Sweet Potato Paprikash - let's have seconds ... and thirds!

Yet another huge win on the whole food journey with my dear husband.  He took a huge food step with me in February with his own Whole30 and I couldn't be prouder of him for branching out from his culinary comfort zone.  He started out disliking sweet potatoes and after several weeks has voluntarily included them in his food repertoire. 

This was a surprise win.  The first few times I made it, I made half a pan with yukon golds for him and half with sweet potatoes for me ... now I just do the sweets but you can go either way.  They both were delish.

Sweet Potato Beef Paprikash

 Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
1 TBSP olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large onion, chopped
3 tsp Sweet Hungarian Paprika
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
3 sweet potatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel sweet potatoes and slice to about 1/4″ thickness. Lay a single layer in a 9×13 pan. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add in the meat, browning it, then draining off extra fat.  Stir in tomato paste, 1/2 C. water, and seasonings and cook for a few minutes, stirring until everything is well combined. Pour a layer of meat over the sweet potatoes in the dish. Layer another layer of sweet potatoes, then meat, then potatoes, then meat, until everything is used up. For best results, a meat layer should be last.  Sprinkle another 1/4 C. of water over top.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 35-40 minutes, until sweet potatoes are cooked through. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

If you need to make more - you can easily bump this whole recipe up by 50% and it will still fit in the pan.  Amounts aren't precise - I've made it with as little as a pound and as much as three pounds of beef ... the seasonings flex nicely either way.

Good luck with leftovers - we seldom have any.  If you're lucky though - they reheat beautifully.

Props to Shanti Landon at LifeMadeFull for this winner!!!

Gambas Al Ajillo (Spicy Yummy Garlicky Oily Decadent Shrimp!!!)

There's a local Mediterranean cafe that has Gambas Al Ajillo to DIE for.  I tried to make it myself.  So far this is my best recipe (based on food.com) ... still looking for others with the magic though.  This can serve as an entrée, a tapas dish, or an appetizer.

I'm sure this goes without saying, but peel the darned shrimp.  For some stupid reason, the first time I made this I totally missed that step and of course the flavors didn't reach the meat.  Dooh!



Gambas Al Ajillo

Although I haven't tested other proteins yet, another commenter wrote:  The same dish can be made with squid, cut into rings, or scallops. Serve with lots of warm crusty bread to sop up the sauce…. You will not want to waste a drop! (Make sure you are "warming" the olive oil and the butter, not cooking it off..... cause you'll want every last bit of it for the sauce).  Great input, thanks :)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter or ghee (or use all olive oil - pick your fat!)
• 2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 8 garlic cloves, minced (more if you are a garlic lover)
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
• sea salt
• fresh ground pepper

Directions

In a wide, shallow sauté pan over high heat, warm the Olive Oil and the Butter; add the Shrimp, Garlic and Shallots and sauté quickly for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the lemon juice, paprika, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste. Adjust seasonings to your liking.

Transfer to a warmed serving dish, sprinkle with the parsley and serve at once.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size:  1/4 lb.

Amount Per Serving

Calories 233 Calories from Fat 109

% Daily Value*

Total Fat   12.1g    19%

Saturated Fat 4.3g    22%

Cholesterol 251mg    84%

Sodium 310mg    13%

Potassium 245mg    7%

Total Carbohydrates 4.3g     1%

Dietary Fiber 0.5g     2%

Protein  26.3g

Vitamin A 17%       Vitamin C 13% Calcium 12% Iron 4%

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

• Very low in sugar
• High in phosphorus
• High in vitamin B12

Bad points

• Very high in cholesterol

Noo Yawk City??? (Beef Saffron Stew)

Wasn't such a hot 2 days as Whole30 compliance goes. Started off perfectly yesterday with a vegetable dairy free omelet, fruit, water, and black coffee ($24, gotta love Manhattan) but then went totally off the rails at lunch, dinner (incredible Thai dinner at ViV in East Midtown), breakfast (NY bagel anyone??!!), and lunch again. I started fresh again this evening for dinner with a hearty Beef and Butternut Squash stew.

I sort of cobbled this together from a bunch of online recipes - didn't exactly measure but this is a good guess at amounts.  MAN was it good!!!

Start with:
1 lb. stew beef - browned

1 sweet or yellow onion - roughly chopped and thrown in to sauté with the beef

3 cloves garlic, chopped and also thrown in with the beef

Once this is all somewhat cooked, add and BTBRTS (bring to a boil and reduce to simmer):

4c sugar free beef stock (Swanson has a good one)

28oz can diced tomatoes

1 lg butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cubed

3 bay leaves

Black pepper (1/2 t.)

Sea salt (1/2 t.)

Paprika (1 t.)

Ground cumin (1/2 t.)

Ground coriander (1/2 t.)

Mexican oregano (1 t.)

Dried basil (1 t.)

Turmeric (1/4 t.)

