Taco Beef Stew

One of the things I like best about having bought a half cow is that I no longer have to eat ground beef every other day to keep the grocery costs down.  Yea, I love ground beef, too, but some variety is in order sometimes, you know?  So I play this new game now--I open the freezer door, jam my hand inside, and whatever comes out is what we're eating.  Really, that's a fun game, I swear it is.  You don't think that's fun?  Well, you're just dumb, then.

Ok, now there's a small problem with my little game.  I keep pulling out stewing meat.  Unlike ground beef (aka the most versatile meat in the universe), there's not a lot of fun things you can do with stewing beef....  Or is there?  Is it possible that I just haven't had the luxury of trying to figure out new and innovative things to do with stewing beef?  I think that's a challenge!  Challenge accepted, sir!

So last night, for my initiation into this little experiment, a little something familiar, a little something new.  There is nothing my family loves better than mexican flavours.  Think chili--and tacos.  Sure, I could have spent a half hour whipping up a batch of grain-free tortilla bread--but who wants that kind of make-work project?  This was stewing beef, as in, set it and forget it in the crockpot!

I love my crockpot.  There's an awful lot of stuff I can cook well with a crockpot, and certain food just lend themselves to the crock, don't they?  Like stewing beef.  So I've learned that when cooking in the crockpot, everything gets all moist (and watery) which isn't always what I want (unless I'm making stew, which I wasn't).  Enter tomato paste.  Universal thickener.  Problem solver.

Easiest recipe ever.

Does the spice blend look familiar?  It's the spice blend Mark Sisson suggests for tacos.  The best spice mix for tacos I've had so far, so I stick with it.  Its almost perfect.  I only add cayenne.

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

1 lb stewing beef or bison
1 5-oz can tomato paste
1 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
dash (or two) cayenne

Method:

In crockpot, mix tomato paste and all the spices.  Cover and cook on low 10-12 hours, or on high 4-5 hours.  Crockpot temperatures and times vary.  These are the times that work for my dinosaur crockpot.

Serve with chopped avocado, shredded lettuce, cheddar (if you eat cheese), hot sauce, salsa, whatever!  I served mine over paleo "grits", too.  Just because I had a lot of cauliflower in my fridge and not so much lettuce.

B2B Beef & Broccoli

ha-ha--you thought I'd fallen off the Back to Basics bandwagon?  Wrong!  Still going strong, and the cravings are substantially subsided these days....

I think it's going to be beef "surprise" night around here for a long time.  With the half-cow order, and the bison order now both received, my freezer(s) are stuffed to the gills.  There's no such thing as looking for something specific.  You open the freezer door, and whatever tries to fall out and attack you is what you're going to eat that night.  Between that and going a little hog-wild at the farmers markets, we are overflowing.  Now I get to try to think up what I can pull together based on what I have on-hand.  This is not how I normally do things.  I'm more of a "plan the meals, then shop for the ingredients" kind of girl.  This is all backwards.  Ah, well, I love a good challenge.

So the other day I was at my usual Hakka restaurant, and I demanded a gluten-free meal.  Yes, demanded.  In fact, i refused to go until it was agreed that I'd get a special meal.  I got my own plate of food and everyone else got to share multiple plates of junk food.  Try telling a man at a Chinese restaurant that you don't want anything with gluten.  Gluten?  Gluten?  He couldn't even pronounce the word.  I'm pretty sure he didn't understand me.  So I did the best I could.  I ordered the broccoli with beef.  The sauce was mild and not sweet, and not terribly abundant, either, and it tasted pretty darned good.  I think I ate a whole head of broccoli, the serving was so large.  But as I tasted mouthful after mouthful, I kind of thought I could make this myself at home pretty easily.  This is my attempt.  I think it came out pretty tasty, too!

Sauce:

2 Tbs gluten-free tamari sauce
3 Tbs coconut aminos
2-3 tsp chili-garlic sauce
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs tapioca
3 Tbs beef broth

1 head broccoli
1 1/2 lbs cheap cut of steak
1/2 red pepper
1 large carrot
1/2 cooking onion.

Prep everything:  Shave the beef as thin as possible.  Chop broccoli.  Slice the peppers, carrots, onions.  Mix the sauce in a small bowl.  Taste for sweetness/spiciness.  Add coconut aminos for sweet, or chili-garlic for heat.

