Sweet Potato Bacon Burger Sliders

So last night was Saturday night and all I could think about was how good a burger and fries would taste. The creative juices got going and I came up with the most wonderful burger and the timing of the sweet potato buns worked out perfect with my oven zucchini fries.

I love bacon. I could eat it every day. Since I've started eating paleo, I've learned to no longer think of bacon as a side at breakfast, but have embraced it as a flavor enhancer...because let's face it...bacon makes everything better! The reason I needed dinner to be better was because I had been suffering from a migraine for three days and it finally went away right before I started preparing this. We haven't figured out what causes my migraines yet. Could be food, could be environmental, could be stress. They seem to happen so randomly though I have a hard time putting my finger on just what the cause is.

 Another thing I love about bacon is the grease it leaves behind as it is cooking. For this recipe I put it to good use and decided to use the grease from the cooking bacon to saute sweet onions. You can use yellow onions if that is what you have, but I think cooked sweet onions and bacon make for a great sweet/salty combination. At first I planned to put this combo on top of my burger, but then I figured it would fall off to easily. The solution was to put it in my burger!

 Time saver tip for the sweet potato buns: line your baking sheet with tin foil. If you are like me you probably have different size baking sheets and one of them is too big to fit in the dish washer. The solution is to line the baking sheet with tin foil. Once you are done, all you have to do is throw the foil away!

Sweet Potato Bacon Burger Sliders

For the bun: 2 fat sweet potatoes, cut into ½ inch slices (leave the skin on!) 1 tbs. melted ghee Salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper For the burger: ½ sweet onion chopped 4 slices of bacon, uncooked, cut in to ¼ inch pieces 1 lb. lean ground beef (or turkey) 1 egg ¼ cup of almond flour 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp dried parsley ¼ tsp cayenne pepper ½ tsp black pepper Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place sweet potato slices on a non-stick baking sheet. Brush both sides with ghee. Add a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. Bake 20-25 minutes flipping half way. They should be brown and slightly crispy. While your sweet potato buns are baking, put the bacon in a skillet over high heat. Once the bacon generates enough grease, add the onion and continue cooking until the bacon is cooked and the onion is translucent. Drain excess grease and set to the side to allow to cool. Mix the ground beef, egg, almond flour, garlic powder, parsley, cayenne pepper, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl. Add bacon and onions. Mix thoroughly (I use my hands). Form in to patties slightly larger than the size of your sweet potato buns. Cook burgers on a grill or in a skillet 3-4 minutes per side. Serve bacon burgers on the sweet potato buns with spinach leaves and your choice of condiments.

Whole30 Day 14...Tiger Blood

 

"Days 16-27: Tiger Blood. Goodbye cravings, hello Tiger Blood! This must be what everyone is talking about. You’ve hit the downhill slope of your Whole30 and life is beautiful. Your energy is through the roof, you’ve kicked the cravings, you’re experimenting with new, delicious food, and you’ve finally got the time to notice that your clothes fit better, your workouts are stronger, and you are generally more awesome."         - See more at: http://whole30.com/2014/04/tiger-blood/#sthash.vwF8Jm9w.dpuf

I got tiger blood on day 10 this round. I woke up at 6:30 am without an alarm and spent all day Saturday cleaning my kitchen. I believe I cleaned areas in my kitchen that haven't been cleaned in the decade I've lived in my house and probably weren't cleaned by the previous home owner either!! I cleaned out my spice cabinet, organized it and refilled spices in my spice rack. I even went to the store to buy organizers for my cabinets! I know...crazy, right?!?

I figured that I need to put all of this energy to good use by working out a little harder. Both Monday and Tuesday this week I hit the gym at 6 am to get a workout in before work. I've been working out everyday during this whole30 in hopes that I would get even better results, but my workouts have been at home and have been centered more around physical therapy than sculpting, so it was nice to get back in to the gym. Today it is icy out so I'm planning on doing some arm and shoulder exercises with the dumbbells I have at home and doing some yoga/Pilates exercises for core strength.

Last night I tried something new for dinner as part of a challenge that was issued by several of the Paleo bloggers. I made NomNomPaleo's Spicy Tuna Cakes and served them with oven zucchini fries and my paleo ranch dressing. Making oven fries out of veggies is a great way to get your kids to try new veggies because they are in a familiar french fry shape and they are finger foods that are great for dipping.

Whole30/Paleo Oven Zucchini Fries

Makes 2-3 servings. Recipe can be easily doubled. 1 zucchini cut in to fry like pieces 2 eggs ½ cup almond flour 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp Italian seasoning ½ tsp salt 1 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the olive oil on a large baking sheet and set aside. Mix almond flour, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Dip the zucchini pieces in the egg and toss in the flour mixture. Place on the baking sheet. Repeat until all of the zucchini pieces are coated and on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes and then flip each fry. Bake for 10 additional minutes.

First day of a new year and another whole30 round!

Happy New Year!!!! I am so excited about all of the possibilities that a new year brings. I am hoping to have a much needed knee replacement this year...and yes, I know 34 is way too young to be having joint replacements! My appointment with my surgeon is scheduled for Feb. 11 and they want my BMI just a little bit lower. Since 75% of my weight loss is through diet and only 25% through exercise, I decided another round of the Whole30 is the way to go. I lost 23 lbs and 5 inches off my waist in May of last year on my first Whole30.

