Almost Paleo Sheppard's Pie

I say almost b/c the dairy and legumes (green beans and peas in this recipe) are not that great for the gut (meaning the digestive system) but in my humble opinion the quantity is not enough to worry about. So on with the recipe....this is good!



1 LB grass fed ground beef
2 cauliflower heads
4 shallots
1 clove garlic
1 can green beans (organic)
1 cup of organic frozen peas
1 box of beef broth
1/2 stick butter
1/3 cup goats milk
salt
pepper
cumin



In a large skillet add some olive oil let the pan heat up for a min add diced up shallots let them cook for 3 min add diced garlic clove add the ground beef add some cumin add some salt add some pepper let the meat cook until almost brown add the cup of peas add the can of green beans add the two cups of beef broth

Let it simmer on low for about 30min or until most of the water has evaporated leaving a little liquid left on the skillet
Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees

Meanwhile prepare the cauliflower mashers (which replaces the potatoes that are in a traditional recipe)

Cut up the cauliflower into small pieces place it Pyrex heating dish, add two cups of water , put some saran wrap over it and place in microwave for 8 minutes, remove saran wrap add 1/2 stick butter and 1/3 cup goats milk using a masher mash the pieces into they look like mashed potatoes. set aside


Take the contents of the skillet and put into a large Pyrex cooking pan (square 8X12)
Add the cauliflower mashed mixture on top
Use a spatula to cover the meat with the mashers

Put into oven and cook (@ 350 Degrees) for 25min

The top of the cauliflower mashers should be crisp
Take out of the oven and let cool for 5min

Serve and enjoy!

Royal makes his video debut on SICFIT.com

Royal came with me to the gym this past Saturday for the I Am Crossfit benchmark workout. After I was done, he took on a quick workout of his own...check it out on SICFIT

He was born to do this stuff!

Paleo Portola Valley Chicken

It's been too long since my last post!  We had a lot of stuff going on, but I hope to keep focused and keep adding recipes.

I thought it would be interesting to take a recipe that I used to make (and love) and see if I could make it Paleo....this one was easy but you can see how I did it. The ingredients from the old version are in (parenthesis) and replaced with the new and better ingredients.  Stay tuned because as we ate this dinner Ian looked at me and said "I can make a paleo shepherd's pie using cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes" YUM! So he's on the hook to make that next week. We post that recipe on the blog.

Ingredients

1T (corn-oil margarine) butter

3T (flour)Arrowroot Powder

3/4c fat-free chicken stock

1/2c (nonfat milk) coconut milk or almond milk

1/4t salt

Dash of garlic powder

Dash of pepper

1/2 t curry powder

1/2 c cold water

1/2 c (nonfat) mayonnaise dressing -you could omit this if strict paleo

1/2 c raw (white rice)Cauliflower “Rice” (see notes below)

1 pkg (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 pound) You can use the breasts as is, or cut them up into bite-size pieces.

(Parmesean cheese)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 11- by 7-inch baking dish with non-stick vegetable coating.

SAUCE

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.

Add the arrowroot powder and stir for 1 minute; do not brown.

Add stock and coconut milk (or Almond Milk) and stir, using a wire whisk, until mixture comes to a boil.

Add salt, garlic powder, pepper and curry powder and continue to cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in water and mayonnaise and set aside.

ASSEMBLY

Sprinkle the raw cauliflower rice over the bottom of the baking dish.

Layer the spinach evenly over the top.

Cover the spinach with half of the sauce mixture,

  then the chicken, then the remaining sauce.

bake, uncovered, for 1 hour

Cauliflower “Rice”

Put raw cauliflower in the food processor until it is the size of rice or couscous, you could also go chunkier

Lamb Stew - Spanish Style

I think this is actually a Cooking Light recipe, but I am not sure.  My mom sent it to me and said it was great, so I'm going to try it soon!

3 pounds lamb shoulder, (or leg of lamb)
1 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
4 cups vertically sliced onion
1 tablespoon Arrowroot powder
1 cup dry white wine
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced bottled piquillo or sliced bottled roasted red bell peppers Sprinkle lamb with salt. Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add half of lamb, browning on all sides, and remove lamb from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining lamb.

Add onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in flour. Add lamb, wine, and garlic, stirring to combine. Cover, reduce heat, and cook 1 hour or until lamb is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in the peppers; cover and cook 15 minutes or until lamb is tender, stirring occasionally.

Yield:  5 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
CALORIES 486 (42% from fat); FAT 22.8g (sat 8.7g,mono 9.2g,poly 2.1g); IRON 4mg; CHOLESTEROL 159mg; CALCIUM 68mg; CARBOHYDRATE 15.5g; SODIUM 673mg; PROTEIN 45.5g; FIBER 1.8g

Monday, Monday.....

Mondays are no one's favorite, especially when its a Holiday for some and not others! BUT if you did prep on Sunday night, Monday morning can be that much better when you don't have to worry about what to take for lunch.  Check out the left over braised short ribs heated and served over spinach and bell pepper....NumNum (like my son says)

Dinner is chicken sausage and Kale sauteed with Red Onion, Mushroom, coconut milk and curry - Also NumNum!

