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 17: Carnitas Fries

Absolutely delicious!!!

Ingredients:

• 12oz pkg fully cooked carnitas - or make your own! - I used Trader Joe's Traditional Carnitas
• 2 lbs sweet potatos, cut into fries sticks or put them through a spiralizer for curly fries
• 8oz pico de gallo or chop your own tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro
• guacamole

Directions:

1. toss sweet potato fries with evoo and season to taste
2. bake at 450˚F for about 20 min.  
3. if using packaged carnitas, heat according to directions
4. when fries are done, top with carnitas, pico de gallo, and guacamole

Whole30 Day 15: Sausage and Veggies

Super easy! This is especially nice when the heat has zapped you of all your energy but you have a lot of veggies in the fridge that need to be cooked.  You can use what ever veggies you want!

Ingredients:

• brussel sprouts, halved
• broccoli, chopped
• onion, rough chopped
• carrots, cut in 1" chunks
• chicken apple sausage - I used Applegate - cut into 1" chunks
• oregano
• thyme
• salt 
• pepper

Directions:

1. Toss all the veggies together in EVOO or ghee or oil of your choice
2. Season with salt and pepper + any other seasonings you like
3. Pour into a baking dish and bake at 400˚F for 10 min.
4. Add sausage, stir together
5. Return to oven and bake for 10 more min.

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).

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!