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Southwestern Pulled Beef with Chipotle Slaw

2/27/2013

You can take the girl outta Texas but you can't take the Texas outta the girl, or at least her tastebuds. It seems everything I love has green chiles, jalapenos, cilantro, or chipotle in it. This delicious crock pot of pulled beef is no different. The blend of spices gives it a delicious, south Texas taste and you can always adjust it to be hotter or milder, depending on your preference. In pre-paleo times, I would have scarfed this up wrapped in a flour tortilla. Nowadays, I prefer it over a bed of chipotle slaw (or plain cole slaw for that matter). This is one of those great recipes that you throw together in the crockpot in the morning and come home to a full cooked meal in the evening. Good clean livin'.

Southwestern Pulled Beef

Ingredients
3T + 1t chili powder
2 t. cumin
1 t. paprika
1/2 t. chipotle powder
1 1/2 t. garlic salt
2 T. olive oil
4 lbs london broil
2 onions, cut up
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1- 4 oz can green chiles
1- 7 oz can salsa verde (I like Herdez or La Costena)
2 T. red wine vinegar

Measure out all spices and put them in a small bowl. Mix to combine and set aside. Put 2T olive oil in bottom of crockpot. Add chopped onions and garlic. Put meat on top of onions and garlic and rub one side with spice mixture. Turn it over and rub the other side with remaining spices. (I used two 2-lb london broils and just rubbed the spices all over both pieces of meat). Add cilantro, green chiles, salsa verde and red wine vinegar to crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until meat easily pulls apart with two forks. When done, serve over chipotle slaw.

The variety of spices I used.

Here's my spice mixture before I mixed it all up.

Everything is ready to go. Time to cover and hit ON.

When the meat is finished, you can enjoy the delicious southwestern flavor, or add a little bbq sauce for more of a pulled bbq flavor. Also add salt and pepper to taste.

Chipotle Cole Slaw

Ingredients
2- 14oz bags coleslaw
1- 12oz bag broccoli slaw
3/4 cup paleo mayo
1/2 t. chipotle powder
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 T. apple cider vinegar
1 t. salt

This makes a big batch of about 10 servings, but I like leftovers so I always make extra.

Empty bags of slaw into a big bowl. Mix in mayonaise to combine. Add chipotle powder, onion, cider vinegar and salt. Stir well to combine. Let sit about 10 minutes and then re-mix so everything is blended. You will notice significant shrinkage (even though there's no cold pool...wink wink). Add more chipotle powder, salt or cider vinegar to taste. Serve with Southwestern Pulled Beef!

To the left is the fresh batch of paleo mayonnaise, chipotle powder, and the wonderful Vom Fass Waldberg Star Apple vinegar that I love to use. This vinegar is so rich and flavorful that I always reach for it when I want to add a richness and depth of flavor.

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Stir Fry Ginger Pork over Spinach

2/19/2013

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I was thumbing through a cooking magazine called "Cook Fresh" and came across an interesting salad recipe that I knew I wanted to try. But as I read through the ingredients, I realized I needed to change a few things to make it healthier and of course, more delicious. The result was fabulous.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb baby spinach, washed and dried (8 loosely packed cups)
rice vinegar
coconut aminos
1 t. granulated sugar
2 lb. boneless pork chops trimmed of excess fat and sliced crosswise, 1/4 in thick
kosher salt
dry sherry (not sherry vinegar)
coconut oil (for frying up pork and veggies)
2 t. Asian sesame oil
I bunch scallions, cut into 2 in pieces
6 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 bag sugar snap peas
1-2 cloves pressed garlic
2 T. minced fresh ginger
olive oil

In a glass measuring cup or small bowl, whisk 3 tablespoons rice vinegar with 1 1/2 T. coconut aminos, sugar and 2 T. water and set aside.

Put the pork in a medium bowl and season with 1 t. salt. Toss with 2 T. coconut aminos and 2 T. sherry. Let sit for about 10 minutes.
Heat 1.5 T coconut oil in a heavy, 12 in skillet over medium high heat until hot. Add the pork in 3 batches and cook, stirring, until it loses its raw color and is just firm, about 2 minutes. Transfer cooked pork to a clean, medium bowl and continue cooking cooking the rest of the pork in batches. (You don't want to crowd your pan.) Each time you add a new batch of pork to cook up, you may need to add a little more coconut oil.

When finished, add 1 1/2 T coconut oil and the sesame oil, scallions, mushrooms, bell pepper and sugar snap peas to the skillet. Cook, stirring until the mushrooms and scallions soften and brown in places, about 3 minutes. Add about 1 T. of the minced ginger along with 1-2 cloves of pressed garlic, 1 more tablespoon of coconut aminos, 1/2 T. rice vinegar and 1/2 T cooking sherry to the veggies and cook a few more minutes more being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the pork back into the skillet along with any juices and gently toss to blend with veggies. Take off heat and set aside.

In a small skillet, over medium high heat, add 1 T. olive oil and the remaining tablespoon of ginger and cook, stirring until very fragrant about 30 seconds. Remove the skillet from the heat and add ginger and olive oil to the vinegar-coconut amino mixture from earlier. Stir well with a whisk. Mixture will be largely separated at this point. Slowly add 1/4-1/3 cup olive oil to the mixture, whisking to emulsify. Add cracked pepper and/or red pepper flakes to taste. You can also add salt to taste, but the coconut aminos are already very salty.

Toss the spinach with enough vinaigrette to lightly coat. Portion among 4 plates and top with the pork and vegetables. Drizzle the top with some of remaining vinaigrette. Serve immediately. You will probably have leftover meat and veggies as I doubled the meat from the recipe I modified. I like to have leftovers for the next day.
Enjoy!

I sauteed the pork in three different batches, adding more coconut oil each time.

Once the veggies are finished, add the cooked pork back in and stir to combine and reheat.

Sautee ginger in a little olive oil in a small skillet until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

For the dressing, add the sauteed ginger and oil to the coconut amino/rice vinegar mixture and slowly whisk in olive oil to create an emulsion. It may separate a little.

What is coconut aminos? In the paleo world, we use this seasoning instead of soy sauce because it is soy and gluten free. From the coconut secret website,
"Coconut Aminos is a soy-free seasoning sauce made from coconut tree sap, which comes right out of the tree so vital, active and alive with nutrients, that it is only blended with Coconut Secret's own sun dried mineral-rich sea salt and aged, without the need for a fermentation booster or added water. As well, the majority of conventional soy sauces on the market are made with non-organic, genetically modified (GMO) soybeans. Long term use of unfermented soy-related products has led to an increase in soy allergies, a disruption in proper thyroid function, and an overload of estrogens in the body.
When the coconut tree is tapped, it produces a highly nutrient-rich "sap" that exudes from the coconut blossoms. This sap is very low glycemic (GI of only 35), is an abundant source of amino acids, minerals, vitamin C, broad-spectrum B vitamins, and has a nearly neutral PH.
Use Coconut Aminos like soy sauce in dressings, marinades, sautes, and with sushi."

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Diet Trumps Everything

2/18/2013

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I saw this link on Facebook somewhere and started watching it. It grabs you from the beginning and next thing you know, 12 minutes has gone by and you've just been schooled in nutrition. The pictures are clear and entertaining and the message is right on. They never outright mention "paleo", but they don't have to. It's the same whatever you want to call it. Who can argue with this? Go ahead, watch the link and be mesmerized. Slim is simple, and here's all you need to know.

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Southwestern Pulled Beef with Chipotle Slaw

Southwestern Pulled Beef

Chipotle Cole Slaw

Stir Fry Ginger Pork over Spinach

Diet Trumps Everything

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