The weekend...

Thanks to Cheray for the braised short ribs recipe!
Obviously I missed some...it was a busy weekend of attempting to get things done around the house. 

TGIF!

Happy Friday! (even though I am late with the post) I've decided not to photograph breakfast EVERY day b/c it's pretty much the same EVERY day.  2-3 Eggs, some nuts or almond butter and berries.  So...when it's different, or when I am not running late for work, I'll photo it ;). Today you see the usual snacks...lunch was zuchinni and rotisserie chicken. Dinner was actually out and that was easier than I thought, BUT its all about where you go.  We went to Vino Vino and I had a beet salad with arugula and some shrimp cooked in chili oil.  (I did not eat the bread that came with).

A Good Morning to Rest

This was a great day to sleep in, the legs were sore, it was a little rainy - enough said.
Breakfast - 2 eggs, 1 turkey bacon, almost half an apple (my son took part of it from me) and some almond butter. 

These snack photos are hard to see.
Snack 1: Central Mkt Roasted Deli turkey and Mrs. May's nut clusters.
Snack 2: Red and green bell pepper, almond butter and chicken sausage. (This is day 2 of replacing my afternoon fruit with a green or red veggie, I may still have an apple for my afternoon snack occasionally)

Lunch was leftover from last night....chicken stew, onion, hatch green chiles, zucchini.  Plus sliced Avocado.

I wasn't very hungy come dinner time (maybe it was all the almond butter I had today) so I had 2 eggs and some nuts.  Sipping a hot tea as I post. 

Keep up the clean eating!

Squat-tastic Wednesday Jan 13th

All day today I keep thinking that today is Thursday which means....tomorrow is Friday, but its not - bummer! So this morning I tried coconut milk in my coffee, if you are going hard core and need something creamy this will do the trick, its been a long long time since I have had non-dairy creamer in my coffee, but it kinda tasted like that only a better. There's no mistaking it for half and half, I'll say that, its worth trying. Today was a super clean eating day, I think. I was tired and hungry after that squat-tastic WOD today.
A few notes on this stuff, that lovely snack at the top left is 1/2 bell pepper, celery, cashew butter (super yum yum, 1st time I have had it) and some egg salad stuff I made. There is a tiny bit of Olive Oil Mayo in that....made it prior to the nutrition meeting and was not going to waste it. Lunch is left overs from last night, which is usually the case for me, so see yesterday for details. This pathetic looking snack has a funny story, I was so hungry after all those squats I started eating and then realized I didn't take a picture, so I stopped mid snack, there was 1/2 of chicken sausage and more bell pepper...LOL. The turkey bacon is nitrate free from Sprouts (theirs is less $$ than WF) and it's very good. You are probably wondering
"Where is Dinner?" I was home alone with my son tonight wearing many hats and didn't take a picture, but here's what I did. I call it Chicken Carne Guisada...cut up 3 large chicken breats into cubes, slice 1 medium onion, 1-2 cans of hatch green chiles, 1/4 c Arrowroot power, cumin and chili powder to taste - stir all that stuff together add 3 cups chicken broth (homemade or organic) let is simmer for a about an hour or more and then eat like a stew. Top with Avocado, cilantro etc....

Monday 1/11 and Tuesday 1/12

So I am still figuring out how to get the pictures in order....2 snacks and Tuesday night's dinner.
The snacks are pretty self explanatory, that weird looking thing is 1/2 a link of chicken sausage. Dinner - oven roasted turkey breast (350 degrees, 20 minutes per pound or until internal temp is 160 - YES I roasted it). The Cauliflower concoction is my new favorite. Cauliflower, Bell Pepper, Sweet Onion, Curry and Coconut Milk....salt to taste....LOVE IT!

I usually have berries with my eggs at breakfast and an apple or 1/2 an apple for my afternoon snack....I am going to try replacing the apple with celery, or peppers or cucumber...on days I have fruit at breakfast. Today at the nutrition meeting someone suggested putting coconut milk in your coffee. I will report on how that tastes tomorrow!

Here's a nugget of inspiration - today at work someone said to me...."you are bugging me" I looked puzzled and then she said "you are losing weight"....I know this person well and so I replied, "that's b/c I don't eat crap all day!"

I am Crossfit - Photo Food Log

On Monday - Day 3 of I AM CROSSFIT - my boss brings in a dark chocolate cake with milk chocolate icing and pecans on top. Talk about temptation. To take my mind off of that cake I sent Carey a picture of my lunch on Monday, next thing I knew I was photographing my snack. So What? So after the nutrition meeting on Tuesday I was inspired and I decided to commit to a photo food log during the 8 weeks of I AM CROSSFIT. Since this idea was just born I did miss photographing breakfast both days and lunch today. I plan to do this for as many meals and snacks as I can - if I stumble across a particularly good recipe, I'll share it.

Pictured here is lunch on Mon Jan 11th. Broccoli, Zucchini, a few Carrots and Chicken Cilantro Sausage from Sprouts.