Plantain-Crust Taco Pizza

I just recently discovered that you could make an excellent crust out of plantains. I haven't really cooked with plantains often, but had bought some at the store the other day and wasn't sure what I would do with them. So I blended them up with some eggs and coconut, and baked it to see if it would solidify---and it did! This worked out great. Get creative and add whatever toppings you want!

Ingredients
1) 3 medium-ripe large plantains (about 1 pound)
2) 2 eggs
3) 1/2 cup shredded coconut
Your pizza toppings -- mine included guacamole, ground beef, salsa and tomatoes.

Instructions
1) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2) Peel and roughly chop your plantains. Add to a food processor or blender, plus your eggs and coconut.

3) Puree until smooth. It will take a few minutes.

4) Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Then pour your plantain mixture on and even spread it out, about 1/4-1/3 inch thick.

5) Bake for 14-16 minutes.
6) While your pizza crust is baking, we browned up ground beef in a large skillet. Once that was cooked, we drained most of the grease and added salsa until slightly moist.
7) Once your pizza crust is done, it will just be starting to brown on the very outside. Remove from the oven.

8) We topped ours with two packs of 100-calorie Wholly Guacamole, as the sauce for the pizza. Then we topped with our ground beef/salsa mixture, and added tomatoes on top. Lettuce would also have been great on top, or you can add cheese if you tolerate dairy.

Taco Casserole

 Do you love tacos? Do you like casseroles? Then this meal is for you!

I've been in a cooking rut the last couple of weekends and have just been making the same thing over and over. But I really wanted to taste something different and I was craving some Mexican food. This meal turned our insanely tasty and the shredded potatoes in it just added the right texture and bulk to fill you up. Add any veggies you like, but I really liked the carrot/onion/tomato mixture for my taco. You could certainly top this with some guacamole---it would make it even better!

Ingredients
1) 2 pound of ground beef (or other ground meat of choice)
2) 1 pound of potatoes, grated or diced
3) 1 pound of carrots, grated or diced
4) 2 onions, grated or diced
5) 2 cans of diced tomatoes (15oz each)
Extra: 4 tablespoons chili powder, 4 tablespoons cumin, 1/2 tablespoon salt (optional 1 teaspoon of hot sauce)

Instructions
1) Preheat your oven to 350.
2) Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add your ground beef.
3) Break up the ground beef into small chunks and cook until browned. Drain out the majority of the liquid in the bottom of the pan (I do this by tilting the pan to the side, and using a scoop to ladle the oil into a bowl.)

4) While your ground beef was cooking, shred up your vegetables. I used the shredded attachment on my food processor and ran the potatoes, carrots, and onions through in large chunks. It was much easier than chopping, but if you don't have a food processor you can chop into uniform-sized pieces or grate with a cheese grater.

5) Once your ground beef is done, stir in your seasonings and the tomatoes and mix to incorporate.

6) In a large 9x13 casserole dish, combine the ground beef and your grated vegetables. Stir to thoroughly mix.

7) Bake for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the top starts to brown. Top with guacamole for an even better meal!

Cauliflower Rice Taco Bowl

This is a super lazy recipe, but also very delicious! Sometimes we have even made it with regular rice instead of cauliflower rice, when we felt we needed some extra carbohydrates after a tough workout.

I made the rice just like Melissa Joulwan recommended on her blog, and that was in the oven. So much easier!

It's essentially a taco, so you can add whatever you normally like on your tacos. We are pretty plain, so we just like meat, tomatoes and guacamole. If you do sour cream or cheese, you could certainly add those.

Ingredients
1) 1 pound ground beef
2) 1 head of cauliflower (or 1 package of florets), made into cauliflower rice (or use regular rice if you eat it!)
3) 1-2 cups of salsa
Toppings: Any you'd like----we added diced tomatoes and guacamole. But I would have also loved some sliced olives on top, too! And shredded lettuce, if we had it on hand.

**Servings: 4**

Instructions
1) Make your cauliflower rice or regular rice. Plenty of recipes out there!
2) While your rice is cooking, heat up a large skillet over medium high heat. Add your ground beef and break into small pieces as it cooks.
3) Once the meat is cooked, you can drain some of the grease remaining if you had some cook off (we used 75%, so we had about 1/4 cup that we drained off).

4) Add in 1 cup of salsa and stir. Does it look moist enough and flavored enough for you? If not, add some more salsa. I like A LOT of salsa in my ground beef so I added about 2 cups.

5) Make your bowl: add some rice, your meat, and whatever toppings you want. We added diced tomatoes and some guacamole and this was an awesome dinner indeed!

Chorizo Potato Hash

I made this for dinner because breakfast for dinner is amazing. We were watching an episode of The Taste on tv, and they were cooking with chorizo and I was definitely inspired to do the same. I had a bunch of peppers that were about to go old, so they were perfect for this recipe.

