Thai Beef with Basil

(from The Clothes Make the Girl)

I made another version with chicken

The basic ingredients:

• steamed green beans
• 1 lb. extra-lean ground beef
• a handful of fresh basil leaves
• 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
• a lime
• coconut aminos

 Get cooking:

1. Heat some fat in a pan over medium-high. I like coconut oil.

2. Sprinkle ground beef with salt and pepper, then brown in the pan.

3. When the meat is browned, add green beans, basil leaves, and the crushed garlic (If you don't have fresh garlic, use garlic powder or leave it out).

4. When everything is cooked the way you like it, add a few splashes of coconut aminos and stir-fry another minute.

5. Pile on a plate and squeeze the lime juice over the top.

You can earn bonus points by garnishing with a few curls of carrot (scrape a carrot with a veg peeler) or a sprinkling of finely-chopped scallions.

Now... make it fancy:

• To make it spicy: Add some chili-garlic paste.
• To add more veg: Toss slices of Japanese eggplant into the stir-fry step.
• To make it sweeter: Replace green beans with snow peas or snap peas.
• To make it souper: Throw it in a bowl and add beef broth and chopped fresh scallions.
• To make it seem exotic: Cut a hard-boiled egg in half and use as garnish on the plate. (Also delicious dropped into the soup version.)
• To incorporate more healthy fats: Sprinkle the top with crushed nuts or add more coconut oil to the stir-fry step.
• To make it fusion: Skip the nuts and add fat with slices of fresh avocado.
• To make it a complete meal: Add fruit for dessert. Strawberries, raspberries, and pineapple are a great complement.

My Thoughts:  OMG, this has to be one of my newest favorite dishes.  It really is so easy and fast to make and it is really, really tasty.  Even the leftovers are awesome (especially since the lime juice has had a chance to seep in really good).  To make it Whole30, I substituted sliced zucchini for the green beans in the basic ingredients.  I also added chilies to give it a kick.  This literally took me 10 minutes max to prepare and cook.  Another awesome recipe from Melissa Joulwan.  I need to figure out some sides to work with this dish.


Edited 5/8/2012 - Over the summer we made this almost once week with chicken.  Just as delicious as the beef version.

Spicy Beef Lettuce Wraps

Serves 2-4
(from The Clothes Make the Girl)

 

Ingredients:

The Beef:

• favorite fat for sautéing
• 1/2 onion, diced fine
• 2-3 fresh chili peppers, washed, seeded, and sliced thin
• 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 lb. happy cow ground beef
• a handful of fresh basil leaves (optional)

The Sauce:

• 1/4 cup Sunbutter
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons coconut aminos
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup water
• pinch dried ginger

 The Go-Alongs:

• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 head lettuce: red, green, butter, or a mix, leaves washed and separated
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, shredded
• a handful of snap peas, slivered

 

Directions:
1. Prepare the go-along vegetables. Wash and slice the vegetables. Place on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Put in the fridge 'til you're ready to eat.

2. Make the sauce. Place all ingredients in a food processor/blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.

3. Make the beef. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of your favorite fat in a sauté pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions and peppers, sauté until vegetables are slightly softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the ground beef and crushed garlic. Stir fry until the meat is cooked through. To make it really sing, throw in the basil leaves and cook just until the basil is wilted.

4. Serve and eat! Serve everything family style so your fellow foodies can make their own wraps to order. I like to start with a lettuce leaf, add a few slivers of onion and cucumber and some carrots, then top with the meat mixture, and drizzle that with some of the Sunbutter sauce. Just roll up and eat!

 

My thoughts:  Really yummy even though the first time I made the dish, I totally skipped the go alongs and just chucked the meat on a plate of romaine lettuce and drizzled my sauce over the top.  The second time I made the dish was for company so I went all out and cut up cucumbers and carrots and threw those on top of the romaine lettuce as well. 

I substituted almond butter for the sun butter since I didn't have any but other than that I didn't change much.  I wonder if that changed the flavor a lot of the sauce?  I could definitely taste the almond flavor and since I'm a little burned out on almonds, I didn't really get all excited about it.

 



The first attempt



 

Basil Tomatoes

(from the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel, p247)


serves 4

4 medium tomatoes, sliced
¼ cup flaxseed oil
1½ tbs lemon juice
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp dried basil
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, minced


Place the tomatoes in a shallow dish. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour the dressing over the tomatoes. Cover and refrigerate before serving.


My thoughts:  Skip the flaxseed oil and go straight to olive oil.  There's not a pleasent aftertaste with the flaxseed oil.  Other than that, this was delicious and really fast/easy to make.