When it starts to get a little colder outside, who doesn’t love cuddling up inside to a big bowl of warm pasta? Well, if you’re trying to watch what you eat or just incorporate a few more healthy meals into your life, then you might not be so crazy about this carb-heavy  cuddle. Luckily, there are veggie noodles to the rescue!

Veggie noodles literally come in all different shapes and sizes. They can be made from different types of vegetables and can be smothered with different types of sauces. If this is your first time exploring with veggie noodles or if you’re on your way to becoming a seasoned veggie noodler, this guide is for you.

Your Veggie Noodle Tools: You can use a spiralizer made especially for twirling out veggie noodles, a julienne cutter or a sharp knife. You can grab any of these at your local kitchen shop.

Kinds of Veggies: Zucchini works great, but you can also try other veggies like squash, carrots and turnips. If you plan on using the spiralizer, make sure to buy veggies small enough to fit.

Kinds of Noodles: Depending on which tool you pick, you can create different types of noodles. You can make thin spaghetti noodles and thicker spiral noodles with the spiralizer, the julienne cutter is great for straight long stick-like noodles and use a knife to make lengthwise slices—sliced thinly for a ribbon noodle and sliced slightly thicker for lasagna type noodles.

Veggie Noodle Cooking Methods: Veggie noodles cook a lot faster than regular pasta so not only are veggie noodles a healthy meal, they’re a quick healthy meal! You can make the noodles soft or you can cook them for a little less time for more of an al dente experience.

There are a few different ways to cook up your veggie noodles depending on your preference. You can sauté the noodles by throwing them in a medium-hot oiled cooking pan for a couple minutes until the noodles look soft. You can also boil them by dumping the noodles into hot boiling water for about two minutes. You can bake the noodles in a lasagna just replace and layer the veggie noodles instead of the lasagna noodles with your favorite recipe and bake as usual. Or you can microwave them in a dish with a wet paper towel on top for about 2 minutes.

Use your favorite sauce on top, stir, throw on a little parm and voila! You’ve got a healthy big bowl of (veggie) noodle pasta to cuddle up to.

What’s your favorite veggie noodle and sauce combo? We need to know. Tell us in the comments!