Recipe: Shepherd's Pie

My mom used to make Shepherd's Pie back in the day and I loved it.  It was always a middle of the week type meal because she could really throw it together easy.  Her version was ground beef on the bottom, then corn, then mashed potatoes, and a nice dollop of ketchup on the plate.  There may have been more to it, but it was still simple and always one of my favorite meals.  My Paleo version is a little bit different, but really just as simple and super quick.  You can make parts of it ahead of time, the whole thing ahead of time or make it all at once in under 30 minutes (including the 20 minute cook time).

1tsp of coconut oil
1 head of cauliflower
1 pound of ground beef
1/4 white or yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 small bag of frozen peas and carrots (Peppers, green beans and other veggies could  also be used in addition to or as a replacement for the peas and/or carrots)



Oven set to 400.

Pot used to steam veggies filled with water and on the stove getting hot!

First, cut the cauliflower into normal sized chunks (the size you would use if you were just steaming cauliflower as a side).  Throw those florets (?) into the pot and let them steam away.

Put your coconut oil in a large pan--this pan needs to be large enough to hold the pound of beef and the veggies.  Heat up the oil on a medium level heat.  Dice the onion and throw into the pan.  Finely chop the garlic cloves and toss them in after the onion has been in about a minute.  Be ready with the ground beef and throw it in after the onion has been coking for about a minute and half.  When the beef is close to being done, throw in the bag of frozen vegetables to warm them up a little.  They will warm up all the way in the oven, but try to get them thawed out at least (you could always just defrost them and throw them into the beef mixture at the last moment).

The baking dish you use does not really matter since everything is pretty hot.  You could use a bread dish (make it useful for something!) or a round casserole or a square pan.  I used a square pan that is actually about 11x11 (odd), but my mom always used a deep round casserole dish.  Just use the one that is easiest to clean, I say.  Pour your beef mixture in there and let it sit while you handle the cauliflower.

You want the cauliflower to be coooked really well.  When you grab it with tongs it should fall apart a little.  Don't drain it just throw each cauliflower piece into the food processor with the standard blade.  Mix that bad boy up until you have a nice creamy mixture.  At this point I mixed in a dash of garlic powder, some black pepper and just a bit of sea salt.  Use a spatula and scoop the cauliflower "mash" out of the food processor and spread over the beef and veggie mixture.  My pan was large, so the cauliflower "mash" was only 1/4 inch thick.  Pop that baby in the oven for about 15 minutes.  If you you like your meat really well done leave it in for 20 minutes.  If you want it to brown on top you will probably need to throw a little bit of grass-fed butter into the cauliflower mixture and/or put some on top of the mixture.

That's it!  Nothing too crazy to prep and you can really make this your own by adding different veggies.  I used an 85/15 organic ground beef.  If you go more lean or sub ground chicken/turkey, then you will want to make sure the dish does not dry out.  You can try adding some chicken or beef stock to the beef mixture when you put it in the pan. 

If you pre-make this in the morning or the night before or over the weekend, then just up your oven time to between 45 and 60 minutes.  If you make the cauliflower "mash" ahead of time I would just nuke it in the microwave or warm it in a pan first.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Baked Chicken & Chicken Stock

I realize that this is sort of a simple recipe and probably something everyone already knows how to make. However, I think baking a large piece of meat, be it a chicken, turkey, rib roast, or leg of lamb, often gets overlooked as an option when it is not a holiday. Whole chickens seem to always be on sale for between $0.89/pound to $1.49/pound depending on whether the bird is organic or not. I think a bird at any of those prices is a great deal, especially if you plan on using the whole thing. There are two recipes below and if you use them both on the same bird then you will get the most out of your purchase.

Set oven to 350.

Baked Chicken:

1 Whole Chicken any size

1 lemon

Garlic Powder

Black Pepper

Optional other spices: salt, thyme, sage, whole garlic cloves

Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Place breast side up in a shallow baking dish--a lot of times I just end up using a casserole dish--lined with aluminum foil for easy clean-up. Juice the lemon over the chicken, distributing from neck to tail. Place juiced lemon halves inside of bird (I'm not sure this does anything but I like to think it adds some good flavor. Sprinkle about 1 tsp (that's what I used for a 6 pound bird) of garlic powder all over the top and side of the chicken. Grind some fresh black pepper over the chicken, too. Next, rub some garlic powder and black pepper under the skin on the actual meat. If you want to salt the skin feel free to do that, but I don't recommend putting salt under the skin because it will draw out the moisture. I recommend chopping and fresh herbs like thyme or sage and placing them under the skin as well. I just had thyme and so that is all I used. You can half some whole garlic gloves and put them inside the chicken with the juiced lemon. They will steam nicely and provide a nice little treat when the bird is done. I also like to throw some herbs inside the chicken, too.

Use some kitchen twine to tie the legs and tail together and pin the wings to the bird with tooth pics. See the picture below for a visual.

Chickens really don't need to be covered while in the oven, because they aren't in there long enough, but sometimes that is a good idea to keep the bird moist. If you do i recommend putting about half an inch of water in the pan, too. Put the chicken in the oven for 20-25 minutes per pound. No matter what the packaging on your meat thermometer says, chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees (not 190 or 175 or something like that). When you take the bird out, cover it with some aluminum foil for about 5-10 minutes. It will actually continue to cook during that time, but not too much. For my 6.25 pound turkey I started checking it right before the 2 hour mark to gauge the cooking progress. It took 2 hours to cook.

