From the moment my kids decided it was AOK to eat salad, Caesar was always their favorite. And now, thanks to my intern, Katy, Caesar salad is getting a playful new twist with this spiralized Cucumber and Carrot “Noodle” Salad.
Guest Post
Hi everyone! I am Katy Patton, a graduate student at Boston University. This past semester I had the opportunity to take a break from my academic studies to join Liz as an intern. As you know, Liz constantly dreams up new ways to make healthy foods fun for kids, so I knew they would love my go-to kitchen gadget: THE SPIRALIZER 🙂
I use my spiralizer to make all sorts of recipes including this new one for Cucumber and Carrot “Noodle” Salad. With the addition of Caesar dressing and croutons, this recipe, with it’s spiral-shaped veggies, is a riff on the usual Caesar salad.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with a spiralizer, it’s a kitchen tool that transforms vegetables into noodles in seconds. Spiralizing has gained popularity due to the growing number of people on vegan, paleo, and gluten-free diets, but speaking as someone who doesn’t follow a special diet, it’s also just a lot of fun!
One of my favorite ways to use spiralized veggies is in salads. We all know kids love Caesar salads, so when Liz challenged me to create a spiralized recipe, I knew that’s where I would start.
I used English cucumber in this recipe and cut the spirals into 6-inch strands. If you really want to fun-ify this recipe, change the name to Cucumber and Carrot Spaghetti Salad!
- Serves: 4
- Serving size: 1 generous cup
- Calories: 70
- Fat: 4g
- Saturated fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 6g
- Sodium: 150mg
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 3g
- 1 large English cucumber, spiraled and cut into 5- or 6-inch strands (4 cups)
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and spiraled (1⅓ cup)
- 2½ tablespoons creamy Caesar salad dressing
- 2½ tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- Croutons, optional
- Place the spiralized cucumber in a large bowl and pat dry with paper towels. Add the carrots, dressing, and Parmesan cheese and toss until the vegetables are well coated with the dressing.
- Serve in individual bowls and top with croutons as desired.
Have you used a spiralizer? Liz and I initially used a hand-held spiralizer but we felt it was difficult to use and produced a lot of waste. I brought my stand-up spiralizer, and we agreed that it was much easier to use and didn’t generate nearly as much waste.
