Grilled Coconut Kale & Roast Beef

Tonight's dinner came together based on what we had available in our fridge - and was a repeat (with some minor changes) of a meal we enjoyed with some friends last week. The kale has a wonderful almost meaty texture & is really complimented by the coconutty sauce.

These two pair very well together and the cooking of both is quite complimentary.

Grilled Coconut Kale:

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of Kale
• 1 can of Coconut Milk 
• 1 tsp. Paprika
• 3/4 tsp. Cayenne
• 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice

Directions:
Wash & dry the kale, remove the rough lower stems, but leave the leaves intact. Put in a large bowl. In a saucepan over low heat combine the can of coconut milk, paprika and cayenne. Warm just until everything combines. Add the lemon juice & then pour over the kale. Mix well & let marinate for 4 hours. Just when you're ready to eat, grill the kale for 2-3 minutes on each side.

Roast Beef

• Beef Bottom Round Roast (2.5 - 3 lbs)
• 1 1/4 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all ingredients (except the roast) in a small bowl. Set aside to let the flavors come together for a few minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare your pan. We don't have a roasting pan w/rack, so I make-do by creating tin foil spirals & placing them on the bottom of a Pyrex dish. Coat the meat with the spice mixture, rub all over. Place on your roasting pan w/rack, or on top of the tinfoil spirals in your Pyrex dish. Roast in pre-heated oven for about 1 hour or until thermometer inserted into the middle reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from oven, cover loosely with tin foil & let rest for 15 minutes. Slice & Serve.

Roast Beef recipe adapted from here
Kale recipe adapted from here

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

This dish is on regular rotation in our household these days. It satisfies our craving for something warm and comforting, and is something I wouldn't be ashamed to serve to guests. It's a great recipe to have in the back of your mind as well as it's pretty adaptable to whatever you may have around the house (i.e. use a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes & pizza sauce, or spinach or other vegetables instead of the broccoli). Mix, match & enjoy!

 Ingredients:

• 1 Medium Spaghetti squash
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1lb ground beef
• 1 bag of frozen broccoli (or 1 head of fresh broccoli, chopped)
• 1 cup diced tomato (I used cherry tomatoes because that's what we had on hand)
• 1 cup Muir Glenn Organic Pizza Sauce (keep the remainder of the can for paleo pizza later in the week :-) )
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1-2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or as much/little as you like depending on how spicy you like your food)
• Enough Coconut Oil to grease a 7x11 Pyrex baking dish

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit
• Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds & innards
• Place one half of squash cut side down in pyrex dish and add about 1/2 inch of water to the bottom of the dish, Microwave for 10-12 minutes. When one half is cooked, pull the squash out and set aside, repeat with second half.
• While the squash is cooking, add garlic, onions & ground beef to a pan on the stove over medium/high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until meet is browned. 
• Add tomatoes & broccoli, stir
• Add pizza sauce, 1/2 cup water and spices (basil, oregano & crushed red pepper flakes)
• While the meat mixture simmers, use a fork to scrape the spaghetti squash into strands. I find that doing this over a big bowl is easiest & helps to contain the mess. Then I just dump all of the scraped squash into the pan with the meat mixture. Stir to combine
• Now that the squash is done cooking in your pyrex dish, you can use that same dish to bake the casserole. Dump out the water & grease the dish with coconut oil
• Transfer meat/squash mixture to baking dish, bake in oven for 20-30 minutes until bubbly.
• Enjoy!

 

Recipe adapted from Mark's Daily Apple