Gumbo

Gumbo

adapted from several recipes

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cooking Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes

Makes: 2.5 quarts (8-10 servings)

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 1 rotisserie chicken, pulled apart

1 lb smoked sausage

1 lb smoked ham

1/2 cup bacon grease

6 TBS coconut flour

6 TBS almond flour

2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups)*

1 large green bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)*

1 large celery rib, chopped*

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 - 32oz boxes Kitchen Basics Unsalted Chicken Stock

3/4 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Hot cooked cauliflower rice

Directions

Cut the chicken, sausage and ham into bite sized pieces. Cook the chicken over medium heat in a large dutch oven until browned.  Put into a separate bowl and wipe out the dutch oven. *You can skip this step if you use rotisserie chicken.

Heat bacon grease in dutch oven over medium heat. Gradually whisk in the coconut and almond flours. Continue whisking constantly until the roux is a deep mahogany color. It will almost look like really dark peanut butter. 

Stir in onions, celery and green peppers. Cook about 5 minutes and add in garlic. Cook another 5 minutes or until tender. Gradually add the chicken stock while whisking. Add the meats, thyme, red and black pepper. 

Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 3 hours. Serve over hot cooked cauliflower rice. 

*I make my life easier by buying a cajun mirepoix mix in the vegetable freezer section at my local Kroger. 

**You can omit the chicken and add 2 lbs medium raw shrimp (peeled and deveined) in the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Enjoy!

Sloppy Joe Bowls

These were sooooo good! Especially if you are craving some comfort food. It may seem super weird to put sloppy joe meat over zoodles, but I promise you it's a perfect match. Now hubby does not eat zoodles, so I put his on a whole wheat bun. Regardless, its delish both ways. Plus you aren't getting all those weird ingredients like you would with the stuff from the can. 

Sloppy Joe Bowls

adapted from Jay's Baking Me Crazy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

2 lbs lean ground beef (grass-fed if Whole30 or Paleo)

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1.5 tsp onion powder

2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup coconut aminos 

1.5 cups homemade ketchup

2 TBS tomato paste

Before you get started, make up your homemade ketchup!

Put your ground beef in a medium sized dutch oven over medium-high heat. (I love my Le Creuset!) Once the meat is mostly browned, toss in your garlic and turn the heat down to medium. Toss in the onion powder, salt and pepper. Cook for about 1-2 more minutes. Add coconut aminos, ketchup and tomato paste. Stir to combine and turn the heat to low. Allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes. 

While your sloppy joe meat is simmering, make up your zoodles. I use a Paderno vegetable spiralizer to make my zoodles. It's amazing. It has several different blades. I've used it on other veggies too, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and parsnips. 

Once your zoodles are ready, top them with the sloppy joe meat and eat!

Enjoy!