In large skillet on medium heat, saute onions until translucent (in fat of choice).  Remove.  Turn up heat to med-hi.  Saute broccoli, carrots and peppers until broccoli is just al-dente.  You may want to keep them covered so they steam a bit, and you may need to add a Tbs of water to help it steam a bit.  When it begins to get tender, remove from heat.  Let pan get good and hot again.  Add a bit more fat to pan and sear beef, in batches if necessary, removing from pan when its still somewhat pink (and cover it to let it finish cooking).

Turn pan back to medium.  Add all the veggies and sauce, stirring to coat and thicken, heating through, and add beef and juices at last minute, tossing well to coat in sauce and make sure its warm throughout.  It won't be pink any longer, but its ok if it is a bit pink still.

If you're like me, serve with sriracha sauce.

Can't Believe it's Eggplant Bake

The original idea for this recipe came from the US version of Kraft's "What's Cooking" online.  I know, its surprising that they came up with anything that included a single whole food; they are the epitome of processed foods and all that is wrong with the foods we eat today.  But lets not be so mean to Kraft.  They put out a lot of recipes that look so tasty that I have to look up what the original idea was behind their recipe and try to duplicate the thought with whole ingredients.

Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of eggplant.  I could take it or leave it.  I like it more than brussels sprouts, but less than zucchini.  But I'm on a mission to get as much variety of fruits and veggies into me and my family as possible.  In this day and age, there is no reason NOT to try something new and raise your family with a broad range of tastes and food knowledge.  So there it is; you could use zucchini in this recipe, and it might be totally delicious, but I already cook a lot with zucchini, so I used eggplant.  Sometimes it feels like all we eat is this rotation of zucchini, cauliflower, carrots and squash.

This dish is a bit like a lasagna, but not nearly as time-involving nor as cheesy.  It is definitely comfort food, and (if doubled) looks pretty enough to serve to non-paleo guests.   If you really wanted to make it special, you should try roasting your eggplant (or zucchini) slices first for a richer flavour.  For me, at least on a weekday, that would add way too much time to this, but it would certainly make it even more delicious.

So here's what I did....

Serves 4-6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking Time:  45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (or sausage)
1/3 large sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbs italian seasoning
2 cloves minced garlic
1 large can tomato sauce
3 sundried tomatoes, chopped
splash balsamic vinegar
1 pkg mushrooms
1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced thin
4 giant olives, sliced
3/4 c mozzarella
4 Tbs Parmesan
garlic powder

Method:

This is easier than it looks, I promise.  Throw your beef into a fry pan with the chopped onions and saute until no longer pink.  While this is cooking, prep everything else; whip out your mandoline and slice up your peeled eggplant.  Slice your mushrooms, chop your sundried tomatoes and olives.  Shred your mozzarella.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

When your meat is cooked through, add tomato sauce, italian seasoning, fresh garlic, splash of balsamic vinegar and sundried tomatoes.  Simmer on med-low for a few minutes while you whip out a large lasagna dish and grease it with some kind of fat.  I like to use bacon grease for this.  Layer in 1/2 of your sliced eggplant, 1/2 of your meat sauce, 1/2 of your mozzarella, 1/2 Parmesan and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder.  Now layer on ALL of your mushrooms.  Repeat with rest of eggplant, sauce, cheeses and garlic.  Carefully sprinkle your olives overtop of everything evenly.

Cover with aluminum foil (or lid).  Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.  Uncover.  Bake for 15 minutes more.  You're done.  If you can stand it, let it sit on the stovetop for a few minutes before serving.  I can't usually wait, so I don't.  But I know I SHOULD.

Jimmy Kofta

We found Jimmy Kofta.  He's alive and well and in our kitchen.

Seriously, though, ever heard of koftas? Kofte?  Kufte?  This many-spelled word is basically a middle-east-meets Mediterranean meatball on a stick.  Really.  I've seen them just packed on a stick without being made into a meatball first.  Imagine what that looks like.  Poop on a twig.  So don't do that.  It's not pretty.

Koftas can be made of  beef, bacon, lamb, chicken, paneer or even game meats, mixed with eggs, onions and spices.  Sometimes they are a mixture of hard-boiled egg and meat.  This may be where the scotch egg came from, originally.  For flavour, think exotic combos like saffron or allspice or classic mediterranean with just olive oil and oregano.  They can be baked, broiled, barbecued, fried or even roasted in a tagine.  They are totally versatile and flavourful little gems.  But putting them on a stick makes meatballs barbecue worthy, and unlike hamburgers, you aren't tempted into serving these on buns.  They're a nice change from hamburgers on the bbq.

