Posts Tagged: Shepherd’s Pie
Choose Your Own [Adventure]: Paleo Meatza or Shepherd’s Pie!
Have I just done something blasphemous? I’ve certainly broken a cardinal rule of some sort. I truly don’t mean to offend! Some of you may know of the connudrum our family faces with having to slash our meat intake becasue my husband has gout (which means more legumes and grains/wheat which are not the greatest for my underactive thyroid or in being pre-diabetic.)
Then there’s the whole other can of worms that I opened up in watching Cowspiracy, (all about Animal Agriculture and the enormous, devastating affect it has on the planet) the other night. Suffice to say, I’m confident that the universe is telling our little family to eat less meat when we can. So sometimes we go vegetarian, sometimes we eat local, free-from meat and eggs. We’ve successfully squandered down to very little dairy and will be switching to almond milk 100% for a test run. I’m researching viable plant-based vegetarian meat replacement options that aren’t going to wreak havoc on my digestive system and aren’t highly processed with tons of crap added into them. I’ve been told “good luck with that.” Anyways, the world’s all a big mess and we’re just doing what we can, what’s right for our family. I think? Yea, watch that documentary. If you dare.
So if you’re a vegetarian and you’re not totally offended by my pairing of paleo versatility with this recipe – enjoy. Play around with it, mix things up.
- BASE:
- 1 large
onion, diced - 2 cups sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (big chunks fine, it's just going into a food processor or blender
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup fresh basil (pressed down, loose leaves)
- ¼ cup fresh oregano
- 4 tbsp. hot water or veggie or bone broth
- 3 pounds organic grass fed ground bison or beef *or* 3 pounds vegetarian ground round
- TOPPINGS:
- 8 spears of dino
kale, washed and shredded - 1½ cups of grass fed sheeps' feta *or* 1 cup shredded Daiya cheese alternative combined with 1 cup nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon
pink Himalayan sea salt - 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 large head of cauliflower, trimmed, chopped and steamed until very soft
- 2 large (or 3 or 4 small) sweet potatoes, peeled chopped and steamed until very soft
- Blend onion, garlic, sundried tomatoes, carrot, basil, oregano and broth (or water), till a chunky paste is formed. (Use a food processor or standing blender with a tamper.) Set aside.
- Combine paste and ground bison or beef (or ground round) and mix with your hand to combine.
- Brown in a cast iron pan, only takes a few minutes
- Place steamed cauliflower, sweet potato, pink salt and ground
pepp in food processor and puree until smooth - Shuffle meat (or non-meat, HA!) mixture into a 9 x
13 inch baking dish (I use a glass Pyrex one) - Layer shredded kale on top
- Layer cheese or cheese alternative and nutritional yeast on top
- Scoop and smooth out mashed cauliflower and sweet potato over beef mixture, sprinkle with the smoked paprika
- Bake at 350° for 30 minutes
- Serve!