Healthy-ish Lobster Dinner for two.

Our Valentines Day Tradition is to stay home, make a fancy dinner,

 and eat alone, after the kids are in bed.

Simple, but wonderful.

Lobster Tail, Wild Rice with Mushroom "Gravy", and Avocado Bacon Salad.

So the "-ish" from the title is because of the butter and bacon. You just can't have Lobster without butter, and the bacon? Well, I have no excuse, its just so good....

So here are the recipes.

 Lobster Tail


Making Lobster Tail makes me feel like a chef, but you don't need to be one to make it. It looks fancy, but its pretty simple.

Here's a great video demonstration.

I don't use bread crumbs like in the video, just lemon, butter, salt, pepper, dill, and parsley.
I cook them at 350-375F for 15-20 min.
They cool off fast, so make sure they're the last thing ready. Oh, and don't forget to melt some Butter for dipping :)

Avocado Bacon Salad

1 Avocado, cut into small chunks

5 strips of Bacon, fried and chopped

2 tbsp fresh shredded Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup sliced Black Olives

1/4 tsp Onion powder

1/4 tsp Mustard powder

2 tbsp Lemon juice

Salt & Pepper to taste.

Mix Gently.

Of course the measurements are not really important, adjust it to your liking.

One thing I will mention about this salad is that it was much better

 when the avocado was room temperature.

I made it a little early to save time, and kept it in the fridge.

It was still good, but the texture changed significantly.

Before being refrigerated it was soft and buttery

 with an emphasis on the chewiness of the cheese and bacon.

After being refrigerated  its was more like potato salad. There was still a chewiness to it, but the texture was definitely potato salad like. 

With that said, avocado may be a good addition to a potato salad.........

Wild Rice with Mushroom "Gravy"

Wild Rice

2/3 cup Wild Rice

2 1/2 cups Water

1 tsp Salt

Wash the rice in hot water.

Put everything in a pot.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover.

Simmer until tender(approx. 30-45min.)

Drain & Serve.

Mushroom "Gravy"

2 cups sliced Mushrooms

approx. 4 tbsp Sour Cream

In a frying pan, simmer mushrooms in water keeping them just covered.

The longer you simmer them the  better.(I started them the same time as the rice.)

When your rice is done allow mushroom liquid to reduce to  almost nothing.

Add your sour cream to the pan, stir and serve. 

Again, the measurements don't really matter, you can use and amount you like.

On to Dessert!

Jesse and I have different tastes when it comes to dessert.

I like vanilla, he likes chocolate.

So you get two recipes :)

Chia Tapioca, and (Avocado) Chocolate Pudding

Chia Tapioca (Serves 2)

If you like Tapioca, this is pretty much identical. The only difference is that you can see the little black seeds, and there is a slight crunch to them. 

1 cup Milk (Whatever kind you like, dairy, coconut, almond, cashew, it works with anything liquid.)

1/3 cup Chia Seeds

1 tbsp Vanilla

1 tbsp Liquid Honey(use more if you like it sweet)

Mix everything together, cover, and refrigerate until thickened(approx. 1-2 hours), stirring occasionally.

(Avocado) Chocolate Pudding (Serves 2)

I did not tell Jesse what was in the pudding until after he gave his opinion.

He loved it! 

We both agreed that the only discernible difference between this

 and store bought pudding cups,

is that this is slightly more chocolaty.

(You could use a little less cocoa if you like.)

1 Avocado, peeled and chopped

4 tbsp Liquid Honey

6 tbsp Cocoa powder

1/4 cup Water

In a small food processor or blender, blend together avocado, honey, and cocoa until smooth.

Add water and blend again.

You can use more or less water, depending on the texture you like.

Now that's a couple of desserts you can feel good about serving, even for Breakfast!