OKAY OKAY! Yes it’s January and yes it’s time to “get back on it”, but becoming a “health freak” is not in my DNA, nor do you want to see me grumpy due to lack of food.

My passion for food simply doesn’t give me the option to give up carbohydrates – ever – so please be assured I am not here to say “lose the carbs”.

Circa 7 years ago I lost nearly 4 stone (after a long medical problem causing excessive weight gain from a bunch of different drugs and treatment) and I didn’t give up carbs then, so why would I now? Everything can be enjoyed in moderation and weight can still be lost if you stick to a healthy and realistic program.

I am the proud owner of the Vegetable Spiralizer by Spiralz (currently £29.95 on Amazon UK). This spiralizer creates vegetable spaghetti, giving you a healthy addition and/or alternative to the many meals containing pasta we are so often cooking.

Yes – it gives us an option to create healthier meals, perfect for this time of year when we all probably have a few festive pounds to lose, but I don’t intend on changing my lifestyle completely.

The spiralizer comes with three blades, so you can make spaghetti, ribbons and thicker noodle strands (like curly fries). It’s so easy to use and takes seconds! I’ve wanted a spiralizer for a while now especially to utilise one of my favourite vegetables – courgettes.

Occasionally, I will substitute spaghetti for “courgetti” – but I can still enjoy traditional spaghetti bolognaise by substituting half of my normal portion of spaghetti with courgetti (using half of a large courgette), and then pad out a modest portion of beef bolognaise with chunks of the remaining half.

With courgetti – I like it both raw and cooked, but when boiling it literally takes just one minute – you do not want sloppy courgetti on your plate!

Heavy sauces won’t work with courgetti. Try making sauces using a base of either tomato, mashed avocado, pesto or light-weight salad dressings. You can add pine nuts, chicken, prawns, cheese, vegetables – the options are endless.

I am also going to use my spiralizer to make sweet potato noodles, which as we know is still a carb, but a more “kinder” carbohydrate than regular white pasta.

We can all get that mundane feeling when we recreate the same old meals, so I’m excited to try new dishes using my spiralizer!

If you have a spiralizer I’d love to learn of some of your tried and tested recipes!

Happy *Healthier* New Year!

XCamilla

Courgetti and spaghetti bolognaise (with extra courgette chunks) and a topping of “forgive me I made this before 1st January” cheese.