Fast Food: Spaghetti and Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Every single day of my working life I drive all the way back home to the edge of town for lunch only to return in the blink of an eye to my downtown workplace.

For this:

Totally precious and mischievous Sampson.  28 pounds and he ain't close to stoppin' yet. 

Totally worth it.  This does present some serious time constraints when it comes to eating lunch.  It's all in the routine.  Most days I'll have a lunch sized salad or leftovers from dinner the night before.  But on days like today when salad pickins are slim but I still want a good veggie punch, I have noodles.  How fast did it take me to make my noodles for spaghetti today?  Eh, we'll say 30 seconds, give or take a few.

Have you guessed the secret yet?  It's raw zucchini!

I Said it's Raw Zucchini!!?!


Okay, so maybe you're not as awesomely amazed as I was when I first caught a glimpse of what a kitchen tool called a "spiralizer" can do.  It can even make those neat little curly and connected chips like you get at the fair?  And spirals, duh.

I had to get one right away.  The good news is they are pretty cheap as far as kitchen tools go, and you can click here to get the very exact same one I have and love.

Top that off with a little of my super simple marinara sauce leftover from the night before last, and DANG!  Let's eat!  You can use your own tomato sauce, or a bottled organic tomato sauce to make this even easier. I love to use a sprinkle of nutritional yeast or hemp seeds like I would Parmesan cheese for a little extra flavor and texture.

 I like to leave the peel on my zucchini to keep the extra nutrition and fiber, but you could peel it prior to making noodles to make it look more like actual pasta.  If you don't have a spiralizer, you can still make noodle-like strips using a vegetable peeler or using a good sharp knife to cut your zucchini into matchstick strips.









Now that you've eaten such a virtuous lunch, it's high time to reward yourself with a pumpkin spice latte.  Tip: Don't take out a second mortgage to go to Starbucks.  You got this covered.

In a jar with a tight sealing lid, combine:
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp maple syrup (or more, to taste)
1 cup vanilla almond milk


Shake all ingredients together vigorously.  You can try adding a small amount (2 tsp) of canned pumpkin if you like, but I found I like the creamier texture if I leave it out.  Heat this and drink it on it's own and be in a state of autumn bliss if you so desire, or you can take it to the next level (the caffeinated level) by adding some espresso or coffee.  To heat, either use a steam wand on an espresso machine, or heat it on the stove or microwave, then spin in a blender to give it the frothiness I know you will spend $5 for.  Pour over one shot of espresso or 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee and enjoy.

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