Gyro My Hero

Whole30Gyro - 25Those who really know me know that I’m a pretty big comic book fan. I had my poor mom jumping through hoops to turn me into Captain America waaaaayyyy before he was cool.

However, the newest superhero team I’m excited to follow is not your typical one. My favorite chef/blogger and a bunch of my church family have headed to Greece on a mission trip to try to bring some hope to Syrian refugees in the camps at the border of Idomeni.

Well, as my new favorite super hero raced out the door, she gave me the mission of writing this week’s post. And while I was initially flummoxed at the last minute request, I quickly figured that a Whole30 gyro brunch would be a great nod to my traveling heroes.

Now, you might say “What would an Irishman (sorry, Mom. Half Irishman.) possibly know about gyros.”

Well, frankly nothing, other than how delicious they are. But that’s what the Internet is for, right? And, if I can figure out what to do with tahini and tzatziki, I can figure this one out too.

Whole30Gyro - 9Right off the bat, I was challenged. I can’t just run out and buy gyro meat as most are made with breadcrumbs, making it a deal breaker for our Whole30 rules. Throwing an extra monkey wrench into the mix, that previously mentioned tzatziki sauce contains yogurt, so it’s out as well. What would Captain America do in this situation?

For starters, I opted to make my own gyro meat. It’s pretty much like making a meat loaf. Traditionally, gyros are made with lamb, but I didn’t get the chance to pick any up at the grocery store, so I went with ground beef and leaned on this recipe by the Domestic Man.

Of course, pita is out as well. I was inspired by several breakfast sandwich suggestions where the egg was cooked and used as a wrap. Of course, if you are as egg-clumsy as I in the kitchen you can certainly go with a gyro scramble.

While this wasn’t exactly steak and eggs, it is a pretty meat-tastic Whole30 brunch dish, sure to be a super gyro hero with everyone.

Super Gyro Brunch
Gyro meat was made based on the Domestic Man’s recipe

1 pound grass fed ground beef (or pork or lamb)
1 tablespoon marjoram
1 tablespoon rosemary
4 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
Salt & pepper to taste
4 eggs
1 tomato, diced
1 cucumber, diced
2 peppers, sliced

Whole30Gyro - 4Start by chopping up the onion and then mincing it in your food processor. Remove the onion and squeeze it in a paper towel or cheesecloth to remove the moisture.

Put the squeezed onion back in the food processor. Add the meat, marjoram, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and process on pulse for about a minute, making sure everything is well combined into a meat paste.

The recipe calls for the meat to get wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for two hours. Being the impatient person I am, I put it directly in the meat loaf pan.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. The instructions say to place your loaf pan in a large roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with water til half way up the meat loaf pan. I, of course, skipped this part. The meat came out a little dry, but otherwise good.

Break your eggs into a bowl and whisk thoroughly.

Heat a pan and cook the peppers. Pour the eggs over the peppers and cook as an omelet. If all else fails, you can scramble the eggs and mix in the meat.

Remove the omelet from the pan. Slice meat thinly. Use meat, diced tomato and cucumber and wrap with omelet for your Whole30 gyro.

 

Tagged with: , , , , , ,
Posted in Dear Diary

Whole30 Brunch: Waffle That Hash Brown

Whole30HashWaffle - 3Brunch conjures up so many yummy tastes and images. Sipping on bubbly mimosas, spreading whipped butter on a stack of cinnamon dusted French toast, biting into an ooey gooey sticky bun.

But then you wake up from that amazing dream remembering you can’t have any of that! You’re a week into your month long Whole30 diet. This means no bubbly, no dairy, no bread and definitely no sugar … some of the most iconic brunch components.

At this point, your cravings are starting to relinquish their hold on you. You’ve tried a few new recipes, but while you really want to keep things simple, the same old meals are getting a little stale. That’s where We The Eaters steps in! Both of us Founding Foodies have completed several Whole30’s. This means we feel your pain and have some brunch ideas of our own to share.

