Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry with Cauliflower Rice

Stir Fry with Cauliflower Rice

For dinner tonight I made a beef and vegetable stir fry with cauliflower rice.  I cooked steak and veggies in a little coconut oil and seasoned the dish with tamari (gluten free soy sauce), garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper.  To make the cauliflower rice, I rough chopped a head of cauliflower, steamed it for about 10 minutes (or less), then riced it in the food processor using the shredder blade.    The cauliflower rice soaks up the flavor of the stir fry and bulks up the dish, serving the same purpose as traditional rice at a fraction of the carbs and calories.  

By the way, it was not obvious to me which food processor attachment I should use to make cauliflower rice.  The first time I made it (last week), I used the standard S-blade.  This is a mixing/chopping blade that sits at the bottom of the bowl.  It is not the right blade to use for ricing or shredding vegetables.  Use the shredding disc that sits at the top of the bowl on a pedestal.  Then load the cauliflower through the feeding tube.  It gets riced and drops to the bottom of the bowl with no further processing.  Maybe this is obvious to you, but it was not to me.  I'm no wiz in the kitchen, but I eventually figured it out.

This is a perfectly paleo dish - just meat and vegetables.   Give it a try.

Cauliflower Rice

Call Me Crazy



Primal Pizza

Well you can count me among the truly crazy ones now.  I made a pizza with a cauliflower crust!  Yep, that's right.  Pizza with cauliflower crust. But guess what?  It's good!  And the crust even holds up reasonably well so you can eat it with your fingers like regular pizza.  Now before I share the recipe, I should point out that this is not a low-calorie recipe.  The primal/paleo label is not a license to stuff yourself on pizza (I'm talking to myself here).  So if weight loss is a goal, be cognizant of the calories consumed.  While not low-calorie, this recipe is a tasty, low-carb alternative to the real thing.  And it's easy to make.

Note:  there are lots of variations on cauliflower pizza crust.  I relied mostly on a recipe from Primal Girl's blog.

Primal Pizza

Ingredients for the Crust:
coconut oil or other fat to grease the pan**
1 head of cauliflower, approx. 2 cups when steamed and mashed.
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup almond flour
Seasonings to taste

**I read online that you can use parchment paper instead, and that would save about 200 calories.  The crust will stick if you don't grease the pan or use parchment.  Note that I haven't tried using parchment, but I read that it works.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425.
2. Grease a large baking pan.  I used a 19x12" jelly roll pan as pictured above.  (I haven't made cookies or a jelly roll in ages, so this pan was happy to get out of the cupboard.)
3. Clean and rough chop the head of cauliflower. Steam it until tender - about 10-11 minutes once the water comes to a boil.
4. Process steamed cauliflower in food processor to create a mash.  I suggest leaving it with a little texture to it - about the consistency of rice.  You should have about 2 cups of cauliflower once processed.
5. Transfer 2 cups of cauliflower to a mixing bowl.  Mix in the 2 cups of shredded mozzarella, the almond flour, eggs, and any seasonings you want to add to the crust.  I added cracked black pepper and garlic salt to mine. 
6. Spread it out on the baking pan.  I used my hands to spread it to cover the entire pan.  It will be thin, but it will cover the pan.
7. Bake at 425 for 17 minutes or so. 
8. While the crust is in the oven, you can prepare the toppings for your pizza.  I used 6 oz tomato paste mixed with Italian seasoning, 6 oz ground pork that was leftover from the stuffed acorn squash I made last night, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and 2 oz more of shredded part-skim mozzarella.
9. Remove the crust from the oven when done. Reduce oven temperature to 350.  Top the crust with toppings of your choice and return to the oven. I cooked mine for about 10-15 minutes more. 
10. Let it set for a few minutes before serving.  The crust will hold up better once it has cooled a bit.

For the calorie conscious:  I calculated the calories in my pizza using Fit-Day.  For the full pizza, I calculated 1946 calories.  I sliced it into 16 small pieces, and I ate 4 of them (486 calories) for dinner (about the equivalent of 2 regular slices of traditional pizza).  So like I said, it's not low-calorie, but it is low-carb, and it is good.    You can shave a few calories by using parchment instead of oil to grease the pan.  Also, you could save calories by making it vegetarian and/or omitting the cheese on top.  I used 2 oz cheese on top, and I will omit that next time; I think it will still be very good without the added cheese.  But you can't omit the cheese in the crust.  That's what holds it together.