Personally,  for this version, I went for a simple Mediterranean flavour.  Nothing too crazy, let the meat stand up for itself.  They were delicious.  They were so well received that many spice variations may follow.  So here's the first and original version....

And as for the cauli-orzo salad?  This is a Mediterranean twist on "pasta" salad.  I actually liked this a lot better than the original starchy cold pasta or rice salads because with them, the starches always seemed to soak up all the sauce/oil and become sticky unless it was just drowning in mayonnaise.  I didn't want a mayonnaise salad here.  I wanted to taste the nice EVOO and the roasted tomatoes and the sharp olive flavours.  I wanted a clean, crisp taste and this sure fit  the bill.  The cauliflower does not soak up the oil at all.  It stays oh-so-nicely coated in oil without becoming all sticky.  Now, if you are avoiding all dairy, omit the goat cheese.  Its a beautiful touch, but its not the most important ingredient in it.   Definately make the salad first, and let it chill in the fridge so that all the flavours meld together.

This makes 6 generous portions.

Cold Cauli-Orzo Salad

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower
2/3 c olives, any kind, sliced
1/3 c sundried tomatoes
1/3 c EVOO
3 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs dried basil
2 cloves garlic
small pkg goat cheese (113 g)
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Method:

Coarsely chop cauliflower.  Bring a very large pot of water to a full boil, then drop in cauliflower for exactly 6 minutes.  You are only going to "blanch" the cauliflower here; it will only be halfway cooked at this point.  Remove from heat, dump into a strainer and immediately run cold water over the cauliflower to stop the cooking process. 

Now, while the cauli is drying in the sink, get everything else prepped.  Chop the sundried tomatoes.  Mix all the other ingredients in a large salad bowl,  crumble in the goat cheese. 

In small batches, "rice" the cauliflower with your food processor.  Or chop it crazy-fine if you don't have one.  I use my food processor daily.  You should get one if you don't already have one.  Mix the riced cauli in with the rest of the ingredients, stir well to combine and put it in the fridge until you're ready to eat it.  This will keep for several days in the fridge.

So just let it meld.....

And move onto the koftas.



 

Beef 'n Bacon Koftas

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef
1 cooking onion (or 2/3 c spanish onion)
2 stalks celery
3 tsp dried thyme
5 slices bacon
2 eggs
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
olive oil for basting

Method:

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Finely chop onions, celery and bacon.  Wisk eggs, then mix all other ingredients (except basting oil) and form into 1 1/2 - 2 inch meatballs.  I think I got 49 meatballs.  Thread them onto wooden skewers.    Place  the skewers on a rack over top of a baking sheet.  Brush the tops with olive oil.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Turn the skewers over and baste other side, then bake for about 5 minutes more.  If you want the meatballs browned, turn the oven to broil at this point and keep an eye on them.  Remove when browned.

This would be perfect on the bbq.  Unfortunately, I can't use a bbq.  I burn everything. 

And voila!  Serve over cold Cauli-Orzo Salad.  Prepare to be thanked by your hungry family.

Enchilada Pie

I owe a HUGE thank you and debt to Mrs PaleO for creating a tortilla recipe that is perfect for this.  The tapioca starch adds a certain elasticity that no paleo bread substitute has had to date.  She makes some really great recipes.  If you haven't seen her stuff, you HAVE to go to her blog and check it out.  Until then, the recipe for the tortilla bread can be found here. 

As soon as I saw her recipe blog with the flexible tortilla bread, I had a million ideas for it.  But first and foremost--a stacked tortilla!!  Don't you just really crave neolithic food from the old days sometimes?  Not the real thing--who misses bloated belly?!  But some of the flavours...  I checked out Chowstalker and Foodee and FastPaleo and I could not find a stacked enchilada anywhere.  I knew it had to be done.  Reading through the tortilla bread ingredients, I knew Orleatha had really hit the nail on the head with this one--she uses lard in this recipe, and in my pre-paleo days, the best home made tortillas were always made with lard.  The recipe is so easy, any husband can make it (my husband made the tortillas, and he's never made or rolled pastry before or anything like this.  He did just fine.)

So this is what I did.

First, go here and make the tortilla bread per Orleatha's instructions, except you need to make 3 large tortillas (instead of 4 small), as large as you can and still be able to get them to the fry pan.  Cook them lightly in a non-stick pan without any added oil.  Set aside, in layers of waxed paper.

