Bacon Sweet Potato Meatloaf

I wanted to make a meatloaf and of course was searching around for paleo-frienly recipes.  I love PaleOMG - she has awesome recipes.  And why not put sweet potato into a meatloaf?  This came out awesome and I pretty much followed the original recipe, for once.  Will definitely make again.  Below is with my changes.

2 lbs ground beef

1 lb ground pork
1 chopped, cooked sweet potato
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
~5 slices cooked bacon

Bacon fat for cooking
1 cup almond meal
2 eggs
1/2 cup raisins
1 tablespoon jamaican allspice
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat some bacon fat in a skillet.  Add onions and saute until browned.  Add raisins, crumbled cooked bacon, and chopped sweet potato.  Yum.  I could have stopped there and ate that-

Add mixture to a large bowl along with the meat.  Add eggs and seasonings and almond flour to a good consistency (I didn't really measure).  For me, the purpose of a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer is to mix meatloaf. Mix all together and place loaf in a pan.  This was too big for a loaf pan so I used a 9x9 ish pyrex.

Meaty.

Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.  Enjoy!  Not the prettiest finished product picture but it was damn good.



I served it with Sauteed Apples & Kale - recipe to follow

Caribbean Beef Plantain Bake

I have been looking forward to making this for a while!  I pinned it about a month ago from Baltic Maid - not sure how I found it in the first place?   But Thank you Baltic Maid for creating/ posting this!  Always looking for different things to make with ground beef, since we do have like a hundred pounds of it in the freezer :)

I bought the plantains over a week ago - the store only had green ones so I had to wait until they got nice and dark as indicated in the recipe.

Below is my variation, adapted from the original.  I knew it would either come out 'ehh' or AWESOME and luckily it was awesome.  Already looking forward to my lunch leftovers :)


Caribbean Beef Plantain Bake
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, chopped
(I cheated and used a bag of frozen sliced peppers and onions!)

1/2 jar strained organic tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
Paprika, Cumin, Oregano, Chili Powder, Cinnamon, S&P

2-3 very ripe (dark brown/black) plantains
Coconut oil

2 - 3 eggs


In a large frying pan, brown the ground beef. Set beef aside once done.

Saute the onion & pepper in the same pan and lightly brown.  Add spices (I don't put measurements bc I don't measure.  Be generous!)

Meanwhile in another pan, heat coconut oil.  Peel plantains and cut into bite size slices and saute until browned, flip to brown both sides.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Add tomatoes to the veggies and warm, then stir beef in.

Put the beef/ veggie mixture in 9x9 glass baking pan, top with plantain slices (I kind of pushed them into the sauce).

In a little bowl, beat the eggs. Pour them over the casserole.

Bake the casserole for 20 to 30 minutes.

Whole30 Compliant Beef Stew/ Soup

Beef Stew / Soup

2 pkgs grassfed stew beef (cut into smaller cubes)
1 rutabaga, cubed
4-5 carrots, peeled and chopped
lot of kale
1 onion, chopped
GF/ Sugar Free Beef Broth (enough to cover 3/4 the way)
Water to cover the rest of the way
Bay leaves
Oregano
Tarragon
S&P

Not the most exciting recipe, but it was really good on a colllld day like we had been having here. I cooked on high in the crockpot for 4 hours, but wouldn't recommend that method as the veggies weren't very soft. I then transferred to a pot on the stove and simmered for 35-45 mins. I would recommend simmering on low for a few hours for best results. This also helped the liquid reduce to leave a nice broth with the soup.  Since flour/cornstarch are not Whole30 compliant, it was a little more soupy than stewy...but you could certainly food process some of the rutabaga or some sweet potato/butternut squash to make it thicker and more stew-like :)

I brought this for leftovers to work today, and the broth all spilled out in my bag :( So, I have beef stew minus broth for lunch. + An avocado and half a sweet potato. Should work!

Photo, with broth:

Whole30 Day 27 - Paleo Stuffed Peppers & Breakfast

So here I am at Day 27!  I feel really great and am pretty used to the "rules" of the game at this point.  I have finished reading "It Starts With Food", the foundation for the Whole30 and really enjoyed the book.  There is a lot of science to back the reasoning behind it, which is important to me.  I have started to re-read the deeper sciencey sections to have a clearer understanding :)

I plan to stick with the principles I have learned for the most part - I am feeling really great as a result of eating this way.  I don't think I will add dairy back in on a regular basis or gluten.  Definitely enjoying no processed foods - it is challenging to eat NONE whatsoever, but totally do-able.

I am more than ready for a cocktail, though!!  Bring on February 1st!

Paleo Stuffed Peppers

Made these last night, following the basic template from this blog and previous experience.  I had made these before but the peppers weren't cooked enough, so I made sure to pre-cook them this time.

Ingredients -

5-6 bell peppers

1 lb natural hot pork sausage

1 lb grassfed beef

1/2 large head cauliflower

8 oz baby bella mushrooms

1 medium onion

4-5 cloves garlic

1/2 jar strained tomatoes

Dried oregano

Dried parsley

Red Pepper Flakes (we like a lot!)

Salt & Pepper

First cook the sausage.  Use a little coconut oil/ water if needed to ensure it doesn't stick.

While sausage is cooking, rice (raw) cauli in food processor to form rice-ish-size pieces.  Transfer to separate bowl.

Once sausage is cooked, cut into small pieces and cook beef (same pan).  

Preheat oven to 400

Chop garlic and onion in food processor, move to bowl with cauli.

Slice baby bellas - I used top attachment on processor since it was already dirty.

