Beef Skillet Supper (Low FODMAP, AIP, Paleo, Whole 30)

Everyone needs staple meals. Easy dishes that can be made when time is short (and that dirty fewer dishes during preparation). Things that require regularly “on-hand” ingredients. Meals that remain economical (AIP/Paleo isn’t always cheap) without compromising on food standards. And things that are tasty, of course :)

We’ve eaten variations on this beef skillet supper on many occasions over the past year & it seemed only fair that I share it with you, my beloved readers. The last couple times I've made it, my husband has even licked his plate to ensure nothing is wasted! I would have shared the recipe sooner, but alas, I never took the time to write down exact measurements... But that is sort of the beauty of this recipe: it doesn’t require exact measurements & it adapts well to whatever veggies you might have on hand.

My husband and I concocted this meal last summer (2014) after desperately staring into our refrigerator, wondering what to make out of the random mix of ingredients we had on hand. The skillet has gone through several transformations, most recently when I went back to strict AIP + adding in a low FODMAP component. But it still remains as easy, economical, versatile & delicious as ever.

I haven't timed it out precisely, so don’t quote me, but I do believe this skillet supper could be made + on the table faster than if one was to order & pick up a pizza. Even if the ground beef is initially frozen (I’ve included some quick-thaw guidelines in the recipe below), this meal is still quite speedy. Often it is one I fall back on if I discover the protein I had planned to cook has not yet thawed & dinner time is looming! As a bonus, the leftovers travel well & we don’t mind eating them either cold or room temperature, though sometimes it is difficult to actually *have* any leftovers (just ask my husband!) ;)

Note on FODMAPs: FODMAPs are confusing things... Certain resources will say that one item is “ok” and other resources will list that item as “avoid.” I am choosing to get my information about FODMAPs from Monash University & their app. Monash is continually updating their information & they are great about listing what quantity of food (both by volume & by weight) keeps it within the low FODMAP guidelines. As always, though, you know your body best. Just because one list says a food is fine, doesn’t always mean your body will be fine with it. Or on the flip side, just because one list says a food is on the avoid list, doesn’t mean your body is automatically going to be bothered by it. Do what makes your body & mind feel the best.

Beef Skillet Supper (Low FODMAP, AIP, Paleo, Whole 30) 
yields 3 low FODMAP servings for people with hearty appetites 

1lb grass-fed ground beef (my preference is 85/15, but more lean will work too, though more fat may be necessary)
1 tsp Solid fat (such as duck fat, bacon fat, lard...), plus additional if needed
300 g / 3 c / 1/2 a medium cabbage, sliced
210 g/ 1.5 c diced White Sweet Potato, (I used Japanese variety this time)
3 Tbl Coconut Aminos
1 tsp fresh Ginger, grated (optional, I’ve developed a sensitivity to ginger, so I often leave it out....)
100 g / 1 c / 1 large Carrot, very thinly sliced (I use a mandoline slicer set to the medium thickness, but a sharp knife could work too) 
140 g / 1.5 c / 1 medium-ish Zucchini, very thinly sliced (I use a mandoline slicer set to the medium thickness, but a sharp knife could work too)
Fresh herbs, such as cilantro or parsley, for serving
Scallion, green parts only, for serving
Sea Salt, for serving (Smoked Maldon is my favorite)

1. In a large skillet (I used my 12-in cast-iron skillet , melt the fat over medium high heat. Brown the ground beef in the melted fat. 
2. Once the beef is 2/3 of the way browned, add the cabbage, sweet potato, coconut aminos, and ginger. Cover the skillet & cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potato is cooked through. Add additional fat if any of the ingredients begin to stick to the pan.
3. Once the sweet potato is cooked through, turn off the heat. Add the carrot & zucchini. Toss everything together, replace the cover & allow the carrot/zucchini to steam for 3ish minutes, or until they are done enough to your liking. Turn the heat back on low for a minute or two if you desire more “cooked” veggies, but I prefer them a little on the crunchy side. 
4. Portion the hash on to plates, making sure to divide it into no fewer than 3 servings if following a low FODMAP diet. Top with a sprinkle of fresh herbs, scallion, and sea salt. 
5. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator. 

FODMAPs in this recipe

• I find that I can tolerate cabbage just fine, though some FODMAP lists say to avoid it. Monash states that green cabbage (NOT savoy) in quantities of less than 150 g / 1.5 c fits within Low FODMAP guidelines. 
• Some sources recommend eliminating most starches while on Low FODMAP. I attempted removing most starches, but found that my body needs some starch for energy. I prefer to use small quantities of white sweet potatoes (they are less sweet), but in keeping with Monash guidelines, limiting my servings to 70 g / 1/2 c (pre-cooked) at most. 

