Dinner alert: Lower Carb Veggie Spirals with Pesto

Thanks to Green Giant for collaborating on this post. While this is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.

About 10 months ago I was introduced to the wonders of Veggie Tots – basically tater tots minus the potatoes and filled with a vegetable (cauliflower or broccoli in this instance.) We’ve incorporated them into our weekly meal plans, and when I heard Green Giant was releasing Veggie Spirals, I got a little excited to try them. 

I’ve had a spiralizer in my possession, but I have to be honest – I haven’t really used it all that much. I’m into convenience AND healthy foods in this stage of my life, so having zucchini already spiralized for me is like a dream come true. The Veggie Spirals have JUST been released, and it took a couple of weeks before my area Walmart had them in stock. We tried them over the weekend and I’m almost surprised at how tasty they were! 

The package recommends different ways to use the spirals – you can use a pasta sauce, for instance. I had frozen pesto, so after making the Veggie Spirals in the microwave, I thawed a cube of pesto to mix in. 

My husband loved them, I really enjoyed them, and my toddler ate them without complaint. (Of course, the toddler also dipped them in her applesauce, but who am I to tell her she can’t do that?) My 6-year-old ate something else that night for dinner – getting him to eat any new foods is such a chore, but I’m working on him. 

For now, I count it as a win that my husband and I have another side option for our busy nights when we don’t want to resort to pasta. 

The texture is not terrible. It isn’t mushy, and they really almost had the texture of spaghetti noodles. I was a little worried about this initially. I paired the side dish with chicken (I used this recipe, in fact.)

Let’s look at my pesto recipe for a minute, shall we? My mom passed this recipe along to me years ago. Every summer I try to make at least one (or more) batches, and I freeze it in ice cube trays before transferring it to freezer bags. This past summer, I used silicone baby food trays as I can’t find our ice cube trays (pretty sure we ditched them before our new refrigerator arrived 18 months ago.) 

Anyway, the pesto recipe: 

1 1/2 c. packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, cut
1/4 c. pine nuts or walnuts (I use pine nuts – and you can buy large bags at Sam’s Club)
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c. olive oil

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until it’s a liquid. Freeze to use for later. 

These are a pretty low carb option for a side dish (there is some parmesan in my pesto, but otherwise the ingredients are zucchini, basil, oil and pine nuts.) One package gave us about four decent size servings. And the pricing was around $3.48 for a package. If you consider how much zucchini will cost you (especially in winter if you don’t live in an area that zucchini grows during the winter), this is a really good price point. 

I’m loving this new option for vegetables and convenience! 

Tell me: Do you have (and use) a spiralizer? If so, what are you mixing your spiralized vegetables with? 

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