Vegetable Quinoa and White Rice + Butter Poached Lobster

1c quinoa and white rice mix

1T tuscan flavored olive oil

1T butter

½t finely ground black pepper

1T fresh ground garlic sea salt

1c chopped celery

1c chopped purple onion

1⅓c julienned-chopped carrots

3 lg. cloved garlic - finely minced

2-2½c water or low sodium broth

several celery heart tops - snipped

Saute' and stir the first group of ingredients together until everything's snapping and the grains are smelling nutty 😊  Stay with it so it doesn't burn.  Add the next group of ingredients, stir and when they sizzle and continue to snap, after a few minutes add about half a cup of the liquid.  When that's cooking well, stir in the remaining liquid and simmer 15-20 minutes on medium-low heat, or until it's all absorbed.  Keep covered and remove from heat.  Let stand another 10 to finish hydrating the grains.

Butter Poached Lobster

I got a great deal on a lobster tail recently.  It's one of my guilty-pleasure-weaknesses!  I've never like the conventional way of cooking it, and found this works well for me.  If frozen, thaw the lobster completely.  Cut away the shell with kitchen shears, then cut the meat into a few smaller pieces.  Clean and put on paper towel to absorb the water.

Put these ingredients in a small frying pan:

2T± butter
2T± water
2lg garlic cloves - sliced
⅓ frozen - grated lemon *
1t garlic sea salt
½t black pepper
¾t dry dill

8-12oz. cleaned lobster meat

Combine and simmer the first group of ingredients while stirring occasionally.  Bring to a good steady simmer and after 4-5 minutes, add the chunks of lobster.  Cover and continue to simmer 8-10 minutes, turning the lobster at least once.  Cut into a thicker piece and make sure it's white all the way through and not translucent in the center.  Plate the lobster and cover to keep warm.  Increase heat and boil away the moisture.  



Toward the end, you could add a dollop of sour cream or a splash of half and half it you'd like.  Pour the lemon butter sauce over the lobster.  Once in a while, it's really nice to make a special dinner like this for someone you love, or even. . .Just For You 😀 . . . Lin