Practically every recipe for beef stew calls for “stew beef.” I’ve seen it in the store. I’ve used it without much success in stew. But really, what the heck is it? After a bit of research, I found it’s typically chuck or round. Chuck is around the shoulder and round is around the rear of the cow. These cuts require lots of time in order to break down and become tender–and I have no problem with that. My issue comes from the fact that I’ve never had a beef stew where these meats actually tasted fall-apart tender and yummy. So what’s the solution? SHORT RIBS! Cheap and just as easy to use in stew as the above ‘unmentionables’. I am not a crock pot fan, so I used a heavy bottomed, enameled cast iron pot. Use whichever you find easier–but if you do use a crock pot, you will have to saute the meat and veggies in a separate pan and then add them to the crock pot.

A throw together salad that goes “POW” in your mouth. I made Shepards Pie with a cauliflower “crust” and ended up only needing 1/2 a head of cauliflower. I needed to use up the other half in some fashion. I made a 24 hour quick pickle with the cauliflower and threw in some carrots too. The pickled veggies add a good zip, and allow me to control the sugar content– most brines contain a massive amount of sugar.

Take away the cream, butter, sour cream and potatoes. There’s no longer a need for any of that stuff. Brown meat and saute some veggies until soft, caramelize cauliflower, mix it with egg and broil until bubbly, brown. Easy, only two pans to clean and it tastes good too, imagine that.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef, chicken, turkey, pork…almost any ground protein will work
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 3 T each FRESH rosemary, sage and thyme (herbs are the flavor maker and must NOT be omitted)
• 1/4 c + 1/4 c chicken stock
• 1/2 head cauliflower, finely chopped
• 2 T oil
• 1 egg
• S&P, Chili flakes

Method

Preheat your oven to 400ºF.

In a deep-sided, oven safe saute pan add the ground beef and saute on medium heat until browned. Add the onions, garlic, carrots and mushrooms and cook until softened. Add 1/4 c chicken stock and use a spatula to pick up any brown bits on the bottom  of the pan. Turn the heat off and toss in the chopped herbs along with some salt and pepper.

For the cauliflower, melt the oil over medium-high heat in another saute pan. Let the cauliflower caramelize (you want to see brown, don’t stop until that point!) use a spatula to turn it in the pan every once in awhile. Add some salt and chili flakes. Turn the heat off once the cauliflower is done.

In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together the egg and 1/4 c chicken stock. Add the mixture to the cauliflower and working quickly, use a spatula to make sure it’s well combined. Immediately add it to the top of the meat mixture and press into an even layer with your spatula.

Bake in the oven, on the middle rack, for 10 minutes, then turn the oven on broil and cook for another 10 minutes. Once the “pie” has come out of the oven, let it rest a few minutes before serving.

How would you like a fish that tastes like crab, cooks quickly but isn’t finicky about being cooked perfectly and is very affordable? BAM! I have found it…it’s called skate wing. Wild skate wing, $3.99 a pound at Whole Foods! I thought, this is just a sale. Go back to a different Whole Foods, (months later, as we do not have a Whole Foods in Columbia, and go there every few months to stockpile their wild seafood) and it’s the same exact price!

This fish deserves two paragraphs of copy. It’s a flat fish with lots of meat on both sides. So it’s like a 2-for-1 kind of deal. The meat forks off like string cheese. The “bones” look more like fingers. It’s quite odd, but it’s a very tender texture with a crab-like, delicate taste. I hope, if you ever see it in the seafood case, you give it a try. The two skate wings pictured above weighed around 2.5 lbs total and were kept in the freezer for about a month before we cooked them.

Ingredients

• 3T + 2T fat
• 2 skate wings
• S&P
• 1/2 lb. fresh spinach
• 3-5 gloves garlic, finely chopped

Method

In a saute pan over medium high heat, melt about 3 T fat. Pat the skate wings dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with S&P. Place the wing in the pan and saute for about 7 minutes, flip once you see a little bit of color and saute on the other side. You shouldn’t see any pink or redness, if you do, cook it longer.

For the spinach, use the same saute pan and saute the garlic in about 2 T melted fat. Add the spinach all at once and let it sit for about 2-3 minutes. Then use some tongs or a spatula to turn it over so the fresh spinach gets wilted. This should take less than 10 minutes.

Most people eating Paleo or low-carb are already aware of the glorious spaghetti squash. But I do believe, and please correct me if I’m wrong, most people only use this squash for traditional spaghetti with marinara sauce. So I thought, let’s see how it takes to other dishes that are pasta based…hmm, carbonara. Traditionally it’s sauce is egg yolk based, but since spaghetti squash is rather wet, I figured we could nix the yolks and still end up with a relatively creamy sauce. Success!

