Here is how to make a paleo friendly shrimp scampi. I love shrimp scampi, I mean I really, really love shrimp scampi. It has been my go to pasta dish ever since I was a child. With following a paleo based diet I thought I would have to give up my favorite food.
Except there is a indelible vegetable that fans of pasta can have. The lowly spaghetti squash.
If you have never had spaghetti squash it has a slight squash flavor but is more bland than anything else. The strands of squash have a almost al dente type texture and holds all sauces quite well. It’s the perfect replacement for grain based pasta in your favorite dishes.
So I grabbed two squash, a onion, tomato, 1 pound of 50-60 shrimp, butter, garlic powder and lemons.
I cut the squash length wise so I could clean them out,some people will just roast them whole but fro my experience it is easier to clean while uncooked versus piping hot from the oven.
I set the squash open face on a sheet tray and set them into our wood stove oven to bake for about a hour at 350 degrees.
While the squash was cooking I started chopping up the tomatoes and onions.
I melted some butter in a pan.
And poured the onions into the pan and seasoned them with pepper and garlic powder.
After a quick saute of the onions I dumped in the shrimp and squeezed three lemons into the pan and covered it to cook.
I checked the squash to make sure it was cooked and pulled them out of the oven.
Here is the magic of spaghetti squash, just take a fork and scrape the sides of the squash down towards the bottom and the flesh of the squash will separate into long spaghetti like noodles.
I checked the shrimp and it as cooked through out.
I poured it over the squash and tossed the tomatoes on top and added some more pepper.
Dinner was served.
I calculated the calorie content with myfitnesspal.com for the whole recipe
- Shrimp – Raw, 15 oz 451 Calories
- Butter – Salted, 2 tbsp 204 Calories
- Squash – Spaghetti Baked, 8 cup 336 Calories
- Onions – Raw, 1 cup, chopped 67 Calories
- Generic – Roma Tomato – Medium, on Vine, 1 medium sized tomato 27 Calories
- Lemon juice – Raw, 1 cup 61 Calories
- Total Calories 1,146
I could have eaten that whole pan and still only been at half my required calorie intake for the day. That is the beauty of eating real food and why weight loss is a extra added benefit of it. Another benefit is the lack of the carb “bloat” that often accompanies eating a pasta based meal.
Give it a shot!
