Poor pasta! Once a star staple on our weekly dinner menu is now sitting quietly on the pantry shelf. Our efforts to eat more vegetables have lead us to allowing zucchini, of all things, to be the star. I mean really, who truly loves zucchini? Lets be honest, it has virtually no flavor. Its pretty much the tofu of vegetables.; desperately needing flavorful company or breading and a deep fry bath!

That being said, the lack of significant flavor and its shape is what makes zucchini the perfect faux pasta! Slice it with a vegetable peeler and you get perfect ribbons resembling pappardelle.

Here's what you'll need for Turkey Mushroom Bolognese:

1 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
6-8 mushrooms, chopped (we used baby bellas)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Swirl olive oil into a dutch oven or large sauce pan and cook onion, garlic, celery, mushrooms and carrot over medium heat. Let the vegetables soften and the onion become translucent, about 8-10 minutes.

2. Remove the cooked vegetables with a slotted spoon and reserve in a bowl. Add more olive oil to the pot and add the ground turkey. Season with salt and pepper and brown the meat, break apart the meat as it cooks, about 5-8 minutes.

3. Once the turkey is browned and crumbled, return the cooked vegetables to the pot. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and season again with salt, pepper. Add oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook on medium-low heat allowing to gently simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For the "Zoodles":

3-4 medium zucchini
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt & pepper

Using a potato peeler, simply peel zucchini into thin ribbons. Once you have all of your zucchini ribbons, toss into a saute pan with olive oil salt & pepper. Saute for about 3 minutes until slightly softened.

To serve, pour sauce over zucchini ribbons. Top with grated cheese or here, we topped with a bit of fresh ricotta.

We'll see you soon Pasta! Until then, zoodles!

xo & a pinch

Kelly