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 lb. bacon
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 gloves garlic, minced
• 2 handfuls of walnuts, roughly chopped
• Parmesan cheese to taste
• Red Pepper flakes or black pepper, to taste

Method

Heat the oven to 400ºF. Cut the squash in half and pick out all the seeds. Don’t be anal about getting out the stringy stuff, you can’t even tell it’s there once the squash has roasted. Lightly coat the inside of the squash with some oil and place cut side down, on a baking sheet, in the oven for 20 minutes. Flip each half over, and roast for another 20 minutes–0r until the squash is easily shredded with a fork and add it to your serving bowl.

While the squash is roasting, start the sauce. With the bacon placed horizontally on your cutting board, cut the strips into 1/2″ pieces. Don’t worry about separating the strips, just cut away. Add the bacon pieces to a saute pan that’s on medium heat. Cook the bacon until it’s browned and add to your serving bowl. Remove 3/4 of the bacon grease and reserve for another use. Place the onion and garlic in the pan and cook until translucent. Add them to your serving bowl. Toss the walnuts into the pan and toast until slightly brown. Add them to the serving bowl. Add pepper and grated Parmesan cheese to taste.

Serve immediately.

Brandon and I just got home from a wedding in Asheville, NC. We did not eat well. We can markedly feel a difference in our moods, quality of sleep and energy levels, when we eat carbs/sugar again. Should I expound, so you know we’re not perfect?  Okay. Here it is. I’m ashamed. Dunkin Donuts bagel sticks (some new fangled breadstick-like confection) with cream cheese, pesto tortellini, penne with vodka sauce, biscuits with gravy, grits, fried potatoes (that tasted like Arby’s curly fries), sweet potato pancakes and wedding cake (carrot! hmmm, moist!). Time frame: 24 hours. Hahaha! So needless to say, we were anxious to get back to our high-fat, high-protein diet…and I wanted to start it off with flavorful Mexican comfort food. I roasted the peppers instead of frying them in batter and added meat and veggies, instead of just straight up oozy cheese.

Ingredients

• 5 poblano* peppers
• 1 lb. fresh chorizo**, casings removed (slit the back of the sausage with a knife and unwrap the meat from the case) and crumbled
• 4 oz. mushrooms, diced
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 oz. raw sharp cheddar
• 2 oz. goat cheese
• 2 avocados
• 1 lime, juiced

Method

Preheat your oven to 450ºF.

Slice the tops off your poblano peppers (reserve them, minus the stem) and take out the seeds. Coat in a little bit of fat and place in the oven to soften. We’re trying to roast them and get the skin off, so this should take about 20 minutes.

While the peppers are working in the oven, saute the chorizo, onions, garlic, mushrooms and the chopped pieces of the poblano pepper tops, until everything is soft, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheeses.

Remove the peppers from the pan and wrap them in one big piece of plastic wrap, leave it on for about 5 minutes. This will steam the peppers, thus making the skin easy to peel off.  Remove the plastic wrap and peel the skin off of the peppers with your fingers, if it’s not REALLY easy, wrap them back up and let them steam for a bit longer.

Using a spoon, stuff the chorizo filling into each pepper and place back into the oven to melt the cheeses and warm everything up.

To make the avocado cream, use a fork to mash up the avocados with the lime juice. Serve with the rellenos.

*Poblano chile peppers are mild mexican chiles. Think of it as the less bitter, mexican version of green bell peppers. They’re found at most grocery stores, around the other chile peppers.

**If you can’t find fresh chorizo (dried chorizo is hard and usually labeled Spanish, fresh is soft and usually labeled Mexican), you could substitute fresh andouille or make the chili recipe from the chili cheese dog recipe.

Beef stew, also known as beef bourguignon, is good, but boring–and we personally think it tastes like straight up sour wine and that is not very tasty, especially by the spoonful. So we’ve added a bit of balsamic vinegar and raisins to counter the sour with a bit of sweet. We’re also swirling in a nice, briny, herbal pesto to brighten up the braise. Another change, we’re not using a crock pot! The dutch oven allows liquid to evaporate from the pot, thus creating a thicker, more intense flavored stew. And heck, I would rather eat in 2 hours than in 6 hours, agreed?

Stew Ingredients

• 2 T fat of your choice
• 2 lb. chuck shoulder, cubed
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 3/4 c raisins
• (1) 28 oz. can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
• 1 c red wine (only if you have some leftover, don’t go out and buy some just for this recipe–stock will work fine)
• 1/2 c balsamic vinegar
• 1 lemon, sliced and seeds removed
• S&P

Pesto Ingredients

• 1 handful of basil leaves
• 1/2 handful of mint leaves
• 1/2 c green olives (about 20)
• 3 T extra virgin olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a dutch oven melt your fat. Salt and pepper the cubed chuck pieces, add them to the pot and let them brown on each side. Don’t fidget with them or remove them until you see a visible brown crust on the meat. Remove and reserve on a plate.  To the pot, add the onion, garlic and carrot. Let them sweat and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the meat back to the pot, along with the tomatoes, raisins, red wine and balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine. Top with sliced lemons.