Alright, now onto the stack!

Makes 6 servings.

Enchilada Sauce:

Ready to go into the oven

1 5-oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup medium salsa
2 tbs chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mexican oregano (optional)
1 tbs olive oil

Meat:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 cup onion, finely diced
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1 green pepper
3 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 cup cheddar, grated (optional)

Method:

First, in a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for your enchilada sauce.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In skillet on medium-high heat, brown beef and onions until meat is no longer pink.  Add green pepper and enchilada sauce and reduce heat to medium-low, allowing it to simmer for 5 minutes so the flavours can develop.

Divide your meat into 3 equal parts in the skillet.

In a pie dish, lay one tortilla.  Spoon 1/3 of the meat mixture over the tortilla.  Sprinkle with 1 tbsp lime juice.  Sprinkle with 1 tbs chopped cilantro.  Sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheddar.  Repeat 2 more times.  Sprinkle entire dish with green onions.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and whole pie is heated through.  Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting.  We cut this into 6 equal portions, but it was so good, I really wanted to go back for more.  You've been warned.  there was not one scrap of food left on either teen's plate tonight.

Serve with shredded lettuce, yogurt, and guacamole or sliced avocado.  My homemade guacamole is just 2 avocados, 1 tbs lime juice, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp garlic salt, 1/4 tsp onion powder.  That's it.

You could totally omit the cheese in this.  I used a small amount, very sparingly, but the flavour was so full, you wouldn't notice if it wasn't there at all.

Cabbage Roll Stir-Fry

This recipe was one I used to cook my family over and over.  Of course, that was pre-paleo, so in order to keep  the recipe, some changes had to be made.  But the recipe had great potential; it cooked up in a half hour or less - and I'm a lazy cook, it wasn't fussy, it was stick-to-the-ribs hearty, everyone liked it and since the cabbage was shredded, it cooked up much easier on my teeth which meant I could still eat it with my braces.  The original recipe came from Chatelaine Magazine ( if you read these blogs regularly, you know I have a recipe-hoarding habit).  Before Pinterest (which I still haven't joined), I would tear out recipes from magazines, then glue them onto good paper and keep them in page-protector sleeves in a binder.  Then email became the more popular choice, so I have 2 email accounts--one is my regular email, and the other is for emailing myself recipes that I then move into email files under Breakfast, Dinner, Snack,  etc.  My email file storage is HUGE.

You can omit the honey if you're doing a Whole30, but if you're not, you'll find the tiny bit of honey really brings out the flavour nicely.

This recipe makes about 6 hearty servings
Takes about 1/2 hour
This recipe re-heats even better next day


Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground pork or beef
• 1 cooking onion, or 1/3 spanish onion
• 1 green pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 head of cabbage
• 28-oz can chopped tomatoes
• 5-oz can tomato paste
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbs apple-cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• salt and pepper to taste 

Method:

Using a food  processor, shred your cabbage really fine.  Set aside.  Slice up your onions and green peppers.

In a very large skillet on med-high heat, cook your meat with your onions (about 5 minutes).  When meat is almost cooked through, add your tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, honey and spices, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes to allow flavour to develop.


 Now, add your pepper and cabbage to the pan.  Cover and simmer until cabbage is tender (aboout 10 minutes--I like my cabbage soft).  You may need to add a splash of water now and then to keep things moist until cabbage beginns to soften.

Taste, and add red pepper flakes as needed.

It really was that fast and easy.

For variety, you could add mexican spices in place of the thyme and basil, making it into Beef Enchilada Stir-Fry.

Crockpot Meatloaf

Ok, so I seem to make meatloaf kinda often.  It's funny; to me, meatloaf is total comfort food, but I'm not particularily fond of meatballs at all.  It's weird, I know.  I should just be able to make meatballs with my fave meatloaf flavours in there and voila--but no.  Not the same.

So this recipe idea originally came from the Wellness Mama, who did an entire month of blogging crockpot recipes (my hero--I love things I can throw in the crockpot and come home to a house full of good food smells and dinner waiting for me whenever I'm ready for it...).  But I was feeling saucy (aka cranky and tired and difficult) two nights ago, when we were trying to assemble whatever ingredients we could in advance so we could just stick it in the pot and turn it on the next morning.  I wasn't feeling particularily helpful, so when Steve asked me what I wanted in the meatloaf this time, I said, "I dunno, I don't care, get creative."  Hmm.  So he scowled for a minute while I emailed him a copy of the crockpot recipe to his laptop, and then he pulled out the dog-eared "Company's Coming Crockpot Recipes" book at the back of our cookbook cupboard and began asking me questions about which ingredients are paleo and which aren't.  So this is what ended up going into the meatloaf...

