Philly Cheesesteak in a Bowl

Ingredients

• 1 lb. skirt steak, sliced thinly
• 2 green peppers, sliced thinly
• 2 yellow onions, sliced thinly
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 4 oz. good melting cheese (I used raw milk Colby), sliced
• 2 T butter
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T hot sauce
• S&P

Method

Put your oven on broil and place the rack in the middle of the oven.

In a large, oven proof saucepan, melt the butter over high heat and add hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Saute the beef, add the onions, peppers and mushrooms. Place a lid/cover on the saute pan and stir occasionally while the peppers and onions soften. Once that’s happened, top with cheese slices, stick the pan under the broiler until the cheese has reached the desired melty-ness stage. Some like it gooey and some like it brown and bubbly. Take it out of the oven and serve.

Melt in Your Mouth Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. short ribs (boneless will work if that’s all you can find, but bones add nutrition & awesome flavor!)
• 3 T butter
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 oz. mushrooms, roughly chopped
• handful of sage, rosemary and thyme, chopped
• 1 qt. chicken stock
• 2 cups roasted marinara sauce (I keep some in the freezer at all times) or tomato sauce
• 1/4 c apple cider vinegar
• s&p

Method

Get your oven to 250ºF. In a heavy bottomed, oven safe pot, melt the butter on high heat. Sear your short ribs until you see a nice brown crust on them. Remove and put them on a plate to hang out. Add the celery, onion, carrots, garlic and mushrooms. Saute until they’ve softened. Add the tomato sauce, chicken stock, vinegar and herbs. Place the short ribs back into the pot. Press a sheet of parchment paper onto the surface of the stew and place into the oven. Cook for about 4 hours or until the short ribs pull apart easily with a fork.

Once the short ribs are tender, remove the pot from the oven CAREFULLY. Remove the short ribs and bones. Once the meat has cooled, use your fingers to pull apart the meat–believe me, it’s much, much easier than using a fork. Add the meat back to the pot and serve.

Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Lime Dip

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes, cut into thick matchsticks*
• 1 package bacon, don’t use thick cut
• 1/2 c mayo, using avocado oil
• 1-2 chipotles in adobo sauce
• 1 lime, juiced

Method

Get your oven to 425°F. Soak the sweet potato matchsticks in a bowl of cold water for up to 6 hours. This removes a lot of the starch from the potato. When you remove the potatoes, you can visibly see white starch granules at the bottom of the bowl. Drain the water from the potatoes and pat dry.

Slice each piece of bacon in half, lengthwise. Wrap 1 strip of bacon around 1 matchstick sweet potato. Lay on a baking sheet. Repeat until all the bacon is gone. If you have left over sweet potatoes, toss ‘em on the pan too, they’ll cook beautifully in all the rendered bacon fat.

For the Dip

In a food processor, pulse up the chipotle(s) and lime juice into the mayo.

Bake the fries for about 25 minutes on one side. You’re looking for browned bacon. Use some tongs to flip the fries over and bake for another 10-12 minutes, until browned.

Squeeze some lime juice on the fries. Serve hot and with the dip.

Oven Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 4 green tomatoes, sliced thinly, about 1/4 inch
• 1 1/4 c almond flour
• 1 t onion powder
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c water
• olive oil
• s&p

Method

Put your oven on broil and place the rack on the second shelf from the top. You want to cook the tomatoes through while simultaneously browning the coating without burning. Too close and you will certainly burn the tomatoes (take a look at the ones on the back of the plate). I used 2 baking sheets for all the tomatoes, but you could use one, and do a switch-a-roo so you only have to clean one pan. Lightly drizzle the baking sheets with olive oil.

Get out two soup bowls (I was going to say cereal bowl, but thought better of it). Mix the eggs and water in one and the almond flour and seasonings in the other. Place the tomato slices in the egg then in the almond flour. Place the tomatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet and drizzle the tops with a bit of olive oil.

Broil for about 6 minutes on one side, then flip and brown the other side, about another 6 minutes. Sprinkle with a bit of salt right when they come out of the oven. Serve hot.

Country Captain

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless chicken thighs, skinless will work too
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 t garam masala
• 1 t curry powder
• 1/2 c raisins
• 2 t fresh ginger, minced
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 lime, juiced

Method

In a skillet, melt some fat over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper the chicken thighs. Sear them on both sides until browned and cooked through. Remove from the pan and place on your serving platter.

Add the diced onion, garam masala, curry powder and ginger to the saute pan. Saute until the onions are tender. Add the coconut milk, raisins and lime juice. Simmer for a few minutes. Spoon the sauce over the chicken thighs.

Top with fresh cilantro and sliced almonds.

Also

You will probably have leftover sauce. Here’s an idea to use it up…

To the remainder of the sauce, add 2 cups of chicken stock. Ta-da, you’ve made a coconut curry soup. Add leftover pulled chicken thighs or roughly dice up a pound of chicken breasts and add to the soup. Let the soup simmer on medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.

