ZUCCHINI AND MUSHROOM ZOODLES

BOBO36US'S ZUCCHINI AND MUSHROOM ZOODLES
1 3/4 pounds zucchini (about 3 medium) *
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (2 ounces)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, optional

Cut the blossom end off each zucchini. Then, while holding the stem end, run a vegetable peeler down the length of the zucchini to remove a thin strip of the peel. Continue cutting "ribbons" in this manner. After some experimentation, I found that I got the prettiest noodles by slicing several from the same spot until I reached the core. Once I could see the seeds, I rotated the squash and started cutting slices from the next spot and so on. It doesn't matter if you get different size strips. Once you've worked your way all the way around the squash, discard the inner seed core.

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until all of the liquid has evaporated. Add the cream and parmesan (see my comments below). Simmer until the sauce has thickened. Stir in the zucchini and cook just until tender. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Makes 4-6 servings

* Weight before trimming. I got about 15 ounces of "noodles" from this amount.

Per 1/4 Recipe: 210 Calories; 17g Fat; 10g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 4g Net Carbs
Per 1/6 Recipe: 140 Calories; 11g Fat; 7g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; 1.5g Dietary Fiber; 2.5g Net Carbs

I wasn't sure how much zucchini to buy for this because I knew that there would be quite a bit of waste. I took a guess and bought three average size Mexican squashes because they were cheaper and looked nicer than the regular zucchini. I started out with about 1 3/4 pounds before trimming them. I was kind of disappointed with this recipe. The sauce looked great until I added the zucchini. It gave off so much water that the cream ended up as a puddle in the bottom of the skillet. Only the cheese stuck to the zucchini which caused it to clump together. I think I'd just omit the cream next time and just toss the zucchini with parmesan cheese. My husband said that he liked this dish in spite of these problems. He said he liked that the zucchini still had a little crunch. Click the photo to see a close-up.

Below you can see what the Mexican squash looked like and below that is the pile of zoodles that I got from the three squashes. That's a dinner plate that they're sitting on. You can click the zoodle photo to see a close-up.

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