So what can you eat for brunch? Eggs are always a good starting point. Vegetables and fruit are clear winners. Sugar-free bacon is also OK, but can be hard to find. White potatoes are now approved on the Whole30 diet, but sweet potatoes are my personal favorite. All good building blocks!

One key point to remember on this program is to steer clear of the “paleo-ification” of breads and sweets, like French toast, pancakes, biscuits and muffins — the stuff that makes you want that post-brunch nap. So don’t look for ways to make those things using approved ingredients. It’s called SWYPO (Sex With Your Pants On) and should be avoided! It means truly embracing those good building blocks, which will give you better energy to get you through your day without a post-brunch nap.

One of my favorite things, whether following the program or not, are sweet potatoes. And one of my favorite brunch dishes is hashed potatoes, fried really crispy on the outside. It’s something I just don’t make at home.

Whole30HashWaffle - 4Researching recipes and methods, I came across this non-approved hash brown waffle recipe. It looked and sounded amazing! Of course, I couldn’t use sour cream or butter, but it gave me some inspiration. The waffle iron might get a decidedly delicious crisp on the outside and give me the illusion of having a waffle. Topped with an over medium egg on top, I could imagine the gooey yolk running into the square crevices.

I decided to start with sweet potatoes instead of white. And based on the waffled hash recipes I found, it was recommended to get as much moisture out as possible by salting the shredded potatoes and wringing them out in a kitchen or paper towel. This was to get the crispiness just right.

I added kale for some green, a lightly whisked egg to keep it together, garlic for a little kick, as well as salt and pepper. With the waffle iron on high, I brushed some ghee on both top and bottom in place of the usual butter or cooking spray. Would this work? I crossed my fingers and piled the hash mixture on thick.

The taste and texture was really good! But … they didn’t keep that beautiful waffle shape I had imagined. Rather than delicately lifting out a perfect little waffle hash, I mushed it out in bits. While still yummy, it wasn’t quite what I was going for. It may have been the swap of sweet rather than white potatoes, or perhaps I should have used another binder … or maybe it was my iron itself.

I still think it’s a good idea to hash your potatoes in the waffle iron, but maybe with a few tweaks. All in all, it wasn’t a complete failure. The kale that was exposed to the iron got a really nice crisp to it and overall the edges were crispy. Topped with an egg it still made a pretty yummy brunch.

And additional success … no naps were required after the eating of the waffled hash browns.

Waffled Sweet Potato and Kale Hash Browns
If you have a food processor, do yourself a favor and pull it out for shredding the sweet potato! It’s super easy, fast and gives you that traditional shredded potato used in hash browns.

1 large sweet potato, peeled and shreddedWhole30HashWaffle - 1
handful of kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 garlic clove, finely minced
salt and pepper, to taste
ghee or coconut oil, for the waffle iron

Turn your waffle iron to high heat.

Lay the shredded potato on a kitchen or paper towel. Liberally sprinkle salt all over the potato to bring out more moisture, let sit for a few minutes. Roll up the towel with the potato and wring out the moisture. Add potato to large mixing bowl.

Whole30HashWaffle - 2In another towel, lay out the kale and roll up. Squeeze and wring the towel, getting any excess moisture out as well as performing the massaging to break down some of the bitterness. Add kale to the bowl.

Add the egg, garlic, salt and pepper to the hash mixture. Mix all ingredients well together, till the potato and kale are fully coated.

Brush ghee or coconut oil onto both top and bottom of iron. Spoon the hash mixture thickly onto the iron, covering. Put lid down and let cook for 3-4 minutes, watching closely. Towards the end, push the top of the iron down for a few seconds. Check the doneness of the hash, ensuring it’s not burning but has a crisp edge.

When done, remove from iron and serve with fried or poached egg.

Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Dear Diary

Take One Tahini And Kale Me In The Morning

image2-4I’m writing this post after thoroughly gorging on a huge pork roast, complete with chicharonnes and a vinegar gravy, accompanied by roasted root veggies and puff pastry pinwheels. I’m stuffed, and after nearly two and a half weeks on Whole30, this “feast” day was not what the doctor ordered.

Blech.

