We all have that meal growing up that we ate entirely too much of. For my family it was pasta. Growing up, my Mother made spaghetti or macaroni and meat sauce at least twice a week. It was fast, easy and budget friendly for the family of four. Occasionally for a special occasions my Mother would make her famous meatballs and pair either macaroni or spaghetti with that. While it wasn’t my most favorite meal in the world in general despite how delicious my Mother’s cooking was and still is I have a lot of fond memories gathering around the table with my Mom, Dad and Brother eating pasta.

Since I’ve adopted a low-carb lifestyle I have found that not only do I not miss pasta but I also do not miss the heavy feeling in my stomach after I eat it. Now that football is back in season, we spend a lot of time with my father-in-law on Sundays. It’s a time that my husband, myself and his entire family get together to watch the Sunday game and enjoy a nice meal. Unfortunately for me week one the side dish was spaghetti. However, this year I was prepared, I had in my arsenal Green Giant’s veggie spirals zucchini noodles OR zoodles as I call them.

One serving of zoodles or, 3/4 of a cup, equals out to 1 Net g of carb! You heard right, while the count of carbs is actually 2 g the 1 g of dietary fiber subtracts and makes it come out to only 1 net gram of carbs.

Very much like when I made my low-carb piña colada, I set the bar kind of low with my expectations after all zucchini is a little more soggier than pasta so while I expected it to be a decent replacement I wasn’t holding my breath. The verdict? I was pleasantly surprised with just how delicious it was and I did not feel like I was missing out in the slightest. In fact paired with tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese, and two meatballs I felt like I was enjoying the same thing that everybody else was (minus the carbs and the rock in my stomach afterwards). The zucchini noodles were just the right amount of firmness to hold up in the sauce yet soft enough to where it wasn’t crunchy chewing them.

I enjoyed it so much that I’ve made it a staple in my freezer to have them on hand just in case pasta is on the menu at my Father-in-law’s. There’s lots of recipes I’m excited to make and try with these and I will be posting them as I experiment in the future. I will say as a woman who grew up with former pasta junkies, while nothing will really taste just like pasta did, Green Giant’s veggie spirals are better and leave you feeling MUCH more lighter afterwards.

The 4-1-1 Recap:

Overall Grade: B+

Stars:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Price: $3.48

Carb Count: 2 grams – 1 gram of dietary fiber = 1 net gram of carbs.

You can find these zucchini noodles in the frozen food aisle at any super Walmart, ShopRite or local go-to grocery store near you!

Which food did you eat so much of growing up that it nearly burnt you out? Leave a comment below and until next week…

Love you. Mean it.

Brittany

Xoxo