Whole30 Day 22: Shepherd's Pie

I like to think of Shepherd's Pie as an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kind of dish because you can throw almost anything in with the meat.  I've posted Shepherd's Pie on my blog before but it's not whole30.  I made some tweaks and easily turned this dish into a yummy whole30 meal.

Ingredients:

• 2lbs sweet potatoes or yams, baked until soft and cooled
• 1T evoo
• 1 small onion, chopped
• about 5 small carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• a couple handfuls of baby brussel sprouts, sliced
• 1lb chorizo
• 1/2 lb grass-fed ground beef
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup bone broth or other broth

Directions:

1. In a large skillet heat evoo and add onion, carrots, and celery. 
2. Cook about 5 min and add brussel sprouts, cook for about 2 min
3. Add chorizo and beef and cook until no longer pink
4. Add seasonings to taste
5. In a large mixing bowl add the sweet potatoes and broth (I was lucky enough to have some leftover homemade vegetable soup and used that for extra veggies!)
6. Blend potatoes and broth until smooth
7. If your skillet is oven proof, spread potatoes over meat mixture and put into oven.  If not, pour meat mixture into a baking dish and top with potatoes.
8. Bake at 350˚F for about 30 minutes.

I super, super love this one pot meal!!

Whole30 Day 9: Homemade Chicken Soup

So, my youngest is home sick.  Time to make chicken soup.  Thankfully, I turned my bones from last Monday's "Beer Can" Chicken into delicious, healing broth.

Ingredients:

• bone broth - make it yourself to get all the rich, healing nutrients.  Why bone broth? Check it out here that includes a recipe.
• organic, free range, roasted chicken
• veggies: carrots, celery, onion, kale, zucchini, broccoli, etc.
• salt to taste

Directions:

Add all ingredients to bone broth and bring to a boil.  Simmer, covered for about 15 minutes or until veggies are tender (not mushy).

Whole30 Day 8: No-Taco Tuesday

Tonight's dinner was inspired by my sister-in-law's take on Non-Taco Tuesday. Check out her instagram and more delicious paleo plates.

• Start with any fresh greens
• Top with fresh or grilled veggies: bell peppers, red onions, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, etc.
• Add seasoned grass-fed ground beef: as you're cooking your beef add cumin, sea salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, etc.
• Top with pico de gallo and guacamole

Super easy and super yum!

Maple Thyme Roasted Carrots

Photo: Martha Stewart

Easy and pairs perfectly with almost everything.  We had them with my modified version of Nom Nom Paleo's Green Sliders.  Yum!

Ingredients:

• a pound of organic carrots, cut into 2" chunks
• 3 T pure maple syrup
• 2 T ghee or butter, melted
• 1 t fresh, chopped thyme
• salt to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.
2. In a shallow baking dish mix all ingredients together.
3. Roast for about 20 minutes.

No-Mato Sauce

Photo: Angels Homestead

30 days FODMAPs-Free and cutting out nightshades for inflammation means finding new ways to feed your cravings.

This sauce is yummy and can be used as a pasta or pizza sauce.

Try it with my Pepperoni Pizza Casserole, Cauliflower Crust Pizza, or the Sweet Potato Crust Pizza recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp asafoetida
• 1 cup carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 T apple cider vinegar
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 T Italian spices (oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, garlic powder*)
• homemade bone broth or water or stock
• 1 can pumpkin puree

Directions:

1. In a saucepan add all ingredients (except pumpkin) and just enough bone broth to barely cover the carrots.
2. Bring to a boil.  Turn to low and simmer until carrots are very soft, about 20 minutes.
3. When carrots are very soft pour saucepan ingredients into a blender and add pumpkin.  
4. Blend until super smooth.

This sauce freezes well.

* omit garlic powder to keep it FODMAPs-Free

Butternut Squash Soup

Here we go!  I'm taking you with me on my 30-day fodmap free journey.  I've made a few new things and tweaks some old things.

Here I revisited my fall soup and made it fodmaps free.

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks
• 4-6 carrots, cut into chunks
• bone broth made without foods from fodmap list
• bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida,* optional
• sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Place all the vegetables in a heavy stock pot or dutch oven.
2. Add bone broth to cover vegetables.
3. Add bayleaf and asafoetida.
4. Cook until boiling then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until vegetables are soft.
5. Discard bayleaf.
6. Pour ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
7. Add salt to taste.

*Asafoetida is an excellent substitute for garlic and onion.  You can find it at specialty spice shops.  We bought ours at Savory Spice Shop.

