low carb Archives - Proud Italian Cook

If you’re going easy on the carbs right now but have a craving for spaghetti, I have the perfect solution for you!
Al’ dente strands of julienned zucchini tossed with roasted veggies of your choice flavored with shaved garlic, olive oil, basil, red pepper flakes and generous amounts of grated romano cheese.

You’ll love the flavor and texture and even if you’re not watching your carbs it can be the perfect meatless meal along with a salad.

I love my handy julienne slicer it works so fast, before you know it you’ll have a pile of zucchini “pasta” right before your eyes, just work the sides and when you reach the seeds, give it a turn.
The core of the zucchini will be left which I then dice and roast up for future use.

I roasted two different color cauliflower for mine and added some cherry tomatoes, next time I’ll roast those too, I forgot, but it didn’t matter, it was so yummy anyway!

Here’s what you do:

First, roast off the veggies of your choice in a 425 degree oven tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, then set aside.
Have your zucchini “pasta” all ready to go then heat up a large saute pan drizzled with olive oil, add shaved garlic and red pepper flakes, saute until garlic is light golden. Next, add zucchini and cook for only about 2 minutes tossing with some tongs just until wilted and still al’ dente. Remove pan from heat, add the roasted veggies, fresh basil, lots of grated romano cheese and of course another drizzle of olive oil!

Vegetable Egg in a Hole

Traditional Egg in the Hole is made by cutting a hole in the middle of some bread then cracking an egg inside the hole and then simply frying it all together. Do you remember the famous breakfast scene in Moonstruck between Olivia Dukakis and Cher? I once did a post on the famous “Moonstruck Eggs”.

Well this is the low carb veggie version. I love how acorn squash looks when you slice it into rings a perfect ready made hole for your egg! Don’t bother to peel it, just carefully slice the squash into rings, take out the seeds, toss in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in an oven at 400F for about 20 minutes, you can do this all the day before.

When you’re ready to cook it drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of your pan, place the squash rings inside then gently crack your egg in the middle. Cook on low heat partially covered then snip fresh rosemary on top along with freshly grated parmesan cheese, it’s a perfect flavor combination with the squash and a beautiful presentation for a special breakfast, and it’s so easy to do! Don’t worry about the peel it slips right off.

Another great vegetable that works well is peppers of all different colors, here I used red peppers which I sliced into rings then sauteed in olive oil until tender right in the pan it only takes a few minutes, then finish cooking the egg as I did above, this was garnished with a dry Tuscan style herb mix that I have.

Everything stays contained in it’s own neat little package, and again such great flavor combinations going on here, sweet red pepper, creamy egg, olive oil and herbs!

Here’s more of a free form method I do when I have leftover veggies, put them in a pan, make a hole in the center and crack an egg right in the middle,just be careful when you slide it on to your plate you might want to add some cheese to the veggies so they stay together or better yet use individual casserole dishes so everything is contained.