Shrimp Scampi

We watched a show on blue zones and blue zone diets the other night. I was particularly interested in this one as it was set in Sardinia. I have been to Sardinia and I tell you there is a really good reason they call it the emerald coast. The water is so clean and crystal green you can see forever underwater. I remember being underwater watching a small octopus creep along the ocean floor when all of a sudden a Poseidon fork came bursting through the water from up above and skewered the octopus in the head! I leapt out of the water screaming to see a little kid who had gleefully fished the octopus out of the water. Took a while for my heart to stop racing.

However, a blue zone if you haven’t heard of it is a place around the world, where people live very long lives. I believe there are 7 blue zones and Sardinia is one of them. A blue zone diet is where you try to eat like the people eat in a blue zone to have a healthy lifestyle. I’m not switching from keto but we decided that we certainly could incorporate a few nuggets from the Sardinian way of eating. They eat less meat (beef, chicken, and pork) and more fish and seafood. Lots of veggies and dark greens, kale, spinach, etc. Of course, they have pasta but they make their pasta from less processed flour.

This dish is super easy, super fast

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Shrimp Scampi

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1 - 5 lb. bag of medium Shrimp peeled, deveined and tail off

1 stick of butter

4 - 5 garlic cloves minced

1/2 a bunch of parsley - optional

1 cup of dry white wine

small bunch of chives chopped

1/2 a lemon

freshly grated parmesan - optional

Rinse the shrimp at let strain till most of the excess moisture is off them. Melt the butter in the pan and toss in the garlic. Just as the garlic is becoming fragrant add your shrimp and herbs. Toss till the shrimp turn pink on all sides squeeze the lemon over the dish and serve with keto-friendly pasta or cauliflower rice. Top with parmesan if desired.

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Power Greens Salad

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1 small bag of power greens (any combination of baby kale, baby beet, baby chard greens)

2 tablespoons flaxseed

1 tablespoon chia seeds

2 tablespoons pine nuts

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and garlic pepper to taste

Toast all the seeds and nuts except the chia seeds in a dry pan until the almonds and pines nuts brown a bit. Toss all ingredients together and mix well. Serve immediately.

Hint, if you have extra salad leftover stir it in with any leftover shrimp scampi, and next time you warm it up the leaves will wilt and be lovely with the scampi.