Lay a piece of parchment paper of the the top of the pot and press it down into the pot. Place in the oven and braise for 2 hours. Taste the meat, it should be super tender, if it’s not give it another half hour or so.

Once you’re about 10 minutes from the stew finishing; combine all the ingredients for the pesto in a mini food processor. Pulse until everything has come together.

When the stew is out of the oven, take the lemon rinds out, but leave in the flesh…it’ll separate very easily. Swirl in the pesto and serve.

A buddy of ours at our CrossFit box asked us if we had a Paleo style Fried Rice recipe. We had never tried, so we immediately set to work. The rice is replaced with cauliflower we pulverized in the food processor. This recipe messes up a few more dishes than I like to clean, but it was completely worth it…and it made 4 giant servings, hello leftovers! Feel free to add peas, carrots, zukes, whatever you’ve got–clean out that fridge!

Groots are our take on grits, Paleo style. It’s celery root, hence the g-roots, pureed with a little fat and some stock. Oh how creamy, dreamy it is. It has a slight celery flavor, but a texture similar to creamy grits. All you non-Southerners out there, grits are ground up corn–prepared like rice, but takes literally 5 minutes to cook–think polenta.

Ingredients

• 1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp
• 2 medium sized celery roots
• 1/2 c chicken, beef or veggie stock
• 6 slices bacon
• 1/2 onion
• 2 gloves garlic
• 1 T tomato paste
• 1 T chili garlic sauce (any other hot sauce will do)
• 2 oz cheese (optional)
• 1 T minced thyme
• S&P

Method

Cut the ends off the celery roots and slice the skin off (see pics). Slice the root into 1/3′s, then rotate and slice into thick sticks, then slice into rough squares. Toss the roots into a pot of salted water and boil until softened, about 10 minutes. Get out your blender and place the roots inside, along with the stock, cheese and 2 T of bacon fat from the saute pan (see below). Pulse until you reach a smooth consistency. Stir it around and/or add more stock if the mixture isn’t cooperating. S&P to your liking.

Cook your bacon in a saute pan. Once it’s browned, remove the bacon and crumble. Add the onion and garlic to the pan. Saute until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the shrimp, tomato paste, thyme, crumbled bacon and hot sauce. Cook until the shrimp have turned pink.

Place the “groots” into a bowl, add shrimp, crumbled bacon and many, many spoonfuls of the tomato gravy.

You’ll never want a chili cheese dog in a bun ever again after you’ve had a sweet potoato “bun” . The combo of sweet, salty and spicy is my absolute fav-o-rite. We had enough leftover to heat-and-eat for lunch and let me tell ya, it was even better than the night before. If you’re in a hurry, forgo the sweet potato “bun” and you’ve got yourself a quick frank & beans style dinner. BUT!!!! The sweet potatoes do double duty in this recipe. I scoop out the insides, like you would a twice baked potato, and use them for a sweet potato protein shake. Recipe to come! The chili part of the recipe is designed to be quick and dirty, packing a ton of flavor without a long simmer time or big chunks of tomatoes…I hate that. And by the way, before you even try, let me warn you, these are knife-n-fork kind of dogs, wouldn’t recommend using your hands–unless you wrap yourself in paper towels.

Ingredients

• 3 sweet potatoes, sliced in 1/2 length wise
• fat, you choose
• 6 hot dogs (We used Sugar Free Dogs from US Wellness Meats, you could also use sausage)
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 15 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes, liquid drained, chopped finely
• 2 Chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T chili powder
• 1/2 t cocoa powder (optional)
• S&P
• 3 oz. raw sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Method

Get your oven to 450°F. Coat your sweet potato halves in a couple tablespoons of your fat choice. Stick on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until the skins have slightly charred and the insides are soft, about 30 minutes.

While the sweet potatoes are roasting, start the chili.

Add a few tablespoons of fat to a saute pan. Let it get nice and hot, and then add the onions and garlic, saute until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the chopped chipotle peppers, tomatoes, chili powder, cocoa powder and S&P. Using your hands, crumble the beef into the pan, making sure to break up any big crumbles with a spatula or whatever. Let the beef cook through and simmer the chili until everything else is done.

Once the potatoes are done, remove them from the baking sheet and place the hot dogs on the same baking sheet. Throw them into the oven and let them blister and get hot, about 7 minutes.

While that’s happening, grate your cheese and scoop out the insides of your sweet potatoes. Save the inside mush for an awesome post workout protein shake.

To assemble, place the sweet potato skin on a plate. Place a hot dog on top, spoon on a bit of chili and top with some grated cheese.