How is it leftover? I had two leftover slices the next morning for breakfast.  I can't remember the last time I had cold pizza for breakfast so this was a treat!  It was very good eaten this way as well; it felt like I was cheating, but I wasn't.  This recipe is a wonderful addition to my collection of primal/paleo recipes.  You might want to give it a try.

This is what the crust looks like once baked.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Stuffed Acorn Squash

To celebrate the first weekend of fall, I wanted to try acorn squash.  I've never cooked it before so I googled "acorn squash recipes."  Most of them involved adding brown sugar and butter to make it a sweet treat.  I had a different idea.  For some reason, I kept thinking of stuffing it with sausage so that's what I did.  Here's my recipe for "Stuffed Acorn Squash.".

"Stuffed Acorn Squash"

1 Acorn Squash washed and cut in half
dash of ground cinnamon
dash of ground ginger

~1/2 to 3/4 pound of ground pork
sea salt, cracked black pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1 egg, beaten
2 T mozzarella or other cheese, shredded (optional)

Pre-heat over to 350 degrees.
Place the squash halves cut-side down on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes until squash flesh is developing tenderness, but not cooked all the way through.

While the squash is baking, brown the pork in a skillet.  Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Remove to separate bowl.  Using two tablespoons or so of the pork drippings, saute the onion and celery.  Add celery and onion to the pork and mix together.  Add 1 egg beaten to the pork mixture. Mix well.

Remove the squash from the oven when starting to develop tenderness.  Turn the squash over (cut-side up) and place in a baking dish that supports the squash and prevents the halves from tipping over. Lightly sprinkle the squash flesh with cinnamon and ginger.  Divide the pork mixture between the squash halves.  Return to the over and bake for another 30 minutes or so until squash is tender all the way through. 

If desired, sprinkle each half with a tablespoon of shredded mozzarella or other cheese.  Return to the over for a few minutes to melt the cheese.

Fill Up on This

Mexican Chicken and "Rice"

It's time to get back to cooking some good-for-me food. I found this recipe for Mexican Chicken and "Rice" on Elana's Pantry.  This is my first time making cauliflower "rice," and I am pleasantly surprised at how it turned out.  It really bulks up a dish without adding all the carbs that rice or another grain would.  Plus cauliflower is so much more nutritious than rice.  This is a spicy, filling dish that cooks in one skillet and will be great for leftovers.  I recommend it.  Here's Elana's recipe with a couple of tweaks by me.

Mexican Chicken and "Rice"
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup celery, finely diced
1 head cauliflower, trimmed
1 (4 ounce) can green chilies, diced
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and diced into 1-inch pieces
salt, pepper, ground cumin, oregano and chili powder to taste
avocado
salsa

1. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat
2. Saute onion over medium heat for 10 minutes, until soft
3. Add celery to skillet and saute for 5 minutes
4. Place cauliflower in a food processor with the "S" blade and process until the texture of rice
5. Add cauliflower to skillet and season to taste with salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and oregano.  Cover and cook 5-10 minutes, until soft
6. Mix chilies and chicken into skillet and cook until heated through
7. Serve topped with avocado and salsa

My Country Life

Freshly fallen acorns from White Oak trees at the cabin

The phrase "my country life" has been in my head for months now.  These words first started to knock around up there over a year ago when I was still living at 110 Lamont Drive.  I was in the final stages of selling it, and I was sad.  Even though I wanted to sell and looked forward to moving on, I was sad.  Life transitions are often bittersweet and seem to provide fertile ground for creativity.   So it was in this context that I first had the idea for My Country Life.  

My Country Life is a new blog where I'll be writing about my cabin and the time I spend here.  At the cabin I feel my most creative and inspired so it is a natural progression for me.  It's time to get back to writing, and "my country life" is what I want to write about next.  I will still post here at Finding It from time to time.  I love this blog and won't abandon it, but posts here will continue to be occasional, as they have been for a while now.