Once all meats are cooked, transfer garlic/ onion/ cauli/ mushrooms to same pan to brown.  Add little coconut (or olive) oil if needed.  Brown veggies, add spices.

Cut centers of bell peppers out so they are stuff-able.  Put a little oil in the bottom of pan you will be using and place pepers bottom-up - cook for ~10 - 15 mins.

Add tomato paste and strained (or sugar free natural sauce if you don't have).

Mix all components together.

Stuff the peppers!  Turn heat down to 375 and bake 30 - 45 mins.

Breakfast

There was some leftover stuffing that didn't fit in our peppers - so I sauteed it this AM with some kale in coconut oil, then added a few eggs.  YUM!

Whole 30 Day 6

Enjoying the Whole30 - It's going great so far.  Been making some different meals, sticking strict to no grains/ legumes/ dairy/ sugar/ or any processed foods.  Still getting accustomed to 3 meals a day and not snacking.  Some of our recent meals are below:

Pancetta, Butternut Squash and Kale Saute

Salad with leftover chicken thighs, an avocado, and fresh hot tomato and mango salsa 

Thai Coconut Curry Beef with Mushrooms & Broccoli over Spaghetti Squash 

Beef, Pork & Vegatable Meatloaf with homemade baked sweet potato fries and broccoli

(Just so I remember how I made it - Meatloaf:  1 lb ground pastured pork, 1 lb grassfed beef, 1 chopped onion, 1 shredded carrot, 1 pkg frozen spinach (thawed and drained), minced garlic, s&p) 

We are currently curing a pork belly for bacon.  We will see how it is in a week! 

Sweet potato chips.  Also made beet chips.  Sorry TerraChip, I will no longer need your overpriced chips, these are SO easy to make!

Crockpot Corned Beef & Cabbage

The classic St. Patrick’s Day dinner.  I am not the biggest fan of it but Chris loves it, so we had it.  It actually turned out better than I expected, and we *might* make it more than once a year now - I really liked it!

I used this recipe from allrecipes.com as a guide.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, sliced

4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered

6-8 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

3 cups water

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon pepper

1 -3 lb. corned beef brisket with spice packet

1 medium head cabbage, cut into wedges

Combine water, sugar, vinegar, pepper, bay leaf, and spice packet, stir until well dissolved.

Place onions, potatoes, and carrots in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Add beef and cover with liquid ingredients.  Top with cabbage. 

(Certainly not the most glamorous!)

Cook on low for 8-10 hours (we were close to 10 hours this time).

Make sure to remove the bay leaf before serving!

It was delicious :)

Amazing Beef Sherry Bake

This is a great winter recipe...very hearty and delicious!

Ingredients:
~1 lb of cubed beef (cut into bite-size pieces)
1 medium red onion
1 pkg portabello caps, chopped
sherry cooking wine
beef broth
a bit of flour for thickening
unseasoned croutons (don't use seasoned!)
your favorite cheese for topping.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 deg. F.
Cut up the onion.  Place in bottom of a 8x8 glass baking dish.
Put beef on top of onion, and chopped mushroom on top of beef.
Add beef broth and sherry to almost cover the ingredients.  (2:1  broth:sherry)
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for ~40 minutes.
Remove from oven after 40 mins.  It should look like this:

Mix a few tablespoons flour with a little cold water in separate glass with a fork to mix completely and get rid of any clumps.  Add to the mixture while stirring to thicken to your preferred thickness.  3 tbsp should do the trick depending how much water you use.
Cover with a layer of croutons and sprinkle with as much cheese as you like-

Bake uncovered for another 5-10 minutes, until croutons are browned and cheese is melted.

Serve with egg noodles and veg of your choice;  this night I sauteed some green beans in butter-

Enjoy!  This is great reheated as leftovers as well :)

Taco Stuffed Shells

When I found this recipe I was so excited to make this twist on the traditional shells!  When my husband saw it, he insisted that I make it this weekend :)  I made a double batch because we had friends over for dinner, but I will write it up as a single batch.  I adapted from this recipe on BlogChef.net.  I eliminated the cream cheese and added more veggies.  They came out great!

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
Taco seasoning (I make my own, as described HERE)
1 can diced tomatoes

1 chopped bell pepper

1/2 chopped onion

1 box large pasta shells

1 jar salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup reduced fat mexican cheese (shredded)

Cook the ground beef and drain off fat.

Add the chopped pepper & onion to one side of the pan to cook.  I offset the pan on the burner so the peppers & onions are getting most of the heat.

Mix the vegetables & beef together and add seasoning.  Add the diced tomatoes.

Allow the mixture to cool so it can be handled.

Cook shells according to package instructions.

Stuff the shells.  Top with taco sauce and cheese and bake at 350 deg F for approximately 30 minutes.

Serve with the mexican corn cake recipe provided above!  The sweet of the corncake works great with these spicy shells!

***Variation***
As I said in the beginning of the post, I made a double batch.  After preparing one batch, there was a little less than 1/2 of the beef mixture left.  I decided to make bean and beef shells for the second half, so I mixed in a can of refried beans to the remaining mixture.  They came out great also!

Chili

We love chili.  I made it this morning and put it in the crockpot for consumption while watching football later in the day :)  This recipe is for a double  batch.

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground grassfed beef
2 cans kidney beans
2 large cans/boxes diced tomatoes
2 diced bell peppers
1 chopped onion
  Seasoning:
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1 tablespoon dried, minced garlic
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Brown the beef.

Combine the seasonings

Put all ingredients in the crockpot and add some water as needed.  Set crockpot for 6-8 hours on low (or 3-4 on high).  Enjoy!

I recommend serving with these tostadas- so delish!  You can find them in the mexican food aisle: