Carne Asada and Spanish Cauli Rice

I've been getting more serious about my eating this winter. That means no sugar and no grains since Thanksgiving.  The only thing I've missed is brown rice occasionally.  Fortunately, cauliflower can fill that gap.  I made this carne asada recipe yesterday. (A little bit of honey won't hurt me!)  MR had nachos, but I skipped the chips and just made a rice bowl.  Lots of good flavor and not much effort.

The original recipe calls for Instant Pot, but I think the meat would be more tender done in a slow cooker.  If time is of the essence, though, use the pressure cooker!

Carne Asada Nachos

2 TBSP lime juice
2 TBSP orange juice
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP honey
1 tsp ground cumin
1 or 2 small jalapeños, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or 4 TBSP dry)
3 Tablespoons avocado oil, divided (or olive oil)
2 pounds flank steak
1 1/2 cups beef broth

Combine lime juice, orange juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, cumin, jalapenos, garlic cilantro, and 2 tablespoons oil in a small bowl. Place the meat in a large zip bag,  Pour the mixture into the bag and make sure the meat is coated on all sides. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  
When ready to cook, set the Instant Pot to Saute.   Heat 1 tablespoon oil.  
Remove the beef from the zip bag, preserving the leftover marinade.
Sear meat 4-5 minutes on each side. 
Add beef broth. Lock lid.  Turn vent to seal!
Press the Meat button and set cook time to 15 minutes. When the timer beeps, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes then quick-release. 
Remove the meat.  Shred or slice thinly to serve.  Serve as nachos or tacos or over Spanish Cauli-Rice (below).


Spanish Cauli-Rice

1 bag frozen riced cauliflower (or clean and chop a head of cauliflower)
Leftover marinade from above recipe
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes with green chiles

Pour riced cauliflower into medium saucepan.  Stir in leftover marinade and can of Ro-Tel.  Cook over medium heat until jalapeños are tender, stirring occasionally (about 15 minutes).

Easy Cauli Crust Pizza (with a little help...)

I just discovered the frozen cauliflower pizza crust at Trader Joe's.  Now you can bet there is one in my freezer at all times!  With this little helper, making a pizza couldn't be easier.  I also make my pizza sauce ahead of time so my life just got real easy!  The sauce keeps well in the freezer too.

Making pizza couldn't be much easier...  Use the pizza sauce recipe below and just add Trader Joe's frozen cauliflower pizza crust and your favorite toppings.



Pizza Sauce

1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 TBSP minced sun-dried tomatoes
2 tsp dried oregano
1-1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
1 cup water
6 ounce can tomato paste
saltblack pepper

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion and garlic.  Saute until soft.

Add sun-dried tomatoes, oregano and basil.  Stir and cook a minute.
If using wine, add now and allow it to simmer and reduce by about half.
Add tomato paste and water.  Using a wire whisk, stir until combined.  If it's too thick, add a little more water until you get the right thickness.  Season with salt and pepper.
Reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly (or freeze or refrigerate for future use).  If you like a smoother sauce, you can use a stick blender to puree it.

Blueberry Pancakes... it's what's for breakfast!

Sometimes I just want pancakes.  Not often.  But sometimes!  Today was a sometime.  Enjoy these pancakes, adapted from a recipe I found here on Facebook.

Single Serving Blueberry Pancake Recipe

(double or triple for more servings)

1/2 cup almond flour
Scant 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 egg
sprinkle of cinnamon
Scant 1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 tsp sweetener (optional)
1/24 cup cream or unsweetened almond milk
Blueberries
Butter for pan

Mix together all ingredients.  Add additional milk to get desired consistency, if necessary.  Melt butter in a heated pan.  Pour in desired amount of mixture to make one pancake, spreading out to desired size.  Cook over medium heat until begins to firm up.  Flip and cook a little longer.  Repeat to make more pancakes!  (Add a topping if you desire.)

The Hardest Part About Eating Clean is....

The hardest part of any lifestyle change is the change.  Whether you're giving up smoking, cutting back on alcohol, adding more exercise, or any big changes! Making the changes from the habits you have created is tough.  For us, switching to clean eating wasn't a huge change because we had always done some cooking from scratch.  The hardest part was the treats and sweets!  MR particularly has a sweet tooth and I just love cookies of all kinds!

To help you get started, I have listed and linked a roundup of our favorites!  If it's entree and sides ideas you crave, browse my other posts for some really great tastes such as Cauliflower-Taco Bowl,
Thai Chicken Pizza, or Oven Fajitas, and more! But, as I said, for us it's the sweets...

Fresh fruit tart - This is so good and can be made ahead!

Chocolate chip skillet cookie - Be sure to have someone to share this with!

Thin Mints and Samoas cookies - If you enjoy the flavor of these Girl Scout cookies, you'll love these!

And our all-time favorite....

Almond Joy Bars

• 4 large eggs
  
• ¾ cup coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• ½ cup blanched almond flour (or almond meal)
• ½ cup coconut flour
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• ¾ cup chocolate chips (we like Ghirardelli 60%)

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut milk, almond extract and coconut sugar.   In a smaller bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, salt and baking soda.  Mix dry ingredients into wet with a handheld mixer.  Stir in ½ cup of the chocolate chips.
Grease an 8x8 baking dish.
Pour batter into prepared dish, then sprinkle shredded coconut and remaining chocolate chips on top.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.  Cool for 1 hour before serving.

Cauli Taco Bowl

Thanks to my SIL for sending me this cauliflower taco recipe!  We made it previously and loved it so made it again today as bowls.  I use one teaspoon of the sriracha but you can use two... or more if you dare!

For the taco bowl, we skipped the tortillas from the original recipe and layered iceberg lettuce, brown rice, seasoned cauliflower, black bean mixture, some salsa, shredded cheese, a dollop of Greek yogurt, and thinly sliced red onion.  You can easily add guac or other toppings too!

This reheats very well so makes a great next day lunch too!

Cauli Taco Bowl

Seasoned Cauliflower:
1 TBSP olive oil
1 small head of cauliflower, chopped fine (or a bag of riced cauliflower)
1 TBSP chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup water

Black Bean mixture:
1 TBSP olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
15 oz can black beans, undrained
1 or 2 tsp sriracha hot sauce

Optional:
Cooked brown rice
Chopped or torn lettuce
Shredded nacho cheese blend
Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
Red onion, thinly sliced
Salsa
Avocado or guacamole


First make the seasoned cauliflower: Heat tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet.  Add cauliflower and cook until it begins to soften (about 3 minutes). Add chili powder, garlic salt, and oregano, and mix to thoroughly coat cauliflower.  Cook 2 more minutes, stirring frequently.  Add salsa and water, and stir.  Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low.  Cook until most of the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally (about 5 minutes).

Next make the black bean mixture: Heat tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet.  Add onions and saute until tender (about 7 minutes).  Add black beans (including liquid), stir and gently mash the black beans leaving some texture.  Stir in sriracha.  Simmer until heated through.

Layer as desired using the seasoned cauliflower, black bean mixture, and your choice of toppings.

Clean Eating in an Instant!

These are some Instant Pot recipes I have collected over the last year.  The first group are ones I have tried and can personally recommend.  The second list are those I plan to try!  If you try any of them, let me know what you think!

RECIPES I HAVE TRIED

Thai Chicken Pizza - With the Taste of Thai garlic chili pepper sauce on top, whether as a pizza or if serving it over rice...  Wonderful!!

Tomato Basil Soup and Southwest Chicken - I make the tomato soup just about anytime I am in a rush.  Chopping the carrots and onions is the most labor intensive part, and that's not much!  The Southwest Chicken is amazing as a meal over rice, a dip, or on top of chips for nachos.

Lemon Chicken with Olives - You have to really love olives to love this one, but I do so I did!

Barbacao Beef - Don't be tempted to add more chipotles!  For kids, you might want to use only one or even a little less than one.  I make these up and have them as tacos, then nachos, then over rice... three meals, one instant pot!

Pot Roast - Always a favorite!!  Leftovers can be repurposed for soup... which you can make in your Instant Pot!  (Just chop up some leftover meat, add some broth, frozen mixed veg,  a can of diced tomatoes, maybe a little seasoning, and pressure cook for 5 minutes... it's soup!)

Honey Sesame Chicken - Use low salt soy... otherwise, it's pretty salty!

RECIPES I PLAN TO TRY

Roasted garlic tomato soup

Carne Asada Nachos

Pressure Cooker Chicken Enchiladas

AND THE PIECE DE RESISTANCE....

Instant Pot Cheesecake - Whaaaaattt?!?!?!

Leave your comments and let me know if you have tried any of these!  You can also subscribe to my very occasional posts by clicking on the subscribe button.

Peppadews... the best thing you aren't yet eating!

The majority of recipes I share are personally tested.  If I haven't tested it, I will clearly state that.  Here's why....  I made a chicken stew in the Instant Pot recently.  It sounded really good on paper, but it is pretty boring and more soup than stew.  Unless I can find a way to jazz it up, that recipe is gone forever!  I don't want you to waste your time and money making food you don't like.  Of course, we all have different tastes so I can't say for sure you will love every recipe I share, but I can honestly tell you I have tried it and I liked it so at least you have something to go on.  I think it's hard enough to eat clean without having a fail in the kitchen that makes you want to order pizza.

Speaking of pizza, have you tried the Thai Chicken Pizza yet?  I'm telling you, it's amazing!!  I put it on naan bread but you can use whatever crust you like as long as you pre-bake the crust.  I ran out of naan but still had chicken left so ate it over brown rice with a drizzle of the Thai sauce.

Another thing about me and this blog.. I hate when bloggers spend forever telling you about the recipe or what they did last summer so let's get right to this week's featured recipe.... (drum roll please!)...

Peppadews served with mixed olives, crostini,
and Manchego cheese

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppadews

6 ounces goat cheese, room temperature
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP chopped fresh herbs (basil or thyme work great!)
2 TBSP half and half (more or less)
24 peppadew peppers*

Combine goat cheese, garlic, and herbs in a bowl.  Blend by hand until smooth and well blended.

Add half and half a little at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. You want it to be thick but something you can scoop easily, like a buttercream.

Using a small spoon or piping bag, fill the center of each peppadew with the goat cheese filling.

Serve or refrigerate in an airtight container.

If you have any goat cheese left, store in an airtight container and spread on crostini for a great bite!

These are great as tapas, for a mid-day snack, or an appetizer!  Enjoy!

What are you eating today?  Whatever it is -- Keep it Clean!

*I find fresh peppadews at the olive bar at my grocer.  I have heard you can get them in jars but I haven't found them yet.  Either way is fine, I'm sure.  Just drain off any excess liquid before stuffing them.