The skin, legs, thighs, and wings went to Gunny and John. I used the breast meat for three lunches, two breakfasts and about four snacks throughout the week at work. It was great not to have to worry about planning for and packing a protein every day. I have tons of salad bars and places to get fruits and veggies around work, but clean protein is really hard to come by because of all the butter and non-paleo oils used. So, if there are no left over veggies from the night before or I can't pack my lunch in time, then I am still okay because I've got my chicken all ready to go at work.

Once the chicken cools a little I will break the whole thing down and divide up the portions. I'm left with cartilage, bones, fat, and other pieces of chicken. I also probably have the gizzards unless John got to them first and fried them up--hey it's paleo at its best. Now I am ready to make chicken stock. I use chicken stock in the slow cooker several times a week, so it's nice to make my own to have on hand.

Chicken Stock:

Chicken carcass (raw or cooked)

Chicken gizzards (raw or cooked)

Whole peppercorns

Stems of parsley

Thyme

Leek

Baby carrots or whole carrots

Celery

Onion

I used the crockpot for my stock, but you can easily use a pot on your stove top. First, I choose the container or containers I plan on using to store my stock. Fill each one to the brim with water. In your crockpot or pot, add the chicken carcass and gizzards. Then, poor the full containers of water into the pot. Hopefully this comes close to covering the carcass--if not covering the carcass. If your carcass has more than two or three inches sticking out of the water, then you will want to add some more water. Next, half an onion and throw both halves into the pot. Add a few stalks of celery, some carrots (I just use the last of the leftover baby or whole carrots that are about to be thrown out), the white and light green parts of a leek (cut in half), some thyme (fresh or dried), a little parsley (fresh or dried), and a few peppercorns. The truth is, you do not have to put anything but the chicken carcass into the pot if you don't want to, so just use what you have on hand.

Bring the pot to a boil, then cover and cook for 3-4 hours on a low heat. My crock pot has a simmer button, so I just put it on simmer for 30-45 minutes, then switch it over to low for another 3 hours. I usually scoop out the big pieces of vegetables and chicken carcass and then poor the rest through this cone shaped strainer with small holes that fits perfectly over my container. You can use a regular strainer, just watch out for bones in your stock and do it over another large pot so you don't lose any juice. Then just transfer into your containers. This stuff freezes great!

Check out the pictures below.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Recipe: Italian Casserole

We had this for dinner last night at it was absolutely delicious! The recipe assumes you will still be having some sort of veggie on the side. Between the olives and olive oil you still might need a little more fat for the meal, too. Feel free to add even more olives and other veggies. I think this would be great with mushrooms, zucchinis and the rest of that bag of spinach used below.

The first thing to do is make the meatballs! My meatballs were 1/3 ground pork and 2/3 grass fed ground beef. But, you can make whatever Italian flavored meatball you want. I'll attempt to make this again in the future with a chicken or turkey meatball, and I'll post that recipe. I first made my own mix of pork sausage and then mixed that with the ground beef and other meatball ingredients to make the actual meatballs. You can of course just buy a pre-made Italian sausage.

Set oven to 350.

Sausage:

1 pound ground pork

0.5 tsp black pepper

1 tsp Italian seasoning (or a mix of oregano and basil)

0.25 tsp garlic powder

0.5 tsp crushed (use your muscles) fennel seeds or anise seeds

0.25 tsp paprika

0.25 tsp dried minced onion or onion powder

1 tsp sea salt

Mix all the seasonings in with your ground pork using your hands. Use a large bowl so you can make the meatballs in the same one!

Meatballs:

1 pound pork sausage

2 pounds ground beef

1/4 cup of lightly sauteed onion (yellow, sweet, white, etc.)

2 cloves of minced garlic lightly sauteed

1/4 cup almond meal

1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley (or 1 Tbsp of dried parsley)

0.5 tsp sea salt

0.5 tsp Italian seasoning (or a mix of oregano and basil)

0.5 tsp garlic powder

0.25 tsp black pepper

0.25 tsp paprika

0.25 tsp dried minced onion or onion powder

3 eggs

Add a little olive oil to a pan, heat and do a quick saute of the onion and garlic. Using your hands, mix the beef and pork sausage together thoroughly. Then, add the sauteed onion and garlic, almond meal, parsley, spices and eggs to the mixture. Mix together really well. Make golf ball sized meatballs and place them about an inch apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes. The pork in the meatballs needs to reach 145 degrees. My first batch came out at 153 degrees and my second at 143 degrees. They will still cook a little after being removed, but I can tell you the ten degrees makes a difference and the second batch was juicier.

While the meatballs are in the oven get started on your sauce.

Sauce:

One jar of a paleo friendly marinara sauce (from the store or homemade)

3/4 cup sweet peppers, cut into 1" strips

1/2 cup of diced red onion

1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped

Half bag of spinach, chopped

Small can of diced black olives

1 tbsp olive oil

Two roma tomatoes, sliced

In a pan heat the olive oil up to just below medium heat and add the sweet peppers. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the red onion and allow to cook for another 1-2 minutes (until the onions start to become translucent). Add the parsley and spinach. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds or until the spinach is looses the raw look and starts to turn that deep green. Immediately add your sauce and black olives. Stir together and lower the heat to a medium-low heat. You want to warm the sauce, but you doing want to burn anything.

Assuming your meatballs are out of the oven, quarter a little more than half of them (I put 20 meatballs in the casserole and saved 15 for snacks) and throw in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Add your warm sauce mixture over the top of the quartered meatballs and mix everything together. Place the tomato slices on top, cover with aluminum foil and put in the same 350 oven for 5-10 minutes. Everything is already warm, but this just gives the dish a chance to mix the flavors of the sauce with the juice of the meatballs.

Makes 4 servings.