Chocolate Chip Bakies

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c almond flour
• 2 small bananas, about 1 c*
• 1/4 c dark chocolate chips
• 3 T almond butter
• 2 T brown sugar or coconut sugar, optional
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 1 t baking soda
• pinch of salt

Method

In a mixer, mix the following ingredients together until smooth: bananas, almond butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt and baking soda. Add the almond flour and chocolate chips.

Bake at 350ºF for about 11 minutes. As you can see from the picture, I used a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop to form the cookies. Use a spoon if you gotta, but if the cookie dough “ball” is larger than an inch and a half, you’re going to need to adjust the baking time. These bakies do stick a bit to the pan, so use gentle force to remove them–or try lightly greasing with baking sheet.

*Your bananas MUST have brown spots on them! When I say 2 small bananas, I mean: when you roughly tear the bananas into a measuring cup, you get about one cup, do not puree the banana and then measure.

Hash Browns

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash

1 yellow onion, finely diced

2 T rosemary, finely chopped

Olive Oil

S&P

Method

Get your oven to 450ºF. Line a baking sheet with foil. Split the spaghetti squash in 1/2. Use a fork to remove all the seeds. Like I’ve said before, don’t be too anal about getting out all the gunk, you won’t even notice it once the squash has roasted. Lightly drizzle some olive oil inside the cavity of the squash and lay it face down onto the baking sheet. Roast for approx. 20 minutes, flip the squash over and roast for another 15 minutes. I decided to roast the squash at a ridiculously high temperature so it wouldn’t take as long and I wanted to see some caramelization on the squash. You’ll know it’s done when you take a fork to the squash and it “threads” very easily. Remove from the oven and let cool so you can handle it.

While the squash is roasting, heat some olive oil over medium heat and add the diced onion. You don’t want to hear a sizzle when you add the onion. Turn the heat down if this happens. We don’t want burned onions! Let the onions cook until they’re translucent and slightly golden. Add the rosemary and some S&P.

Once the squash is cooled. “Thread” it and add to a large bowl. Add the onions and mix around to roughly incorporate.

Turn the burner up to medium high heat and add more oil to your saute pan, if you need it. Take a spoon (or my favorite tool, your hands) and patty up some of the squash mixture. Saute it until it’s carmelized and golden brown, about 10 minutes on each side. Repeat until all the squash is gone.

Sesame Kale Salad

Ingredients

• 2 bunches kale, torn into bite size pieces, no stems (something the kiddies can do)
• a little bit of water
• 1/4 c sesame oil
• 2 T wheat free soy sauce or coconut aminos (my newest acquisition, pretty cool, ya?)
• 2 T sesame seeds

Method

Place about 1/4 c of  of water in a large, microwave safe bowl. Add the torn kale and seal the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Place in the microwave for 1 minute increments, peeking into the bowl during each cycle. What you’re doing is creating steam from the little puddle of water and a light, semi-permeable plastic wrap seal. It’s done when the  kale has steamed and wilted, this should take around 3 minutes.

Unwrap the bowl and be careful not to steam-burn yourself. Once the kale is cool enough to handle, pour out the water and squeeze the kale until most of the water is gone.

Add the rest of ingredients and mix to combine. Serve at room temperature or cold.

Imagine eating a chili dog with slaw, onions and yellow mustard. Now imagine taking off the bun and eating it in a bowl with a fork and you’ve got the idea behind this recipe. Another way to look at it, we’ve taken off the sour cream, avocado and cheese from chili and added hot dog toppings.

Ingredients

Chili Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground meat* (I used ground chicken, but anything would work)
• 1 package hot dogs, chopped (I used sugar-free beef franks from U.S. Wellness Meats)
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes, juice drained, chopped small
• 1 c tomato sauce
• 2 chipolte peppers in adobe sauce, chopped finely
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t cumin powder

Slaw Ingredients

• 1 red cabbage, sliced thinly (The cabbage should quite small–weighing about 1 lb., you won’t need more than that)
• 1/2 c mayo
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 3 T pickled jalapenos, finely chopped**
• 5 T pickled jalapeno juice**
• 1 T yellow mustard

Method

In a medium sauce pan, cook the ground meat all the way through and then add the cut up hot dogs. Throw the rest of the ingredients in the pot and let it simmer while you make the slaw.

For the slaw, get out a large bowl and add all the ingredients, except the cabbage, and whisk to combine. Add the cabbage to the slaw base and mix to combine.

To serve, place the chili on the bottom of the bowl, then add some slaw and top with whatever hot dog fixings you like. Yellow mustard is an absolute must!

*If you’re pinching pennies, you can definitely leave out the ground meat and just use hot dogs. Chop the hot dogs rather small so they go further.

**Don’t be afraid of the pickled jalapenos or the juice. It’s not nearly as spicy as fresh jalapeno…but as always, add a little at a time and taste as you go–because you can’t take it away after you’ve added it.