Lamb (Yes) Bacon, egg, and red kale with much too much garam masala
I eat, play, and contemplate my way back into the good graces of St. Louis.
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The Lou Redux
The Lou Redux
Vegan Paleo! Mushroom Broccolette Green Curry w/ Banana and Prune
Logs of Nutrition!
Ground Pork
Ground Beef
Walnuts (chopped)
Mushrooms (chopped)
Dried Cranberries (chopped)
Garlic (chopped)
Salt
Basil (chopped)
One Egg
Mush up all the bits in a big bowl and form into logs (loaves, whatever, something that sounds terrible but tastes great). Bake on 350 until to temp. Serve with mini-salad of mixed greens, walnuts, vinaigrette, and goat cheese (goat cheese ain’t paleo, but what the hey-yo)
Serve. The fella says it tastes like Christmas.
Quick Dinner: Bison Burger
Ground Bison
S&P
Egg
Tomato
Cayenne Honey Hot Sauce
Season meat, form into patties, and pan cook. Slice and pan roast tomatoes. Fry eggs. Assemble: tomato, burger, egg, sauce.
Boom. Dinner.
SO MANY ADVENTURES
I made several dozen cookies. Which means I ate cookies. Just two. And just enough to know that as delicious as they are, I shouldn’t eat them often or maybe even ever again.
Meatloaf & Sweet Potato Fries
So part of eliminating things from my diet means that I am in a trial period of adding certain things back to my diet in limited amounts to see how they affect me. Greek yogurt—no problem. Ice cream—likewise. Dairy has never been an issue for me. It’s fairly easy to eliminate because I don’t care that much about it, but its impact on my body is negligible or even positive. Imagine my disappointment when today’s test turned into an utter failure. A totally delicious first-class trip to headache-town.
Chocolate, you are my sworn enemy.
I’ve known for awhile, but I haven’t wanted to know. You know?
Anyway, on to consolation dinner which was chocolate-free and so amazingly delicious. This is a recipe that I couldn’t have eaten on Whole 30 because the Sriarcha has some preservatives and honey was a no go. Thank goodness those 30 days are over!
Meatloaf & Sweet Potato Fries
Meatloaf
Ground Beef
Ground Pork
Egg
Sriracha
Honey
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt
Shallot
Sweet Potato Fries
Sweet Potato (sliced into fires)
S&P
Coconut Oil
Garlic (Sliced)
Mix equal parts ground beef and ground pork. Add salt, a healthy squeeze of Sriracha, and thinly sliced shallot. Mix well, then form into loaf (or mini-loaves. Cook time is dependent on size of loaf.) Mix another squirt of Sriracha, honey, and a small amount of vinegar then glaze the loaf before putting it into the oven.
I prefer making meatloaf on a sheet pan versus in a loaf pan. This way more sides of the loaf get crusty and crispy. Cook at 350 until done (20-30 min).
For the sweet potato fries I actually boiled the sweets before I baked them. I think the professional term for this is blanching, but the truth is I was going to incorporate mashed sweet potato in the loaf until I decided at the last minute to make fries. It worked out well though. Spread sweet potato chunks on sheet pan and rain coconut oil, salt and pepper over them. Bake for about 10 minutes and then add sliced garlic. Cook for an additional 5-10 getting the fries to a crispy texture without completely obliterating the garlic.
Take the meatloaf out of the oven, let it rest for about 10-20 minutes then slice and serve with fries. Eat all of it, even though cold leftover meatloaf is so good.
We’ll call it pie!
With a little extra time on my hands sometimes I try to get creative. Today I had extra time… so I made a pie.
Kind of.
In that wistful land of daydreams where opening your own restaurant seems like a great idea versus a one-way ticket to crazytown, I always imagine my restaurant to be a pies only joint. All kinds of fillings stuffing their guts—savory and sweet. Going grain-free kind of dispatches with the fantasy of enveloping things in flaky, buttery crusts.
Still I had all this ground pork, and I love a good pork pie. Walnuts to the rescue! My ingenuity on this one was lacking—my crust did not hold so the whole thing came out a tasty mess that could have as easily been assembled in a bowl. I am sure some adjustments can be made to make the crust crustier (add an extra egg white and dispatch with the oil perhaps?).
Crust
Walnuts (chopped to bits and dust in a blender/food processor)
Coconut Oil
Egg white
Salt
Combine ingredients in bowl until walnuts stick togther and can be pressed into pan. Bake for 10 min (or thereabout) at 350. Take out of oven and let cool.
Filling
Plantains
Garlic
Ground Pork
Shallot
Jalapeno
Cumin
Paprika
S&P
Season meat and brown, add shallots and jalapenos and simmer. Remove from pan and reserve. Slice plantain and fry in pork juices, add garlic. Add water until it just covers the tops of the plantain chunks and boil until plantains are tender. Mash in a bowl (or use a mixer for less texture).
Scoop pork filling into crust and then top with mashed plantains. Bake for 10-20 more minutes at 350. Take out of the oven and let cool.
Aesthetically a mess, this was completely delicious and very satisfying.
Lamb Mini Burgers
Ground Lamb
Mushrooms (sliced)
Garlic (chopped)
Avocado (sliced)
Rogan Josh
Bibb Lettuce
Turkey Cherry Asparagus
So, quite incidentally, my first day off Whole 30 also coincided with my first Green Bean Delivery. I have been looking for a CSA (or something like it) for awhile, but have been unable to commit or pony up the upfront costs. Green Bean Delivery is week by week, which makes it far more doable. Plus they bring it straight to your door! I went for the small produce bin, which is supposed to be enough for two. However, those two must not eat as many veggies because our order is definitely not enough to get us through next Wednesday. But overall the quality of the items is great. The order was completely customizable so I was able to replace peas and mint with stuff like asparagus and ginger. I also added some grass fed beef and some bulk dried cherries.
Which resulted in dinner:
