Crab & Baby Shrimp Stuffed Acorn Squash

It's Football Sunday and I recently have moved to Seattle so I'm being adopted as a Seahawk fan though I will always be a Lion fan at heart.  So glad I moved to a state where I have sports loving friends!  So it was my turn to cook and I decided to try something new.  We just happened to have a bunch of Acorn Squash and being a new transplant I have been eager to dive into some seafood.  So why not stuff the squash with seafood?

This was not only surprisingly delicious it forced me to expand my skills set as a cook.  I eat Paleo because it makes me feel so great but it also means you have to make everything from scratch.... but that's how I think we should be preparing our food anyway.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 acorn squash
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 cup crab (fresh or from a couple cans)
1.5 cup of baby shrimp
1 large shallot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
2 tsp old bay seasoning
1 egg, beaten
3 Tbsp avocado oil mayo (recipe to follow)
salt and pepper to taste

Process:
1.  Preheat oven 375 degrees
2.  Half the acorn squashes place face down in pan in a bit of salted water and a tablespoon of coconut oil bake for 30-40 minutes
3.  Saute shallot and onion in pan
4.  In bowl mix crab, baby shrimp, bay seasoning, parsley and add shallot/onion mixture while you make mayo
5.  Whisk Egg and add mayo folding everything together
6.  Pull out the acorn squashes poor off water and flip them over filling them with crab/shrimp mixture
7.  Set oven to broil place stuffed squashed back in oven for another 10-15 minutes just until they get a nice crisp top

Serves 4


Avocado Oil Mayo

Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
1 1/2 juice from lemon
1 tsp ACV (apple cider vineger)
3/4 cup Avocado Oil

Process:
1.  With a whisk or hand blender mix all ingredients except the Avocado Oil (30 seconds till it brightens and thickens a bit)
2.  While you continue to mix slowly add the oil 1/4 cup at a time till it reaches mayo consistency

Roasted Squash Seeds

Ingredients:
Squash seeds
Olive oil
Salt

Process:
Preheat oven 275 degrees. Rinse squash seeds of the membrane then pat them dry. Toss seeds with olive oil and salt. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread even the seeds for roasting. Roast for 15 minutes or until they pop up.

Drink Gin!

To drink or not to drink... Gin is well known for making the sane folks crazy and the crazy folks sane! The mystery lies within its mystery recipe of medicinal herbs. The basics: potato and juniper berries... but they distill it through a channel of botanicals to honor it's original purpose which was to ease soldiers pains of war.

Depending on the type of gin, you may experience anything from warming to coolness... Spicy to fruity and herbal to nutty. I personally love how each gin can be enhanced by just a few ingredients to create the most complete cocktail.

We sampled 4 distinct types of Gins to determine how to describe them as separate libations and how to mix them best with the cocktail recipes that inspired us for different reasons.

After sampling just one sip, maybe 1 shot each and 1 hour later we experienced a warm and relaxing state of mind, a clear muscle relaxer that could awaken the chatty Kathy's!

Beer bliss: Caracole

To be honest I choose this beer by its label. It was so cute and inspiring... Ok perhaps inspiring is a stretch. Though, am I the only one who gets a spiritual kick (by definition) off of alcohol?

This beer at first was so bubbly it was exploding out of its bottle. I took that as it couldn't wait to be drunk. As I sipped away the bubbly-ness was paramount to the thick Belgium flavor. The fruity undertones were balanced well by the malty amber ingredients.

It is a 7.5% beer which is nothing for us beer drinkers but swear it felt like a 10% and tasted like a 6%. Epically drinkable... Be careful and have the most fun you can in each moment.

Smoked Salmon Stack and Soft Boiled Egg Salad

Let me just say that this recipe nourished all my senses to the point of perfection.  Maybe that's the key to a balanced diet?  Eat what feeds all of your senses and if you feed all of your senses then you will be fuller off of just enough.  Colors, textures, flavors, temperatures, etc.  Try this easy recipe out!

Soft Boiled Egg Salad:

• 2 Eggs
• Handfull of Baby Spinach
• Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
• Cold-Pressed Poppy Seed Oil or any other Oil for Dressing/Drizzle

Directions:
1.  Boil water and once it's at rapid boil add eggs carefully and set timer for 5 minutes turning eggs if they aren't fully submerged
2.  Poor off hot water, fill with cold water and let cool while you make the rest of the salad
3.  Lay down a bed of spinach, carefully peel shell from eggs and place them in their nest topped with salt, pepper, pumpkin seeds and a light drizzle of your most prized oil


Smoked Salmon Stack:

• 1 large Slice of Heirloom Tomato
• 1 tsp of Garlic Spread (classic arabic food side or http://www.majesticgarlic.com/)
• 1 large Slice of Smoke Salmon
• 1 tsp of Capers

Directions:  Slice tomato salt both sides then stack in the order listed above

Notepad: Dearly Beloved I Thee Red...

Dearly beloved I thee red...
"back to the earth"

I would thee RED!  I may never wed but I would definitely RED.  The allure of the image dropped me into imaging myself in Day of the Dead make up for the upcoming halloween.  My friends all say its difficult to figure out what to be and without planning I agree.  However, you can be a Day of the Dead doll every year and it be something new and exciting.

Perhaps the creators were going for that timeless earthy taste when developing this wine?  Or perhaps they were going for making a wine thats guzzle-able.  I had to resist just devouring this wine as it was super smooth and aromatic.  Fruity, earth and smooth.... sounds yummy ey!

Cellared and Bottled at Dearly Beloved Wines
Hopland, CA
ACL 13.5%

Store:  Trader Joe's
Cost:  $7.99

Lists!

Who doesn't love a good list?

It will make you feel supported, on track, organized and integrated with the idea.  On October 24, 2012, a group of gals got together and after months of contemplating how to distill the ideas into one title it came to us, "Guzzling Gals."

As I explained to the other gals how the word "guzzling" was defined by my senses they agreed that it was the goldilocks word at the perfect place between, sensual and sexual experiences.  It's too far to be sensing because you are over drinking it in if you are guzzling and yet I feel I don't feel I need to explain how it relates sexually... even at the most seductive level.

So us Guzzling Gals decided we would love to poor our senses into you hoping we inspire each other as we have been amongst ourselves for years.  Smell, taste, see, feel and most important listen... to your life.

So the list...  it will keep unfolding.