Roasted Root Vegetable Salad

Thanks to PreppyPaleo for the inspiration for this delicious side dish.  We have officially added this accompaniment to our Thanksgiving lineup.  My husband loved it so much he had it again for lunch the next day.

Photo: Preppy Paleo

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbs. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. raw honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Salad:

6 cups mixed greens
4 cups chopped root vegetables - beet, parsnip, sweet potato, carrot
2 tablespoons unsweetened apple cider
1 tablespoon melted butter

salt to taste

4 slices of bacon
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425˚F.
• Toss root vegetables with cider and butter. Season with salt and bake for 20 minutes or until just starting to brown.
• While vegetables are roasting combine all dressing ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
• Cook bacon until crispy and crumble.
• Toss mixed greens with dressing, top with root vegetables, bacon, and almonds.

Fall Soup

Do you serve Thanksgiving dinner in courses?  Do you include a soup?  We don't usually but I thought I'd throw this recipe out there.  It's super easy and super yummy.  I was inspired by my friend Kindra's latest creation.  Please check it out at Bon Appetit Paleo along with the rest of her delicious posts.

Photo: The Gracious Pantry

Into a crockpot I threw:

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks (I cheated and bought it already cut up. Some days are like that.)
3 - 4 small, organic carrots
1/2 onion, cut into chunks
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup water
1 can coconut milk
1" ginger, peeled, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
sea salt
1T cumin

Cover and set on low for about 10 hours.  When ready to eat, remove the bay leaf and use an immersion blender to blend ingredients.  Add more coconut milk, if needed, to get the consistency you desire.  No immersion blender?  Blend in batches with your blender or food processor.

Sunday Stew

Courtesy of Stiritup.me

You learn something new everyday.  For stew meat in particular Grassfed Cooking says, "Stew beef from the round, (especially the bottom or eye), will be ready to serve after about 1 ½ hours of simmering.  If it is cooked much longer, the meat will taste dry.  Conversely, stew from the shanks, brisket and chuck may take longer to become tender.  These are the ideal cuts for slow, all-day stews."

Thanks to stir it up for the inspiration on yet another stew recipe.

Sunday Stew

• 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 lb grass-fed sirloin stew meat (if using stew meat from shanks, brisket, or chuck, increase cooking time to 6-8 hours)
• 1-2 tbsp coconut oil
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup homemade bone broth or organic, gluten-free beef broth
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 2 carrots, julienned
• 2 parsnips, julienned

1. In a gallon-sized plastic bag add arrowroot powder, paprika, salt, and pepper, mix well.  
2. Add the stew meat to the bag and seal it tight. Shake ingredients all together making sure all of the meat if well coated.
3. In your dutch oven or large heavy pot add the coconut oil and turn the heat up on high.
4. Add the meat to the oil and brown on all sides.
5. Add the bay leaves, wine, broth, onions, carrots and parsnips and bring to a boil.
6. Turn heat to low and allow to cook, covered, for 1 – 1 ½ hours.

Coconut Curry Beef

Here's a super easy dinner!

Ingredients:

Coconut Oil
Kerrygold Grass-Fed Butter
Chopped Carrots, Celery, Onion, Sweet Potato, Kale
Turmeric
Garlic Powder
Curry
Sea Salt
Dey Dey's Grass-Fed Beef

In a heavy pot heat coconut oil and butter.  Saute veggies until a bit al dente.  Add spices and seasonings, stir until combined.  In another pan, saute the ground beef, drain and add to veggies and spices.  Stir until combined.

I topped it with chopped cucumber and you can even add coconut aminos if you want a more salty, soy sauce flavor.

That's it!  So easy and so yummy.

Family rated: 2 thumbs up!  Cooper even added, "Best dinner ever!"  Gotta love that.

Shepherd's Pie

We love Shepherd's Pie.  Just a few little tweaks and we can still enjoy this family favorite.

 

The bottom is organic, grass-fed ground beef and veggies du jour.

Cook the ground beef until there is no more pink then saute the veggies with the cooked ground beef.

Transfer beef and veggies to a baking dish.  To the skillet, and the yummy bits from the beef, add raw cream, oregano, and thyme.  Thicken the sauce with a little almond flour and add sea salt to taste. 

 Combine the beef mixture and the sauce and top with mashed cauliflower.  Add 3-4 teaspoons of grass-fed butter (we use Kerrygold) on top and bake at 350º for about 20 minutes until heated through and top is golden.

Kid rating: 2 thumbs up!

Enjoy!