Toss your end-of-summer zucchini noodles with a light honey-balsamic sauce and top with sweet figs, salty prosciutto, and crunchy sweet potato bites for this perfect between-seasons salad.
Let’s talk about overwhelm. I think this is a season of it for many of us. School is starting up and whether you’re going, you have kids who are, or you’re just watching it all happen, fall definitely comes with a little extra busy-ness. Not to mention, the days are cruelly getting shorter. Basically, there’s more to do and it feels like there’s even less time to do it all.
Right now, I’m realizing that I only have two weeks left before I move back to school, and that suddenly doesn’t feel like very long at all, which is resulting in my being overwhelmed at everything. And that’s before I get hit with assignments.
Some examples…
Do I want to wear real clothes or athleisure stuff all day? The latter is more comfortable, but I’ll almost definitely be more productive if I put on real clothes and makeup.
What am I doing today? I don’t know. I could run errands, clean the house, continue packing for school, work on recipe development, write, take pictures, learn how to knit, or do just about anything else. I mean, the options are endless. And I have to do it all in two weeks? Uhhh. Maybe I’ll just take a nap.
Which of my 35 shades of nail polish should I put on my toes? Going with the orange-ish pink vs. the red-ish pink will probably matter a lot in the next two weeks and I don’t want to choose the wrong one. I’ll just keep letting the teal slowly chip away and avoid deciding.
Honestly, what am I supposed to eat at meal times? Do I want a smoothie bowl or a snack plate at 3pm? This has resulted in me just refilling bowls with trail mix and pistachios over and over again. It’s kinda pitiful.
These zucchini noodles. What do I put on these zucchini noodles? I changed this recipe about 15 times. It seriously used to be another spinach salad with shrimp. You will notice that there is neither spinach nor shrimp here (though they wouldn’t be bad additions…). It used to have even more stuff. And don’t get me wrong – I love an overloaded salad. But I wanted to simplify things a little.
See, that’s usually my solution for overwhelm: simplification.
If I can’t decide on something else to wear in 5 minutes, I have a go-to “uniform”. I make a list of what I want to do each week, so I feel accountable for getting it done in that much time. Unless I feel really strongly about a different nail polish, I’ve decided that one of them is my fallback. And about the food choices… if I don’t feel that strongly, well, I guess I haven’t really figured that one out. I can just tell you that I eat a lot of pistachios and sweet potatoes.
So with this dish, when I kind of wanted to throw allthethings into it, I simplified.
Feeling overwhelmed? Simplify your life - and your salad. #fitfluential #bgbcommunity Share on XThis was originally a chopped salad with two types of greens, two roasted vegetables, three fruits, caramelized onions, homemade (Paleo) croutons, seared shrimp, and a dressing with probably too many ingredients. I had it all worked out. And I’m fully convinced it would have been delicious. But I couldn’t really force myself to start making it after I dreamed it up. There was too much. Basically, I might make it once to take pretty pictures for you, but I’d never make it myself.
This? This takes a maximum of a half an hour and is full of flavor, and not remotely overwhelming, so I can make it any old time. And guess what? It’s delicious, too.
- 2 oz. prosciutto
- 1 small sweet potato
- 1 t. olive oil
- Black pepper
- 1 medium/large zucchini
- 1/2 c. fresh parsley*
- 2 T. balsamic vinegar
- 1 T. honey
- 4 black figs
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Chop sweet potato into uniform cubes, about 1/4 inch in size. Toss cubes with olive oil and black pepper to taste. (You can salt them if you like, but I find the prosciutto lends plenty of salt to this dish.)
- Place sweet potato pieces on one of the baking sheets.
- On the other baking sheet, lay slices of prosciutto in a single layer.
- Put both baking sheets in the oven. After about 6 minutes, the prosciutto will be crispy. Remove when done and leave the sweet potatoes in the oven for another 15 minutes, or until they are crispy, too.
- While the sweet potatoes are crisping up, spiralize zucchini, chop parsley, and slice figs. Toss the zucchini noodles and parsley together.
- Add balsamic vinegar and honey to the zucchini and parsley and toss to coat.
- When cool enough to handle, chop crispy prosciutto and sprinkle over zucchini noodles.
- Divide zucchini noodles into two bowls. Top with roasted sweet potatoes and sliced figs. Enjoy!
- *Arugula or baby kale are good, too!
- Serve these zucchini noodles as a side with your protein of choice for a more complete meal. It's delicious with both shrimp and chicken.
- You can easily halve or multiply the recipe to get more servings or a single serving. Or, really, you can eat the whole thing yourself.
Click here to view nutrition facts for Honey Balsamic Zucchini Noodles with Figs & Crispy Prosciutto
Pin for later:
Your turn:
Are you feeling the back-to-school busyness?
How do you simplify your life?
Holy balls, girl, this. looks. amazing. PS I miss you.
I know the overwhelmed feeling. It has basically been the entirety of this year for me so far. I think it is 2016. Right now I am definitely NOT simplifying my life, lol. I am dealing with a sick cat, trying to take on more clients, trying to have a baby, and trying to adopt a dog.
Oh and writing a book, keeping up with blog, and getting more coaching clients.
Wow. No wonder I’m out of my gourd.
Love you!
Thank you, love you, and I MISS YOU.
And um wow. Someone is trying to do it all, eh? I know the feeling. My list keeps expanding and then at the end of the day, I’ve gotten through the day and don’t feel I’ve made a whole lot of long term progress.
If only all decisions really WERE as simple as making zucchini noodles 😛
Someone should get on that. If that solved all the problems, I’d be killing it ?
WOW! All of the flavors here look so delicious when combined. Just pinned this recipe!
Thanks so much, Jess! ?
YES, I am all for simplifying too Ellen. I love that you simplified this, although that first idea sounded good too. This seriously kin of made my mouth water when you posted it on social media. It makes me really want to try figs now.
Hahaha I bet I’d love the first idea too. Maybe one day I’ll get the courage to make it ? Thanks, Emily! I tried fresh figs for the first time a couple weeks ago and love ’em!
look at this fun salad!! so many different flavors! I’ve had a fig ONCE in my life, and for some reason i haven’t bought them since even though i really enjoyed it. thanks for reminding me =D
Thanks, Beverley! Go get yourself some figs ?
YUM Ellen! That crispy prosciutto is making me question why I haven’t been adding it to all of my salads. This looks incredible! And enjoy the last two weeks of summer – let me know when you’re back in Chicago and we can meet up!
Crispy prosciutto is a total game changer! So easy and flavorful! Thanks, Ellie – I definitely will! ?
This looks so yummy, Ellen! I’ve ben on a huge DRIED fig kick lately and have been loving them! Believe it or not, I’ve never had a fresh fig!
Thanks, Liv! I love dried figs, too! I had my first fresh fig a few weeks ago and loveee ’em now 🙂
Talk about a killer combination! This looks AMAAAAAZING!
When I need to simplify things in my life I always feel like I have to reasses my priorities as often little unimportant things smuggle away my time!
Thanks, Kristy!
I’ve definitely been feeling like my time gets sucked away by little things lately. Need to work on that!
this looks like such a cool recipe. i usually make my zoodles with tofu sausage!
love this idea 😀
XOXO,
Alisha
saffrononrose.com
Oooh zoodles with sausage is delicious! Thanks, Alisha 🙂
confession: i have a HUGE tray of figs from trader joe’s that i have NO clue how to get through…until i read this. zoodles + figs + prosciutto? only a few of my favorite things! can’t wait to try!
Thanks, Jess! That’s exactly where I got all my figs! I hope you love it 🙂