Recipe: Taco Meat

Hello again, my clean-eating, crunchy lifestyle lovin' food peeps!

In my last post, I talked about prepping to make clean eating easier during your work week. Did you try it? How did it go? I'm betting that it was a relief not having to scramble or even think when you are running around getting everyone ready for the day.

Anyway.

I promised this recipe, didn't I?  It's because I love you...no really.

Way back in the day, when I was a baby cook, coming off the Lawry's packaged taco meat seasonings mix
 (remember that stuff???  Have you looked at the SODIUM content in those things?!?!?!), I learned from my mom that she used Pace Picante Sauce as the main flavoring in her taco meat, and IT. WAS. GENIUS. I did it that way for years.  Just brown up some ground beef, throw a jar of Medium Chunky Picante sauce, cook it down a little and call it done.

And one could still do that, if one was pressed for time, couldn't one? I should really stop talking in the "one" person, shouldn't I?

When I started my clean food journey, I was a little leery of this product. How many chemicals did it have? Surprisingly, the ingredient list was pretty clean. Now, I don't have a jar in my pantry, so I can't say for sure, but honestly, you could do worse.  If you are just starting out, have minimal time, or are just not into prepping EVERYTHING when you are cooking, I say try it. The Pace website doesn't have the ingredients fully listed, but this is what it does say:

Amount Per Serving (serving size) = 2 tbsp (30 mL)
Calories:10
Fat Calories:0
Total Fat:0g
Cholesterol:0mg
Sodium:230mg
Total Carb:3g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 2g
Protein: 0g

% Daily Values**
Vitamin A 2%
* The nutrition information contained in this list of Nutrition Facts is based on our current data. However, because the data may change from time to time, this information may not always be identical to the nutritional label information of products on shelf.
** % Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

So, adjust for the jar, add a pound of ground meat, be it beef, chicken, or turkey, and call it moderately clean eating.

However, I also have a full on recipe for those of you who like to know exactly what you are putting into your bodies, and it's pretty yummy.

Taco Meat

• 1 lb ground beef, chicken, or turkey
• 1 quart canned tomatoes (I use my own home-canned, but store bought will do fine)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1-3 bell peppers, all colors of the rainbow!
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• Chili powder
• Cumin 
• salt and pepper to taste

 Directions

1. In a large skillet cook the onion and bell peppers in a little drizzle of olive oil until mostly softened.
2. Add the ground meat and your spices
3. Cook the meat until brown, breaking up the larger chunks to get the flavor of the spices all over
4. Add the tomatoes and cook down to desired consistency. 

Serve with with lettuce as wraps or over shredded lettuce or cabbage as a taco salad.

Holds for a week in the fridge.

Note: for those of you on the Auto-immune protocol, omitting the tomatoes and peppers will not adversely effect the taste of the taco meat. I'd also omit the chili powder, but the cumin? it would break my heart to leave that out.  Cumin powder is ground up seed from a plant in the parsley family, so I don't know if that will effect your protocol.  I'm thinking not, but I'm not an expert.

Go forth! Eat your Tacos! And then come back here and tell me about it!

Recipe: Lola is Paleo-fying Traditional Meals (Paleo Cabbage Rolls)

Paleo-fying Traditional Meals

by Lola Hammerschmidt

Recently, I decided to take some of my traditional non-paleo meals and paleofy them. (is that a word??!)


My first attempt was with a Stuffed Cabbage Dish. I had made a traditional Stuffed cabbage with ground turkey and rice filling and my family enjoyed it. My 13 year old son ate it and even requested that I make more!


I had some leftover cooked cauliflower in the fridge and thought, "Hey, maybe I'll substitute the rice with cauliflower." I'd read where Paleo people "rice" their cauliflower so I thought I would give it a try.


I changed the recipe from being the traditional stuffed rolls into more of a layered lasagna /casserole dish. The overall result was great however, I feel it could be fantastic with a little tweaking.


My issues were as follows:

1. Cabbage leaves, even when blanched and the woody stem removed is still not easy to cut a perfect square out of. Its not the texture of a lasagna noodle so it was a sloppy cut.
2. I cut the cooked cauliflower too small and it seemed to disappear into the meat mixture. I will not cook it so thoroughly next time or leave it chunkier for more texture.
3. Rice not only acts as a filler in the traditional recipe but also absorbs extra fluids during cooking. The paleo casserole was a bit wetter or looser than the traditional stuffed cabbage. I'd like to find a way to tighten it up a bit.

I've decided to tweak the recipe in the following ways:

1. Instead of using whole cabbage leaves, I will buy a bag of shredded coleslaw mix (with carrots!), blanch and drain the mixture.
2. Quickly blanching cut cauliflower and allowing it to continue to cook inside the casserole so its not overdone.
3. Layer more like a lasagna instead of mixing the cauliflower in the meat mixture. Shredded mix, meat mix, cauliflower, sauce, repeat.

Another option would be to make individual ramekins or possibly small casserole dishes?

Maybe mix all the items together and form a meatloaf, bake on a wire rack over a pan and allow the extra fluid to drain away from the loaf? 



Traditional Stuffed Cabbage vs. Paleo Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

• 2 pounds ground turkey
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 egg
• 1 cup rice (PALEO: Add Chopped cauliflower instead of rice!!!!)
• salt, pepper, garlic powder
• 1/2 chopped onion.
• 1 jar pasta sauce
• head of cabbage, cored and separated in hot water.

*after leaves are separated, cut out tough center stem from each leaf.

1. pasta sauce on bottom of glass pan.
2. place a spoonful of mixture in center of leaf, fold sides of leaves over to form a tidy package.
3. place seem side down into pan. 
4. Repeat until mixture is gone, cover with more pasta sauce.
5. Cover with tin foil.. bake at 350* for 60 minutes.

PALEO: bake "lasagna style" in pan..layered with cabbage leaves and meat. Finish top with pasta sauce.


As you see, the only main difference in the recipe was removing the rice!!!! The rest is just technique and making it more of a texture or presentation that I prefer.