A health kick has changed my diet to a significant degree in recent months, the biggest change being the virtual elimination of carbs. Grains, sugars, and starches are the axis of evil for us anti-carbers, and so many of my favorite foods, such as french fries, homemade popcorn, and even the tomato-avocado sandwich described in a earlier post are off the table.
The word "virtual" must, of course, imply the occasional cheat. After all, I want to be healthy to live, not live to be healthy, and so a few of my favorites, such as my sister's peanut butter pie... a Thanksgiving tradition... are not to be denied.
I have also taken to creating dinners consisting of high-quality components... good substrate in the words of my brother-in-law... and tonight's creation was centered around wild-caught, El Salvadorian shrimp. These beauties were huge, and a pound yielded about a dozen pieces. The shrimp were pan-fried and seasoned with Docspice, which I will describe below.
Now, before folks start objecting to the contradiction between frying food and being healthy, consider that I used organic, cold-pressed coconut oil for the task. Anyone who has ever enjoyed the famous appetizer at Outback Steakhouse knows that coconut and shrimp are awesome together, and frying these babies in coconut oil imparted a subtle, but perfectly-infused undertone of coconut flavor.
The main seasoning was Docspice, which is a concoction of chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, and a dash of ground black pepper. Docspice goes quite well on just about anything... red meats, chicken, and even the forbidden popcorn. The beauty of the spice is that I don't measure anything. I just go by aroma, so each batch comes out different than the last... keeps things interesting.
As a side dish, the wife put together a few stacks of thick-sliced tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and home-grown, Italian basil. She prefers aged balsamic and sliced onion as a top-off, while I tend to just use a dash of olive oil.
Dessert these days tends to be some form of sliced fruit, and we went a little to the eccentric side today with cactus pears, also known as prickly pears. Many people don't even know a cactus fruit exists, and if you've never tried these, they are a must.
Overall, it was a meal to be repeated.
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