To Quick-thaw frozen ground beef

• If the package of beef is wrapped in paper or on a plastic wrapped tray, place it in a ziplock bag. If the beef is in a fully sealed plastic package already, leave it as it is. 
• Fill a large bowl (or sink) with hot water. Immerse the package in the hot water & allow to sit until the edges are no longer frozen--it is ok if the middle is still frozen if the beef is to be sauteed. Sometimes, I’ll use a water-filled pan or dish on top of the beef to keep it fully submerged. 
• Cook the beef immediately. 
• This quick-thaw method is only safe if the meat is cooked immediately! Thawing the meat in cold water or in the refrigerator is a safer method if the meat is not going to be cooked immediately. 

If not following a low FODMAP diet, feel free to add in.... (you may need a bigger skillet!) 

• 1 onion, diced
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• additional sweet potato (or even substituting regular potato, if not AIP) 

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Zucchini Bread (Paleo & Nut-free)

At the end of summer each year, it seems as though zucchini recipes & zucchini things are everywhere as people are trying to either savor one of the flavors of summer, or they’re trying to figure out how to use up the crazy amount of zucchini their garden produced. We’ve eaten a fair amount of zucchini this summer, but most all of it was purchased from a store. Someday, it’ll be nice to grow our own & join the group of people with overloads of zucchini.

Most of our zucchini consumption has been savory: Sautéed with shallots & bacon, roasted in the oven, sliced into stir-fry/hash, grated raw on salads & the ever amazing zucchini noodles (aka “zoodles”)... I did make this zucchini bread a couple of times after successfully reintroducing whole eggs. Even the non-paleo people remarked that they enjoyed it, though it isn’t as sweet as most zucchini bread recipes.  One night back in ND, I served it more like a pound cake than a quick bread, by topping slices with a little coconut whipped cream and an extra drizzle of local honey.

Often times, paleo baked goods rely heavily on the use of almond flour & other nut flours. One of the things I like about this particular recipe is that it uses coconut flour instead of almond flour. For me, and many other people who are in the reintroduction stages of the autoimmune protocol (aka AIP and/or autoimmune paleo), keeping my nut consumption on a limited level helps me to feel the best. Coconut flour is still a bit of a mystery to me, because it acts so different than regular wheat flours & other gluten free flours. This zucchini bread isn’t quite as tall as others may be, and the coconut flour does give it more of a spongy texture, but nevertheless, it is very, very tasty!  

I even have to be a little careful about how often I make this recipe. It’s taken a lot of conscious effort (and time) to subdue my sweet tooth and the part of me that craves treats... Lately, eating a couple bites of fruit is enough to satisfy me (and I’ve even been working to reduce my fruit consumption, because even excess sugars from fruit are not good for me). When I have this zucchini bread around, I find myself constantly eating tiny slices of it! I should be continuing in the mindset that sweets, even ones made with safe-to-me, paleo compliant ingredients, are still to be enjoyed sparingly.  Pairing some of the leftover zucchini bread with chicken sausages & a homemade paleo-ified bulletproof pumpkin spice latte was a special treat. 

Zucchini Bread (Paleo & Nut-free) 
adapted from Small Footprint Family

Note: this recipe is *close* to AIP, but still includes eggs (which I have successfully reintroduced in small quantities). If you’re following strict AIP, you could try the gelatin egg replacer (see this post); however, I have not tested that substitution yet....  

1 Zucchini, grated (around 5.7 oz)
56 g / 1/2 c Coconut Flour (I use Bob's Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour)
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 Tbl Cinnamon
4 large pastured eggs, room temperature
64 g / 3 Tbl Raw Honey
13 g (1 Tbl) Coconut Oil, room temperature, plus additional for the pan
1 ripe banana, mashed

1. Using the large openings on a box grater, grate the zucchini into a bowl. Allow to sit while measuring the rest of the ingredients. 
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper & brush the paper with coconut oil. Set aside. 
3. In a small bowl, mix together the coconut flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 
4. In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs, honey & coconut oil. Mix in the mashed banana. Add the dry ingredients & whisk thoroughly until there aren’t any lumps. 
5. Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the grated zucchini (I do this by dividing the zucchini into a couple handfuls & squeeze it as hard as I can) & add it to the batter. Pour into the prepared loaf pan & bake for 45 to 50 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean). 
6. Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove, using the parchment liner to assist. 
7. Once completely cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature. Slice just before serving. This zucchini bread is not extremely sweet, so you may wish to serve it with an extra drizzle of honey, if you’re not following a low sugar diet. 

