Paleo Shrimp Scampi

911 operator:  "911, what is your emergency?"

Mom:  "My daughter is trying to kill me!!"

911 operator: "What is your daughter doing to you?"

Mom: "She is trying to feed me healthy food and won't give me any tortillas! She is killing me!" 

This is the conversation I envision between my mom and the police.  My mom's idea of healthy is a breakfast with steak, 3 eggs, a side of pancakes, and hash browns.  Getting my mom to eat better is difficult!  So the most I can do is cook my way when I'm there.  She almost always likes what I cook (as long as I add a tortilla!).  I always joke with her and tell her that one day she will be calling the police to tell them that her daughter is killing her by feeding her healthy food.  Anyway, I try.  On the other hand, my dad really likes to eat healthy.  He will eat well as long as it's provided for him.  I know with my dad's arthritis and other conditions, a paleo diet is perfect for him.  I wish I lived closer so that I could share my regular meals with them.  

Today was a day that I spent with my parents, caring for my mom and dad.  I went to my mom's infusion appointment at the hospital.  It's amazing to me how BAD hospital food is for people working on their healing.  My mom's lunch while at the hospital consisted of chicken and rice soup, a sandwich with huge whole wheat bread and deli turkey (not even lettuce on the sandwich), mayo for the sandwich, and peaches in syrup.  How can it be that people with illnesses such as cancer are given foods that do not promote their health.  Imagine if at a bare minimum, the hospital gave people a real peach instead peaches in heavy sugared syrup.  

Normally when we go for treatments I carry my big lunch bag with plenty of healthy snacks.  This time I didn't have time to pack anything.  So while we were out, hospital food it was.  However, the morning started out with almond flour pancakes and dinner was Paleo Shrimp Scampi.  At least I made up for it.  Here is the recipe for the shrimp scampi.  It is super easy and quick.  I was able to make this while my mom napped after her appointment.

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The biggest take-away from this post is the spaghetti squash noodles.  As I started to eat gluten free, I had transitioned to rice pasta, and eventually I transitioned to kelp noodles.  Now that I discovered spaghetti squash, I use those almost always.  I have sad and lonely kelp noodles in my cabinet because I will usually opt for the spaghetti squash.  The spaghetti squash noodles are delicious and I love to eat a huge serving knowing that they are really low in calories and loaded with only the good fats that you add to them - or even nothing at all! They can be eaten in so many ways.  We also eat these noodles when we make "spaghetti" with marinara sauce and lean ground beef.  So you can adapt the spaghetti noodles recipe to other dishes that have pasta.  

For the Pasta:

1 large spaghetti squash or 2 small ones

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Sea salt and pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the squash on a baking dish and put in the oven.  If it is a large spaghetti squash, it will take about an hour to bake.  Smaller ones can take about 45 minutes.  When it's done, take it out and cut it in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds and discard.  Take a fork and scrape out the "noodles."  It's like magic!  Put it in a bowl, drizzle some olive oil and add the spices.  Toss it so that olive oil and spices is distributed throughout.

For the Shrimp Scampi: 

16 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 TBS butter

2-3 TBS olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Sea salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1 TBS fresh parsley, chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

Melt the butter over medium heat, add the olive oil and garlic.  Suate the garlic for 2-3 minutes.  Add the shrimp, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the shrimp is cooked through.  Remove from heat and add the desired amount on top of the spaghetti squash on your plate.  Toss with lemon.  

My dad loved this.  He doesn't eat much anymore.  He asked for a second serving.  For my mom, I did the exact same thing, but used chicken since she doesn't like seafood.  My mom of course asked, "Do I get a tortilla with this?"  I said, "No.  Just like this."  

This was incredibly fast.  The only thing that takes long is the spaghetti squash, but I will typically bake it ahead of time knowing I will be using it later.  You can also steam it which is faster, but I prefer the baking.  Baking is very forgiving.  If you go over the hour a little bit, it's no big deal.  With steaming, you have to get the timing perfect or you will end up with mush instead of noodles.