slicer, add a bit of olive oil to a skillet and cook it for a few minutes. Much less trouble than getting out the big ole griddle and since I've gotten the spiral slicer I've had zucchini 4 times. In the past I have rarely had zucchini except in the summer.

Spiral Sliced Zucchini

Utilizing my spiral slicer I made my new recipe for the week. Chicken Bacon Alfredo from PaleOMG. I haven't tried many recipes from this site yet, but hands down they have one of my favorite recipes: Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. Okay, back to the Chicken Bacon Alfredo. It was super easy to make because I already had some pre-cooked chicken breasts in the freezer. This is something I always have on hand. I also had some pre-cooked bacon in the freezer as well. Keep reading for my tip on having these kinds of things on hand to make your life so much easier. Basically, all I had to do was thaw out the bacon and chicken and heat it up. Then I mixed up the sauce. I didn't follow the recipe exactly. First, I used my zucchini noodles instead of the squash used in the recipe. Then, I mixed the sauce, bacon and chicken all together and poured it over the zucchini noodles. Finally, I topped it off with some grated Parmesan cheese.

I made this up for my lunch for tomorrow and Tuesday, so I have no idea how it tastes. I will edit my blog with that information sometime tomorrow.

It's lunchtime on Monday and I am now trying my Chicken Bacon Alfredo. I like it. I'm pretty sure my husband will like it too. This is a fantastic lunch recipe as well. This one is a keeper!

Now for some of my time saving tips for busy cooks. Cooking in bulk and flash freezing. When I'm cooking chicken I almost always cook way more than I will be using for the meal I'm preparing. I do this when boiling, baking, stir frying, etc. Then, whatever I don't use I flash freeze. To flash freeze you will need cookie sheets that fit in your freezer, parchment paper, ziplock bags and note paper. After cooking the chicken, let it cool completely. Then put parchment paper on your cookie sheet. Lay the cooked chicken in a single layer on the parchment paper. The edges can touch but just barely. Then put it in the freezer overnight. Write a note that says something like "Chicken flash freezing" and put it on your counter where you will see it in the morning. If you are like me you will completely forget about it if  you don't leave that note on your kitchen counter! When you see the note and remember what you did the night before, grab a ziplock bag and put the chicken in it. Zip it up and throw it in the freezer. Now you can take out one piece at a time if that is all you need. Beware, when you take it out of the freezer it will look drier than a piece of leather and you will think you have ruined some perfectly good chicken. Never fear, when you warm it up, gently, in the microwave it will be just like it was when you put it in the freezer. When I cook bacon, I usually do it in the oven and I do two pounds at a time. I flash freeze it the same way. The things I flash freeze: raw sweet potato chips or fries which I use to make oven baked chips or fries, all kinds of fruit which I use for fruit smoothies. Fish, chicken, pork, beef, onions, peppers, pressed garlic, ground up ginger root. I'm always experimenting with freezing stuff so it is ready to use. It makes my meal prep in the evening so much faster!