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 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!

Whole30 Day 7: Teriyaki Pineapple Burgers

Whole30 Day 6 was leftover Pepperoni Spaghetti Pie.  Day 7 was an amazing, delicious treat! Thank you, whole30recipes, for this one!

Photo: whole30recipes

I pretty much followed her recipe exactly except I grilled my onions.

Actually, I added extra bacon fat.  This is what I did:

1. cooked my bacon, poured off most of the bacon fat
2. sautéed my mushrooms in the bacon fat, set aside in a bowl
3. added more bacon fat to the pan, grilled my onions, set aside in a bowl
4. added more bacon fat to the pan, grilled my pineapple, set aside
5. then grilled my burgers

It really is so yummy!!!

Get the whole recipe on instagram: whole30recipes, August 14, 2014

Whole30 Day 2: Steak Fajita Salad

Photo: Researching San Diego

When I came across grass-fed hanger steak in my freezer I looked up how to cook it and realized it would make great fajitas.

Marinade Ingredients:

• hanger or flank steak, sliced 
• 1/4 C EVOO
• 1/4 C apple cider vinegar
• salt
• pepper
• 3-4 smashed garlic

Salad Ingredients:

• fajita Veggies:  bell peppers, onions, zucchini, etc
• salad greens
• guacamole

Marinade Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a giant ziploc bag and mix well.
2. Allow to refrigerate for at least 6 but not more than 8 hours, turning once halfway through.

Salad Directions:

1. Sauté veggies in EVOO until al dente, not mushy
2. Add salt and cumin (optional) to taste, remove from pan, and set aside
3. Add steak to same pan and cook to desired temp.
4. Place salad greens on each plate
5. Add sautéed fajita veggies
6. Top with steak and guacamole

Cheeseburger Fries

Photo: Simply Potatoes

This dish was inspired by Everyday Scoop in Rachael Ray Magazine, March 2014, Hash Brown Heaven!

Ingredients:

• 2T bacon fat, ghee, or butter 
• 2lbs sweet potatoes, shredded - peeling is optional
• 1lb grass-fed ground beef, browned and drained
• salt to taste
• 1 cup raw cheese, shredded
• toppings, optional - pickles, onions, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, guacamole, fried egg...

Directions:

1. In a large sauté pan melt your fat and add the shredded potatoes, ground beef, cheese, and salt.
2. Mix together and pan fry until potatoes are crispy, about 10 min each side.
3. Serve individual portions and add top each off with optional toppings.

  

Slow Roasted Beef Back Ribs

Photo Nom Nom Paleo

We don't have ribs very often but when you buy a whole, 1/2, or 1/4 cow you're bound to get ribs.  When you do, remember slow & steady wins the race.  This recipe is delicious!

Ingredients:

• 4 racks grass-fed beef back ribs, about four ribs/rack, about 12 lbs
• dry rub* - I used oregano, thyme, garlic powder, sea salt, cumin seeds, sage, cayenne, basil 
• bay leaves, 1 for each rack
• homemade bone broth for basting

 Directions:

1. Pat your racks dry with paper towels and rub the seasonings on each rack.  Don't be stingy on the dry rub.
2. Allow to sit in the fridge for 2 hours - 24 hours to marinate, optional.  We skipped this step just because we didn't plan for it.  The ribs still turned out full of flavor.
3. Preheat oven to 200˚F.
4. Set the racks on a foil-lined, rimmed roasting pan.  Put a bay leaf on top of each rack, seal racks tightly in foil.
5. Roast for 6 - 8 hours.  Half way through, flip the racks.
6. Remove racks and turn oven to high broil.
7. Baste racks with bone broth and place back in oven for 2 minutes.
8. Remove, flip, and baste again.  Place back in oven for 2 minutes.

*Can be made FODMAPs free - just omit garlic powder
*Can be made nightshades free - just omit the cayenne

Hot Dog!

Is it a secret that sometimes you need to be creative when you are cooking?  Going paleo I find I need to be creative to come up with ingredient substitutions and new ideas.  When I started avoiding FODMAPs I really needed to kick up the creative juices.

Thanks to the many bloggers, I can pretty easily find new, easy, yummy recipes.  My dear friend, Kindra at Bon Appetit Paleo, is brilliantly creative.  Hence, a hot dog!

OK, we're no strangers to organic, grass-fed, beef hot dogs.  We've been buying the Applegate hot dogs for a couple of years and eating them bunless.  We love them!  But when Kindra told me her idea for a bun, I HAD to make it.

It was perfect!  PERFECT!  I barely had to convince myself I was not eating a hot dog bun.

Ingredients:

• organic, grass-fed, beef hot dogs
• small organic sweet potato or yam (about the size of your hot dog)
• condiments

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.
2. Scrub potatoes and slather with ghee or bacon fat.
3. Bake sweet potatoes for about 20 - 30 minutes, until soft and skins are starting to crisp.
4. Grill hot dogs.
5. Remove potatoes and allow to cool, to handle.
6. Scoop out flesh.  This is your side dish.
7. Add hot dog to potato skin and top with condiments.

Love, love, love this dish!

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.

Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

I was trying to think of something healthy I could eat at a baby shower I threw for my friend, Mandie.  This recipe is totally made up and turned out to be a huge hit.

I used a mixture of iceburg and spring mix lettuces.  Use whatever organic lettuce you like on your cheeseburger.

Brown 1-lb grass fed, ground beef.  Drain and let cool.  

Cook one package of high quality bacon.  I used Applegate Farms Sunday Bacon.  Let cool.  

Grate about 1/2-lb grass fed cheese.  I used Trader Joe's New Zealand Grass Fed Sharp Cheddar.

After the meats have cooled, combine all ingredients together and add a couple handfuls of organic cherry tomatoes, cut in half.

The dressing is mayo (learn how to make your own here), apple cider vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, and sea salt.

Mix all ingredients together and top with more cheese!

Since I served this at a baby shower, the kids couldn't give it a rating but all my friends loved it!

Enjoy!

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!

Easy Tacos

 Sometimes you just don't feel like cooking.  This can barely be called cooking.

1 lb Trader Joe's grass-fed ground beef
Trader Joe's Salsa Verde
Trader Joe's Just the Leaves Romaine (bummer, not organic)
Trader Joe's organic cherry tomatoes
Organic avocados
Organic Pastures Raw Milk Cheddar Cheese

I sauteed the ground beef, drained the juices, and added cumin, sea salt, and salsa verde to taste (I don't use too much because my 10-year old is not a huge fan).


I put everything is separate bowls and called the kids to build their own tacos.

Another 2-thumbs up family favorite!