Winging it with KitchenIQ - Lemon-Rosemary Zoodles with Roasted Carrots

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for KitchenIQ. I received promotional items to thank me for my participation.

I was originally going to make this Cilantro Lime Chicken zoodles recipe from iFoodReal, but the grocery store was out of cilantro and I was too lazy to go across the street to the other store. So I grabbed some rosemary and figured I'd wing it... I was also going to make Garlic Roasted Carrots from Damn Delicious, except that when my guests voted for garlic instead of cumin for the zoodles, I didn't want to garlic up the carrots too. So I just used seasoned salt and called it good! Unless my friends were just trying to make me feel good, both dishes were a hit!

First off, let me start by telling you about my knives. We have old knives. From before my husband and I met 19 years ago. And they have been sharpened approximately once a never. I am just used to hacking and forcing my way through fruits and veggies, and maybe lopping off a bit of skin along the way. So I was excited to try KitchenIQ's Edge Grip Knife Sharpener (it's a bestseller on Amazon!) It didn't really come with instructions, and I clearly have not been honing my knife-sharpening skills [see what I did there?] so I had Hubby sharpen the knives for me! Besides, I'm better at taking pictures than he is. And also clearly better at weaseling out of doing prep-work! Hahaha!

My guests and I were really impressed with the Edge Grip Knife Sharpener. I tried cutting one carrot before sharpening, for comparison, and they saw how hard it was. After sharpening, my knife went through those carrots "like buttah!" It was surprisingly easy to use the Edge Grip's unique design to sharpen my straight-edge double-bevel knives.
There are actually two stages of sharpening in the one unit, and it pretty much worked the way I had guessed (but don't tell Hubby that I could have done it after all!) There's a Coarse sharpening slot with carbide blades for quickly sharpening dull or damaged knives with just a few pulls. The Fine slot has ceramic rods for finishing and polishing the edge, or to touch-up an already sharp knife. And thanks to the Edge Grip Bottom, the whole thing stayed stable on the counter top without sliding around. All that, and it's small enough to store in my cutlery drawer!

We used the Potato Tool to scrub and peel the carrots. And by "we," I mean my husband. This tool includes a scrub brush for cleaning potatoes and other veggies, a straight-edge peeler, and a paring knife tucked safely in the handle. Both the peeler and paring knife have non-stick stainless steel-coated blades, and the paring knife can be sharpened using the Edge Grip Knife Sharpener!
The ergonomic soft-grip, non-slip handle made it very easy to use, and it was handy being able to scrub each carrot then just rotate the tool to immediately begin peeling. Plus it's top-rack dishwasher safe! Bonus!

 

Since I was provided with extra Better Zesters to gift to my guests, I let Hubby have a break from doing all the labor and had my friends zest the lemon for us.

The Better Zester features a stainless steel V-etches zester blade, which makes it perfect for zesting all kinds of citrus fruits. Would probably work great for grating parmesan too, but I'm lazy and buy it pre-grated! The non-stick food-safe coating allows for smoother zesting and easier clean-up, plus it's dishwasher-safe! But our favorite features were the plastic cover to protect little hands from the blade while rooting around in the utensil drawer, and the Fresh Zest container, which collects and holds the grated zest and includes measurements to help you know when you have just the right amount!

Lemon-Rosemary Zoodles and Roasted Carrots

Lemon-Rosemary Zoodles with Beans

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 large zucchini, zoodled or sliced into thin strips/sticks

1 tsp rosemary, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp minced)

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed (red or black beans work just fine too!)

1 lemon, zested and halved

1/2-1 tsp salt, or to taste

Directions:

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in large skillet on medium-high. Add beans and garlic. Saute until warm, about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add zoodles, rosemary, lemon zest, and salt. Saute 1.5 minutes, stirring frequently. 

Remove zoodle mixture from pan and sear cut ends of halved lemon until browned, roughly 1-2 minutes. Halve or quarter each seared lemon half into wedges.

Divide evenly between 4-5 plates. Serve hot with seared lemon wedges.

Simple Roasted Carrots

Ingredients:

2 bunches small carrots

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Seasoned salt or garlic salt, to taste (1/2 to 1 tsp)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

Trim greens off carrots, leaving 1/2 to 1" of stems. Wash and peel carrots, then slice in half lengthwise. Toss in oil and lay on baking sheet. Sprinkle with seasoned salt. Bake for 20 minutes.

Products are available on the KitchenIQ website or on Amazon.com
  
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