Crab Avocado Stacks and the Whole30

While I was home last week, my mom made the crab avocado stacks that I loved so much in high school. We actually took the idea from one of our favorite Houston restaurants from way back when and added our own little twist.

If you can make guacamole (and not the crappy kind that's just mashed avocado...the kind with cilantro, red onion, and lime juice, thankyouverymuch), then you can make these crab stacks.

It starts with jumbo lump crab meat. Yes, the $19/lb. kind. It's totally worth it and it will make about 4 stacks if you do it right. Don't be cheap, dammit! Your body is/should be a temple--be good to it and get the real crab.

Combine the crab with a bit of lime juice, cilantro, and finely diced red onion. Set that aside while you work on the avocado. I think we used one and half avocados. So dice those into decent sized chunks. Also, dice a half a mango into equal sized chunks. Mix the avocado and mango with the juice of half a lime, red onion, cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. This whole recipe is to taste really, which is why I'm being really vague about the quantities. Well, that, and I'm just stupid lazy.

Now, you could just plop the avocado mixture on a plate and top it with a plop of crab mixture and call it day, but that's not good enough for $19 crab meat, okay?! What we do is use small ramekins as molds, starting by layering the crab meat on the bottom, and then topping the crab with the avocado, so it looks something like this:

I suppose you could just eat it straight outta the ramekin like this, but don't!! Impress all your dining companions by flipping the ramekin (or dish of your choosing) onto a plate so you have a gorgeous stack like so:

What I like about this meal so much is that 1.) it's super quick to assemble. 2.) it's Paleo. 3.) it's delicious. And 4.) it will impress whoever you serve it to. And if it doesn't, you should kick that person out of your house poste-haste!! I hate them.

I wanted to share this recipe with you because I'm about to embark on a strict paleo regiment referred to as the Whole30. If you're new to CupcakesOMG! or simply never read this post, you can read more about the paleo diet here. Contrary to what you might think, I'm not sharing this only to see the writing of my own words (though that's part of it). I'm actually telling you so you can participate as well. Jenna, over at The Paleo Project has organized a group Whole30. It officially starts on Monday, July 11th and she's put together an awesome grocery list for you to get started.

Here's what super cool about the group: there are vegans and first-timers partaking! I'm so proud to see people who have never done paleo before, or don't even eat meat or animal by-products, getting in tune with their bods and making the decision to eat only the foods prepared by nature.

If you've ever thought about trying paleo or just eating better in general, send Jenna an email at paleoblog@gmail.com and she'll add you to the listserv. I guarantee the moral support of a group makes sticking to ANYthing a million times easier.

And with that, I'm off to a baseball game where I'm going to eat chili-covered hot dogs, ice cream, and drink an excessive amount of beer to say adieu to all things terrible for me.