Valentine's Day Dinner For One

So I was perusing facebook this evening and could not help but notice that EVERY GIRL GOT FLOWERS. I almost got sad. Chocolate would have almost been comforting. Instead I decided to cook an EPIC WHOLE 30 dinner.

I started off by making some fresh guacamole. Every night I must make my dinner if I don't have leftovers because you can't buy ready-made stuff on WHOLE30. Nothing ready-made is ever WHOLE 30 friendly. At least not in America... There have been many nights that I've said "eff it" and just whipped up some guac and sweet potato chips and eaten THAT for dinner. Tonight was almost another one of those nights. Coming home at 8:30pm makes it very tempting.

So I turn on the oven for the sweet potato chips and decide that tonight, instead, I will *finally* use that butternut squash that has been staring at me like a ginormous foreboding dildo in my fridge... I should have drawn a face on it and captioned it with a "soon." ...anyway... I had this recipe planned since I started the WHOLE 30. Roasted garlic butternut squash. A mashed squashy thing. It was super easy and I am so glad I made it. It totally did not "go" with my dinner theme but if roasted garlic butternut squash is wrong then I don't want to be right.

Then, my cooking adrenaline pumping and the squash and garlic roasting together in the oven, I got a little frisky and pulled out some frozen jumbo shrimp.... this one I made up on the fly. I remembered that time when my family went to "Bubba Gump Shrimp" for the first time in Maui, HI.  We ordered two shrimp appetizers and both were amazing. Let's call one cajun and the other garlic because I forget. All I know is these shrimpies were sauteed in the most delicious concoction of fat and spices and the Polcaro family was loving it. I modeled my shrimp saute after this.  I used clarified butter and unrefined coconut oil for the fat and simmered up some green onion, half a white onion, a red pepper some basil and parsley, 3 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, cilantro and some jerk spice for a few min. I threw in the thawed and peeled jumbo shrimp and sauteed away. This was really delicious. Kind of a fridge dump but an awesome one.

I made sure to plate everything all pretty for you as well. The butternut squash recipe is below...

The butternut squash all roasted up. I have a confession: I ate a couple pieces just like this. Roasted at 400 with salt pepper and EVOO. They were already delicious and no roasted garlic had even been incorporated yet... oh man... I'm sad it's already gone and in my tummy...

My little shrimpies all sauteed up.  The jerk spice and dried cilantro were a great last minute addition. I do still have some of these left. That could change in about 30 minutes....

The plated meal. One of these things is clearly not like the others. The butternut squash mash is comfort food. I sprinkled with some chopped basil in an attempt to help it fit in. It really shouldn't feel bad it was the star of the show. The shrimp was pretty damn freaking awesome as well, though.

Ok you want recipes? Here they are:

______________________________________

Roasted Garlic Butternut Squash

3 lbs butternut squash, trimmed and peeled
1 head garlic
2 Tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil.... durr)
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Scoop out the seeds of the butternut squash and cut into into 1″ pieces.   Place the squash on a parchment paper lined (or coconut oil greased) baking sheet.  Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Take whole head of garlic and slice off the top so you can see the white cloves inside.  Make a little boat/dish out of tin foil. Cover the bottom of the boat with EVOO. Put the garlic head face down in it. Make a little cover for your boat also out of tin foil. Put this contraption on your baking sheet - you're roasting the garlic with your squash. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until tender.  Allow to cool slightly.

Add the cooled squash and roasted garlic cloves (which you will remove from the pouches inside the head first, obviously...) to the bowl of a blender.  Puree until smooth.

_______________________________________

Guacamole

• 3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 3 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

______________________________________

Shrimp Saute

 Sorry to be lazy but copying and pasting from above ... " I used clarified butter and unrefined coconut oil for the fat and simmered up some green onion, half a white onion, a red pepper some basil and parsley, 3 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, cilantro and some jerk spice for a few min. I threw in the thawed and peeled jumbo shrimp and sauteed away. This was really delicious. Kind of a fridge dump but an awesome one."


...I'm so ready to watch an episode of Downton Abbey and go to bed.

And, in case you were wondering, I still want a piece of freaking chocolate.