That said, the saving grace at this mealand what I filled half my plate withwas a gorgeous kale salad a client of mine brought to my attention. I think there’s a theme shaping up within our tahini theme this month, and it’s looking a lot like salad for the win.

Must be spring, right?

It’s totally natural for our bodies to start craving freshness as the first flower shoots poke their heads through thawing soil. Our organs, like the liver and lungs, want cleansing after the heavy meals that satiated us through winter. But though this time of year is ripe for lettuces, you won’t find a juicy local tomato worth a sprinkle of salt for a few more months.

Enter the “segue salad“. Think of this like the foodie version of the crossover automobile: It’s not quite a car, and not quite an SUV. It’s straddling the two worlds with features of both.

A segue salad does the same thing, straddling winter and spring with produce from both seasons. The butternut squash may be smaller than those you’ll find in late fall at this point, but they’re still super sweet and sure to fill you up. Paired with the tender new leaves of baby kale, you’ve got the makings of a meal-worthy salad that is the perfect transition to a new season.

Make new veggies, but keep the old … one is silver but the other gold. Or something like that.

Anyway, the star of this crossover is really the tahini dressing. The original recipe in the WaPo (that’s D.C. speak for The Washington Post) called for pomegranates, which are pretty much about as elusive as the Easter Bunny as of today. So I swapped in cranberries to wonderful, tangy effect (and since I find mining pomegranate seeds about as rewarding as picking crabs … no big loss).

This is a keeper.

I’d suggest adding some rotisserie chicken if you want to lose the beans (for our Paleo and Whole30 peeps), or even in addition if you don’t. If you make a larger batch of the dressing up in advance, this makes for a super quick weeknight dinner.

Or just a detox-worthy side, as the case may be.

Raw Kale, Roasted Squash & Chick Pea Salad With Tahini Dressing

Adapted from a recipeimage3-2 printed in The Washington Post, which called for kale to be sauteed. I like to massage my kale to retain all the super-good-for-you nutrientsbut try it both ways and tell us what you think! The ingredients for this dish will keep separately for four days. The tahini dressing is good for 1-2 weeks, but may need to be thinned out further after sitting in the fridge. Thin with lemon juice, if possible.

Ingredients

1.5 pounds butternut squash, cubed in 1-inch cubes (about 1 medium squash)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
10-12 ounces kale (baby is best if you can find itwhich means no massaging necessary!)
1/4 cup dried cranberries (unsweetened, if possible)
1/2 cup home-cooked or no-salt-added canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

For the dressing

1/4 cup tahini (make sure you stir well first)
1-2 cloves garlic
zest of one lemon
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (plus more to thin, as needed)
Pinch fine sea salt, plus more as needed
2+ tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Toss cubed squash with olive oil and salt and arrange in a single layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip cubes, then bake for 10-20 minutes more, or until tender (we prefer ours firm to mushy). Transfer to bowl and place in refrigerator to image1-7chill completely.

If you are using tender baby kale, this next step can be skipped. If not, remove the stalks from your kale and thinly slice or tear into smaller pieces. Rub a little olive oil into your palms and start massaging the kale until it breaks down slightly. You’ll notice it seems like half of it has disappeared!

To make the dressing, add tahini, garlic (we like garlic, but use to your taste), salt, zest, and two tablespoons each lemon juice and water to a food processor. Pulse until combined, stopping to push down sides frequently. Keep adding liquid using a 2:1 ratio of water to lemon juice until the dressing pours easily off the spoon. Think heavy cream, not yogurt. Adjust salt to taste. (I really, really wanted to add cumin to this, but decided to wait until we have it with rotisserie chicken later this week.)

Assemble on individual plates by topping prepared kale with squash, garbanzo beans and cranberries. Drizzle with dressing and serve.

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Dear Diary
photo credit to Aaron Otis Photography 2014


July
Watermelon is the perfect summer food. It hydrates, it cools, it's sweet and juicy. We have some great ideas for your table, including a salad, ceviche cups, popsicles and cocktails. Get ready to beat the heat with us!