Gluten-Free Arugula Pesto Over Zucchini Noodles

By Sara Szal MD | September 5, 2018
The Hormone Reset Diet Recipe |Gluten-Free|Sara Gottfried MD

Are you trying to adopt a gluten-free diet? Every day staple foods like pasta are often difficult to replace when you are giving up gluten or grains, which makes this Zucchini Noodle with Pesto dish the perfect solution!

The word “gluten” is actually the Latin word for “glue”; it is the protein found in wheat, barley, and rye that provides elasticity to baked goods, such as bread, cereal, and pizza. The problem is that gluten may make you fat. When ingested, gluten can sound an alarm in your gut and brain, trigger immune overreaction, increase appetite, and hook you into overeating. One of the hardest steps of THE HORMONE RESET DIET is going grain-free. But the women who work with me online in my courses often find that giving up gluten is the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to stubborn weight loss and other nagging health issues.

To see if gluten and grains are a real problem for you, try a powerful three-day reset. Removing grains for seventy-two hours helps shed the pounds and provide dramatic improvements in gut, pancreas, brain, and thyroid function, and it resets your insulin levels.


Ingredients

Makes 4 to 6 servings

2 tablespoons full- fat canned coconut milk
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
4 cups fresh arugula
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1–2 cloves garlic, depending on taste
Zest of one lemon
⅓ cup of olive oil
2 large zucchini, or 4–5 smaller zucchini
1 tablespoon of coconut oil

Preparation

  • Using a julienne peeler, peel zucchini lengthwise into long slices. They should look like spaghetti noodles. Set aside.
  • To make the pesto:
    Blend coconut milk, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper in food processor until smooth.
    Add arugula, nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon zest, and olive oil to food processor, and blend again until creamy.
  • Heat coconut oil in a very large skillet over medium to high heat.
    Add zucchini noodles. You may need to work in batches depending on the size of your skillet. Sauté zucchini until noodles have just brightened, approximately 4 to 6 minutes.
    Remove from pan and serve pesto over zucchini.
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