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Waffle Weekend: Zucchini Bread Waffles with Maple Cream Cheese

Thank you all so very much for your interest and support of Small Batch!  I am so excited to be turning something that I love into a business, and I can't wait to see how the company evolves. 

If there's one food genre we really like at our house, it's breakfast.  Not every weekend is carefree enough to allow for a relaxing brunch (weekdays rarely are either), but we try at least a couple of times a month to make & eat brunch together on a Saturday morning.   Though, we don't discriminate against eating brunch foods for other meals too....  "Brinner" (aka "breakfast for dinner") makes an appearance in our dinner menu several times a month.

With our love of brunch (especially waffles) and our love for experimenting with new recipes, I would like to begin a new series called "Waffle Weekend."  It probably won't happen every weekend, but at least a couple times a month, I plan to chronicle our latest brunch adventures.  We'll be searching for interesting recipe options & trying to create as many fun waffle variations as possible.

At this late point in the summer, there aways seems to be a great deal of zucchini  available.  Someday, I hope to have a garden where we can grow our own, but for the time being, with our 3rd floor apartment balcony that gets full, hot Texas sun, I have to be content with store-bought zucchini.  I dearly love zucchini desserts (zucchini bread, zucchini cupcakes, zucchini scones....), and I wanted to try something new.  Thus was born zucchini bread waffles.

As if the concept of zucchini bread waffles are not decadent enough, I added a maple cream cheese spread to the waffles, just to heighten the awesomeness.  We both loved them!  It's definitely a recipe I will make again.  In the words of my husband, "Oh my gosh, these are SO AWESOME! My stomach is so happy right now." Lucky for him, we have some leftover waffles to freeze, so he can have zucchini waffles for breakfast later this week too!

I urge you, whether it's brunch time or dinner time, to make these zucchini waffles.  I promise, you and your loved ones will love them!


Zucchini Bread Waffles
makes approximately 8 waffles 
adapted from several sites, including this one and this one  

1 medium zucchini
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 c AP Flour (or replace up to 1/2 c AP flour with some whole wheat flour for additional nuttiness) 
1 Tbl Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Fine Sea Salt
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Nutmeg, freshly ground
1/3 c Brown Sugar, lightly packed
2 eggs
1/4 c Vegetable Oil (plus additional for your waffle iron)
1 1/4 c Milk
1 tsp vanilla

1.  Shred the zucchini on a box grater.  Place the shredded zucchini into a strainer and sprinkle with Kosher salt.  Allow to sit for 30 minutes to allow the salt to draw out some of the moisture in the zucchini.  Note: I did this step first, and while the zucchini was draining, I measured the rest of the ingredients, started bacon cooking in the oven & mixed the Maple Cream Cheese spread.  

2.  In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.  Whisk to combine.  Set aside.

3.  In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, eggs, oil, milk & vanilla.  Set aside.

4.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients & mix half way.  Squeeze as much moisture out of the zucchini as possible.  Rinse to remove the salt & squeeze again.  Add the zucchini to the batter and mix to combine completely.

5.  Allow the batter to rest for 5 to 10 minutes while you heat your waffle iron.  Once hot, oil your waffle iron with a little vegetable oil.  Scoop batter onto the oiled iron & cook until the waffles are golden.  Hold the completed waffles in a warm (less than 200 F) oven while you repeat with the remaining batter.

6.  Serve immediately with the maple cream cheese spread & additional maple syrup.


Maple Cream Cheese Spread
Note: Because I like to add additional maple syrup to my waffles, I kept this spread a little on the "not so sweet" side.  Adjust to your taste preferences by adding additional syrup if needed. And honestly, you don't need to measure, if you don't want to :)  Just eyeball approximately 1 part butter to 2 parts cream cheese & sweeten to taste. 

50 g butter, softened
75 g cream cheese, softened
60 g maple syrup 

1.  Cream together the butter and cream cheese using a whisk or spatula.  Add the maple syrup, adjusting the amount to your taste preference.  

2.  Store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.  Any leftovers can be spread onto plastic wrap, formed into a log shape, wrapped & frozen for later use.