You will not regret making this dish. You will only regret not making more! It's comforting and delicious.

Ingredients

1) 1 pound of chorizo

2) 1 pound of potatoes

3) 2-3 bell peppers of your choice (I had red, orange and yellow on hand)

4) Salt and pepper, to taste

5) Optional: 4 eggs

Instructions

1) Heat up a large skillet over medium high heat.

2) Dice your peppers and potatoes into small-sized cubes.

3) Remove the casing from your chorizo, and chop into small-sized cubes.

4) Add the chorizo to the pan when it is hot. Cook for 5 minutes until it releases liquid and starts to brown.

5) Add in your potatoes and peppers. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning.

6) Time to eat! Add on a fried egg on top if desired, it will make everyone happy!

Green Beef Scramble

This recipe was inspired by an episode of something on the Food Network I happened to catch while browsing cable when we were staying at a hotel recently. The recipe was one of those late night specials that the people raved they would love to eat after a few drinks at 2 a.m.

So as soon as we got home from the hotel, I wanted to try and make the same concept and see how it tasted. Beef plus some chopped up greens and a few eggs. Simple enough! This came together really easily and ended up being a delicious lunch, but would be great for breakfast or dinner as well!

Ingredients
1) 1 pound of ground beef
2) 1 onion, diced
3) 4-6 cups of diced greens (kale or spinach)
4) 4 eggs
5) Salt & Pepper

**Servings: 3-4**

Instructions
1) Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add your ground beef and break up into small pieces with a wooden spoon.
2) Chop up your onion, and then add it to your ground beef mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes, until the onions are soft and beef is cooked thoroughly. Lower heat to medium at this time.

3) Chop your chosen green, and add to your mixture. Cook for 5 minutes, until wilted.

4) Mix your eggs together in a separate bowl, and add some more salt and pepper to them.
5) Pour the eggs into the mixture, and stir to combine. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the eggs have cooked up. Serve and enjoy!

Easy Tuna Cakes

I've been a little lazy with my cooking lately. I've been eating a lot of tuna mixed with homemade mayo, or chicken mixed with mayo. Not sure if it's because it's so hot everyday here, or because I'm just a little overwhelmed in school and don't want to spend any time in the kitchen.

But I was really wanting a different texture the other day, and decided to try and whip up a tuna cake with my tuna, instead of just mixing it with mayonnaise. This recipe was super quick, simple, and tasted really great! I loved the crispy outside of it, and I have been making it pretty often ever since!

Ingredients
1) 7 oz can of tuna, drained
2) 1 egg
3) 1/4 cup of almond flour
4) Salt and pepper
5) A little oil for the pan (I used ghee)

Instructions
1) Heat up a pan or cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
2) Drain your tuna, and add it to a bowl, along with your egg and almond flour. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3) Stir all the ingredients together to fully incorporate.

4) Add a little oil to your pan to thinly coat and prevent sticking. Then form small balls of your tuna mixture, and flatten them out on your skillet. Mine made 4 small cakes.

5) Cook for 6-7 minutes, until starting to brown.

6) Flip over your cakes and cook an additional 5-6 minutes, until brown on both sides.
7) Enjoy!

Paprika Crispy Skin Chicken Legs

I don't know about you, but I seriously love crispy skin chicken. I cannot get enough of it! My future mother-in-law didn't really know this about me yet, but she made a delicious roasted chicken leg when we visited and I was in love! So this recipe is my take on her dish and I think I did her justice!

You could make this recipe with chicken thighs or chicken drumsticks if you don't have the whole leg, but it should be bone in and skin on for best results.

Ingredients
1) 4-6 bone-in, skin on chicken legs (thigh + drumstick)
2) 1 teaspoon of ghee, coconut oil, or olive oil
3) 1/2 tablespoon paprika
4) 1 teaspoon salt
5) 1/2 teaspoon pepper

**Servings: 2-4**

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Place your chicken legs in a 9x13 pan, or a 9x9 pan if they fit.

3) Rub each chicken leg with a little of your cooking oil.
4) In a small bowl, mix together the spices.

5) Rub the spices generously over each of the legs.

6) Place the pan in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
7) After 30 minutes, you will cook for an additional 25-30 minutes, basting with the liquid at the bottom of the pan every 5 minutes. This is the KEY to crispy skin! Don't skip this part!

8) Once the skin is nice and crispy, you are done! You can check this with a thermometer to ensure a greater than 165 degree internal temperature, but after 60 minutes it will absolutely be above that. Eat up! It's delicious!

Shredded Pork Hash Egg Bake (Paleo-Zone)

Our super amazing friends have been trading up grain-free cookies in exchange for them smoking us a bunch of pork. We are so lucky! I've been using the pork a lot just for salads, but wanted to try and make a breakfast-y dish with it. I used regular russet potatoes for this recipe, but you could substitute for sweet potatoes if you prefer. The result was delicious, and the apple added a nice sweetness in the background.