I'll be the first to admit that anything cooked in the crockpot, while delicious, comes out looking like crap.  It does not make food look pretty.  But slow cooking meat with spices draws out so much more flavour, all flavour, that less spices are needed, and the meat is fall-apart tender no matter what cut you use.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground meat--I used beef
1 egg
3 tbs worchestershire sauce
1/3 c salsa
1 small cooking onion, or 1/4 large spanish onion, finely diced
1 5-oz can tomato paste

Directions:
Combine everything except tomato paste in the crockpot.  Steve literally packed it down to the shape of the crockpot and didn't even try to make it a loaf shape or anything.  Spread tomato paste all over top of crockpot.  Cook according to crockpot instructions--in my crockpot, its always low 10-12 hours or high 4-5 hours.

Now, the Wellness Mama suggested her kids liked their meatloaf with applesauce (whatever made them think of THAT?)  But the British in me loves anything even more if there's a sauce involved, so I thought, why not?  I have unsweetened applesauce in the back of my fridge--and wow, it IS better yet with applesauce.  I have a new love:  Applesauce with my meatloaf.  Who'da thunk it?

Sometimes I'm a Better Cook when I Just Thow Sh*t Together

Last week I made a Shepherd's Pie.  It kinda went like this:
Steve, "Where's the recipe for tonight's dinner?"
Me, "What recipe?  There is no recipe."
Steve, "I don't know how to make Shepherd's Pie.  I've never made it before."
Me, "Just get out the meat and start browning it, I'll throw some stuff in there, you'll love it.  I want to make some changes from the last time I made it anyways."  (And then Steve gave me this blank look as if to say 'when did we last have this--we've never had this?' and I have him that stony gaze that said 'I've made this half a dozen times over the last couple of years, bozo, why don't you remember this?')  I was hormonal and irrational so Steve just smiled to humour me.  And then we poured some wine and he started browning meat.  So here it is, our best Shepherd's Pie so far--man did it turn out good! (Despite my crazy and our wine-drinking-while-cooking habit)

Shepherd's Pie (turnip-topped)

I wanted to try something other than mashed cauliflower for a change.  We don't normally like turnips in our house, but after cooking a couple of other things with turnip that turned out good, I thought we'd try it here, too.  Turns out it is milder and slightly sweeter than cauliflower mash, and everyone actually liked it better.  I hope turnips are paleo-friendly because I'm really starting to like them.  I'm pretty sure Grok would have eaten his fair share of tubers back in his day...

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 4 cups turnip or 1/3 large rutabaga
• handful carrots, celery
• 1/4 Spanish onion
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tsp beef stock powder (or add your own, check labels)
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• seasonings of choice--I added rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper
• 1/2 c flavoured cheese of choice (I used Havarti with herbs--that's what I had on hand)
• 2 tbs butter

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Peel and cube turnip, put in pot and cover with water, boil until tender enough to mash (this takes a bit longer than potatoes do).  Meanwhile, in large skillet on med-high, fry beef, onions, carrots, celery and seasonings until meat is cooked through.  As soon as meat begins to brown, turn heat down to med-low and add tomato paste, beef stock powder and Worcestershire sauce.  Add only enough water to make a sauce about as thick as gravy.  You want it to coat the meat, but not be watery.  Letting it simmer a little at this point is only going to make it better, but is not necessary if you're in a rush.

Once soft enough to mash; drain turnip, return to pot and add butter and cheese.  Mash with an electric mixer if you have one--this stuff is hard to mash!  The mixer will make it much smoother.

Remove meat to a casserole dish; I used a deep oval but a 8x8 will work just fine.  Top with mashed turnip.  Bake in oven for around 30 minutes.  Everything is already cooked and hot, but I like to bake mine until the juices from the gravy bubble up over the mashed turnip around the edges, flavouring the mash.  Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Here I am with my crappy food photography again.  It was delicious.  There were enough leftovers for the next day after my trail run.  It was just as awesome re-heated....  Maybe this coming year I will buy more photogenic dishes.  This stoneware comes out awful in photos!