Several (4-8) threads of saffron

Cook until the squash is soft and the herbs are rehydrated. Sorry I didn't track quantities of spices - I'll put guesses next to each but adjust to taste!!

Enjoy!

Spicy Crockpot Minestrone ... without a crockpot, without pasta, without beans, and without rice

I stumbled upon this one during my first Whole30 and I think I've probably made it at least half a dozen times since then.  It was framed up as a crockpot Minestrone, but I've never actually made it that way.  It was an incredible inspiration though, for which I'll be eternally and deliciously grateful for.

What's shocking - and I mean SHOCKING - is that my husband really enjoys it.
A. He doesn't care for soups or stews.
B. He doesn't like zucchini, spinach, sweet potatoes. celery or most vegetables in general.

Stovetop "Crockpot Minestrone"

The funny thing to me about this (other than the fact that my husband devours it) is that it's both *totally* minestrone ... and so far from it.  Per my friend Wikipedia, "Minestrone is a thick soup of Italian origin made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes."  Well - we've got vegetables for sure ... but no pasta, no rice, and no beans.  Let's keep going ... "There is no set recipe for minestrone, since it is usually made out of whatever vegetables are in season <love this!!>. It can be vegetarian, contain meat, or contain a meat-based broth. Angelo Pellegrini, however, argued that the base of minestrone is bean broth, and that borlotti beans (also called Roman beans) "are the beans to use for genuine minestrone.""  Well - again, we're forgoing the magical fruit - but I'm so happy Kendra posted her version.  I've made it my own.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Sweet Potato, diced
• 1 cup Carrots, diced
• 2 Celery Stalks, diced
• 2 Shallots, diced
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 28 oz Chicken or Vegetable Broth
• 28 oz can Diced Tomatoes w/ Juice
• 4 oz can organic tomato paste
• 1/2 cup Frozen Spinach -or- 1 cup packed Fresh Spinach, chopped
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1 tbsp Turkish or Greek Oregano
• 1 tsp Basil
• 1 tsp Parsley
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 2 Zucchini Squash, diced
• 1-1/2 lb Sugar-free Ground Pork Chorizo Sausage
• Dash chipotle pepper - optional (the chorizo may add enough heat for you - taste it first)

Instructions

1. Put the prepared sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, shallots, and garlic in a large soup pot.
2. Pour in the chicken (or vegetable) broth.
3. Add the entire cans (including juice) of diced tomatoes and tomato paste.
4. Add the frozen spinach (no need to thaw and drain, just add it frozen).
5. Add in the oregano, basil, parsley, bay leaves, pepper, and salt.
6. Bring the whole pot to a boil, then reduce to simmer stirring occasionally.
7. While the pot is simmering, brown the chorizo, breaking it up into small pieces with the back of a wooden spoon.
8. Once the pork is cooked through (no pink), drain the grease.  Add the meat to the pot and mix it all together.
9. Add the zucchini.  This is done last to prevent it from being totally mushy.
10. Cook until everything is done (the sweet potatoes are your tell tale).  
11. Check for seasoning and decide whether you want to add a dash of chipotle or cayenne.
12. Remove bay leaves before serving.  Makes great leftovers!

Super shout-out to Kendra Benson at OurPaleoLife who adapted it from the "Paleo Slow Cooking" book by Chrissy Gower!!  This is delicious.

Keen-Waah ... Heck Yeah!! (Quinoa with Garlic, Pine Nuts, and Raisins)

This one comes straight from Food Network's Ellie Krieger.  I have made this both with the red and the yellow quinoa ... I think the yellow's probably a little tastier but they're both awesome.   I've always used the black raisins, though the goldens will probably do just fine too.  Don't skimp on the fresh parsley - it truly makes quite a fresh statement.

Regardless - how can you go wrong with these adorable curlicues?  Quinoa is a grain that's considered a pseudocereal that is also a complete protein (A source of protein that contains an adequate proportion of all nine of the essential amino acids necessary for the dietary needs of humans or other animals.).  While not Whole30 compliant, it's still a great vegan dish if you're into that.  No animals harmed in this one - unless you go with the chicken broth.  Which is yummy.

Quinoa with Garlic, Pine Nuts, and Raisins

Without further ado, here's Ellie's Quinoa with Garlic, Pine Nuts, and Raisins ... pretty much unadulterated!

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

Place the quinoa in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until toasted, about 2 minutes. Add 1 3/4 cups water (or use low-sodium chicken broth) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until the liquid is absorbed, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes; transfer to a plate. Add the olive oil and garlic to the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer the garlic to the plate, reserving the oil.

Fluff the quinoa with a fork. Add the pine nuts, garlic, reserved oil, parsley, raisins and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and toss.

Per serving (3/4 cup): Calories 300; Fat 15 g (Saturated 2 g); Cholesterol 0 mg; Sodium 5 mg; Carbohydrate 37 g; Fiber 4 g; Protein 8 g