This meal is Paleo-Zone! Hooray! I haven't posted one of those forever. If you're not concerned with balancing your macro nutrients as much, you don't have to be quite as specific with your measurements.

Ingredients
1) 10oz pound of cooked, shredded pork (10P)
2) 10 eggs (10P, 20F)
3) 1 onion, diced (3C)
4) 1 apple, diced (2C)
5) 1.5 pound of potatoes, diced (15C)
Total: 20P, 20C, 20F -- 20 blocks

Instructions
1) Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Then, chop up your potatoes.
2) Add your potatoes to the heated skillet. If you had a pan that is not non-stick, you may need to add a little oil to ensure the potatoes do not stick.

3) Let the potatoes cook for 10 minutes, and during this time chop up your apple, onion, and your shredded pork.
4) After the 10 minutes, add in your apple and onion. Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are 90% soft. They'll cook the rest of the way in the oven.

**Now preheat your oven to 350 degrees**

5) Fold in your chopped shredded pork.

6) Transfer all of your food into a 9x13 cooking dish.

7) In a separate bowl, whisk together your 10 eggs. Then pour on top of your food, and stir to mix it all together.

8) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until the eggs are firm. Enjoy!

Cabbage, Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry

I will tell you what--the pre-shredded bags of cabbage that you would use to make coleslaw are seriously my favorite thing right now. So easy to just throw a bag in with what I'm cooking and add some delicious texture and a healthy dose of veggies! So this stir-fry essentially stemmed from me having some shredded cabbage and celery that were about to go bad. Decided to saute it all up and WOW it was delicious! I used coconut aminos to give it more flavor, but you could use a gluten-free soy sauce if you have one. The longer this cooks, the better, so try and do the whole hour if you can!

Ingredients
1) 2 pounds of ground beef
2) 1 head of cabbage, shredded (or 1 bag of pre-shredded lettuce)
3) 2 onions, diced
4) 1.5 pounds of carrots, sliced or diced
5) 3 cups of diced celery (about 10 sticks)
Extra: 1/4 cup of coconut aminos or soy sauce alternative
Also: Salt and Pepper

Instructions
1) Heat up a large pan over medium-high heat. Add your ground beef and diced onions and saute about 10 minutes, until cooked.

2) Add your chopped carrots and celery, and then add your coconut aminos. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on as well.

3) Stir in your cabbage. If your pan isn't big enough to accommodate all of the cabbage, add as much as you can and after 10-15 minutes it will cook down enough where you can add the rest. (This is what I did).

4) Reduce heat to medium and cover with a lid. Cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes to ensure nothing burns.
5) Season with salt and pepper to taste. I ended up about a teaspoon or so of salt until it was where I wanted it flavor wise.
6) Enjoy! Leftovers are fantastic!

6-Ingredient Chicken Fajita Enchilada Casserole

That name is a mouthful...

I am so busy with school lately, it's just crazy. So on the weekends I need to cook up a storm to try and make it so I don't have to worry about anything during the week. So I am becoming obsessed with my crockpot and with casseroles. I just keep throwing together meat, veggies and usually a few eggs to tie it together and then baking it for an hour. Luckily for me, they keep tasting great! I picked up a can of enchilada sauce a very long time ago and it just sat it our cupboard for months, until I thought I'd just throw it in with a chicken casserole I was attempting. The result was delicious! Enjoy! I added the bell peppers too, which made it technically 6-ingredients, but you could sub out or in any veggies you had on hand or wanted to throw in.

Ingredients
1) 20oz of cooked, shredded chicken (I had cooked up some in my crockpot, but you could use a rotisserie chicken or whatever you have on hand. This was 1.5 pounds raw and came out to 20oz cooked)
2) 3 eggs
3) 1 cup of enchilada sauce (read the label and make sure it's not full of junk!)
4) 2 cans (15oz each) of diced tomatoes
5) 1 onions, diced
6) 2 bell peppers, diced
Extra: 1 teaspoon of chili powder, salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
1) Heat up a large skillet over medium heat and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Chop up your onion and green peppers, and add to the hot skillet with a little cooking oil of your choice.

3) Saute for about 10 minutes until tender. Add optional 1 teaspoon of chili powder to the the veggies now, plus some salt and pepper.

4) In a 9x13 pan, add your shredded chicken and diced tomatoes. Then add your cooked onion and green peppers. Stir to incorporate.

5) Mix your eggs and enchilada sauce in a separate bowl. Add in some salt and pepper here as well to flavor the liquid.

6) Add your egg mixture to the pan and stir to fully incorporate.

7) Cook at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. Top with some guacamole if you'd like!