Ever since we decided to embark on a food-as-medicine lifestyle we have been tweaking our diet with yummy, yet healthy, kitchen hacks. Many of you may already know our healthy lifestyle journey started with a single green smoothie!

From there on we slowly started to add more healthy stuff and eliminated more processed and unhealthy items from our life.

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Every time we turned this healthy food into a habit we felt our body craving for more. The results were so drastically positive we could no longer ignore the bare facts. And we went into a health food overdrive.

Scanning the internet, cookbooks, and food shows our diet changed from what they call the typical American or Western Diet to the happy, healthy, whole-food loving 99% vegans we are today!

#MakeItHealthy tip!

Before I show you how to make this lovely dish, I want to give you a quick #MakeItHealthy tip. Have you ever tried zoodles (aka spiralized zucchini) or other veggies noodles? Did you fell in love after the first bite too? We sure did!

Zoodles are a great alternative to pasta. They are incredibly healthy, nutritious, low in calories, and naturally gluten-free. AND NON-PROCESSED!!!!

Compare two cups of regular pasta clocking in at 480 calories, 90 grams of carbs, and two grams of fiber with two cups of zucchini zoodles which only has 66 calories, twelve grams of carbs, and four grams of fiber. Seems like a no-brainer swap to me, right?

Ohh and I forgot to mention that these zoodles actually taste way better than pasta. Do I got you all excited about them? Good!!!

Zoodles are just awesome! What do you think?

Are you getting hungry? Let's get on with the recipe then!

ZOODLES WITH HOMEMADE SPINACH FALAFEL AND TOMATO SAUCE

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 2)

2 zucchini, spiralized

FYI: For more info on how to spiralize veggies, CLICK HERE

For falafel

3 cups fresh spinach
1.5 cup cooked or canned chickpeas (½ cup dried = 1.5 cup cooked = 1 15 oz can drained)
1/4 cup red onion, roughly chopped
3 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1.5 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lime, juice only
1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 tbsp water
Black pepper and sea salt to taste
3-4 tbsp flour of your choice (GF if needed)

For the tomato sauce

2.5 cups tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 dried rosemary
1 tsp dried oregano
Black pepper and sea salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°F or 200°C.
Add garlic, onion, and spinach to a blender or food processor. Pulse a few times to break everything up into smaller pieces.
Add chickpeas, peanut butter, water lemon juice, cumin, salt, and pepper. Mix to combine. Do not over-process as you want to keep some texture in the mixture. Once incorporated, transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture is thick enough to handle. If the mixture is too wet add more flour, too dry add more water. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Form balls from the falafel mixture. Use palms to flatten into patties.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper (or use a silicone mat). Evenly space out falafel patties. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway.
Meanwhile, heat a skillet with cooking oil over medium heat. Saute onion for 2 to 3 minutes while stirring. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.
Stir in tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes start to fall apart and form a sauce. Season with oregano, rosemary, salt, and pepper to taste. This will take about 10 minutes. Stir regularly. Add a little water if needed.
While the sauce is cooking, spiralize zucchini. In a separate pan/skillet heat cooking oil over medium heat. Then add zucchini noodles and cook until softened and heated through. This will take about 3-5 minutes. Stir regularly.
Add noodles to a bowl and top with tomato sauce and falafel patties.