While at Whole Foods Sunday, I noticed that the the fresh (and deveined) shrimp were on sale so I decided to pick up a pound.
Since I don’t cook much shrimp, the only recipe I know how to make with them is Shrimp Scampi. I picked up the rest of the items I knew I would need: gluten-free angel hair pasta, fresh parsley, a lemon, and mushrooms. I knew that we had butter, Grey Poupon, grape tomatoes and romano cheese at home.
However, on my way home I called Donnie to tell him about my great buy and the first thing out of his mouth was, “I don’t want all of that butter.”
After wrecking our brains for a little while, I remembered the Cocconut Oil I had bought at Whole Foods, also on sale.
I had purchased the coconut oil because a co-worker had suggested I put some in my hair for some good conditioning. I wondered if we could just use the coconut oil instead of the butter. After some good ol’ Googling, I figured it was worth a shot.
Here were my ingredients:
2 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon Grey Poupon
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 lemon, cut in half
1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
handful of grape tomatoes, slice in half
handful of white mushrooms, sliced
angel hair pasta
grated romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1. Throw on your cutest apron. It makes cooking so much fun!
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Melt the coconut oil in the pan. Add the garlic, Grey Poupon, and squeeze half of your lemon. Cook, stirring until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3. Add the shrimp with the cayenne pepper and parsley. Cook, tossing occasionally, until shrimp are opaque, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms mid-way through those 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomatoes when shrimp are almost opaque. Season with more lemon juice, salt and black pepper.
4. Serve over angel-hair pasta. In our case, it was gluten-free. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
Our shrimp scampi with coconut oil instead of butter turned out to be amazing:
Yes, butter would’ve tasted the best. But while coconut oil is high in saturated fats, it’s cholesterol-free and better for you than butter. And we ended up using much less coconut oil then the amount of butter we typically use for scampi.
Afterwards, I took a tablespoon of coconut oil into the shower with me and conditioned my hair with it for about five minutes. I made sure to shampoo after I conditioned, so my hair wouldn’t be left greasy. My hair felt so soft.
Who knew I’d get so much use out of my coconut oil right off the bat?
How do you use your coconut oil?
I Sweat Pretty 