What I mean is: it’s the best season to eat raw vegetables. Slice ’em, dice ’em, spiralize ’em — then dress ’em up with some red chili pepper flakes and citrus — and enjoy.

Which is exactly what I did here. No stove, no oven, no muss, no fuss.

If you use a whole artichoke, follow this great tutorial for how to slice it perfectly. Otherwise a can of artichoke hearts will work just fine. I’ve made it with both and they’re (almost) equally delicious.

I have a new obsession: my spiralizer. I’ve only had it for about a month and I’ve already gotten every penny’s worth of its $39.99 price tag. Just ask Brian what I’ve made for dinner 4 of the last 5 times and he’ll tell you: zucchini noodles and ______ (fill in the blank with whatever other vegetable and/or protein I have in the fridge).

You look at it and think, huge plate of pasta. Then you eat it and think, hmmm looks like pasta, almost tastes like pasta, but I’m not overly full and bloated from all those crazy carbs. That’s because it’s all zucchini aka the Magical Summer Substitute for Pasta. Bonus: it takes just minutes to prepare and cook.

I’ve been experimenting with different sauces and vegetables and will post more versions this summer, but if you want to try making zucchini noodles — and you should, my goodness you should! — then I’d follow this recipe to a T because when I first winged it I had a hard time with portions. That’s cause it doesn’t cook like pasta, absorbing water. So enjoy this one or head to Inspiralized for a whole blog of ideas. (This one was actually adapted from a recipe that Ali did as a guest post on another blog, A Spicy Perspective. PS Ali’s also one of my new favorite instagram accounts to follow. She has a ton of great recipes and while I don’t know her personally, her excitement and energy about the healthy food she makes is infectious.)