Breakfast this morning had to be quick. Scrambled eggs, chicken apple sausage, and steamed broccoli did the trick. I decided against coffee and went with herbal tea to drink because I figured this might also be the perfect time to break my coffee habit too.

Lunch today was one of my favorite meals, a buffalo chicken salad. I tossed baked chicken tenders in Tessemae's wing sauce and served the chicken on a bed of lettuce and spinach with tomatoes, and cucumbers and drizzled with my paleo ranch dressing. So tasty it doesn't even seem healthy!!

When I was thinking about what I was going to make for dinner tonight I had to think about tradition. Traditional dinner on new year's day includes cornbread, black eyed peas, and collard greens. Well, I've never cared too much for black eyed peas, so no great loss there. I can do without cornbread. Collard greens though, I love! So how happy am I that the way I fix my collard greens is whole30!!! So dinner tonight was steak grilled with Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning, roasted red potatoes with rosemary, thyme, and garlic powder, and my yummy collard greens.

Sautéed Collard Greens

3 Tbsp. bacon grease or oil 2 Tbsp. minced garlic 3 tomatoes 1 bunch of collard greens, rinsed

Heat the grease in a large skillet. Add the garlic and tomatoes. Tear apart the leaves of the collard greens separating the leaves from the large parts of the stems. Add the leaves to the skillet, covering it after each handful and stirring occasionally. Once all of the collards are in the skillet, cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until they reach the desired tenderness and are a dark green in color. About 10-15 minutes. Salt to taste.

Whole30/Paleo: Garlic and rosemary roasted sweet potatoes

Oh my yummy goodness! Tonight's dinner was so yummy that I'll have to do a couple posts to share the recipes. I've had a horrible cold for the last week and a half so I haven't been cooking as much as I normally do. Sadly, I'll admit that one night we had macaroni and cheese with hot dogs for dinner because we were short on time and I felt horrible.

I am trying to make up for being so cruel to my body by making extra yummy paleo recipes this week. On our plates tonight we had North Carolina BBQ with a paleo version of the traditional vinegar based BBQ sauce, coleslaw with homemade olive oil mayonnaise, and garlic and rosemary roasted sweet potatoes. The recipe I'm going to share in this post is for the garlic and rosemary roasted sweet potatoes. These sweet potatoes are so easy to make and are so delicious. They go well as a side dish at dinner, but are also great with chicken apple sausage for breakfast.

The great thing about these potatoes is that you can easily customize the dish with whatever herbs would go best with your main dish. To start with you cut the sweet potatoes in to bite size pieces. Keeping the pieces small reduces the cooking time. Once you have them all cut up place them in a bowl and toss them in extra-virgin olive oil until they are well coated. Then add the spices or your choice- garlic and rosemary at my house tonight. I have been roasting these in the oven recently, but this summer I roasted them in a foil pack on my grill.

Garlic and Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 25 min. Yields: 4 servings 2 large sweet potatoes 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 3 tbs. minced garlic 1 tsp. rosemary Sea salt (to taste)	Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut sweet potatoes in to rectangular bite sized pieces. Toss sweet potatoes, olive oil, and seasonings in a large bowl until well coated. Place on a large cookie sheet or in a metal roasting pan. Cook 25 minutes, turning after 15 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt while still hot.

Whole30/Paleo Easy Shepherd's Pie

Who doesn't love an easy casserole?! It doesn't get much easier than shepherd's pie for a quick and healthy meal. What makes this meal quick for me is that I make extra mashed potatoes with dinner the night before I make this and used leftover mashed potatoes. This meal is easy customize and a great way to sneak in extra veggies. For my shepherd's pie tonight I added grated carrots and diced spinach. I have learned that if you have a meal with tomatoes, it is easy to sneak carrots into a meal because the tomato flavor masks the taste of the carrots and if you dice spinach small enough most people will over look it as a spice. 

Brown 1 lb. lean ground meat, diced onions, grated carrots, and seasoning in a large skillet.

Add a can of diced tomatoes, green beans, and spinach. Stir well to mix.

Top with garlic mashed potatoes and bake.

For maximum flavor while keeping to Whole30 guidelines, make your mashed potatoes with chicken broth, sea salt, and a 1/2 tsp. of mined garlic. If you aren't Whole30 you can add cheddar cheese into the garlic mashed potatoes or top with Parmesan cheese.

Easy Shepherd’s Pie
1 lb. ground meat (beef, turkey or lamb) 1 small onion chopped 1 large carrot grated ½ tsp. Italian seasoning 1 can of petite diced tomatoes (14.5 oz) 1 can of green beans or 16 oz bag of frozen green beans ½ cup fresh spinach leaves chopped 3 cups garlic mashed potatoes	Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook the ground meat, onion, grated carrot, and Italian seasoning together in a large skillet until meat is thoroughly cooked. Mix in tomatoes, green beans, and spinach. Add mixture to a casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes. Bake for 30 min.

Paleo Ranch Dressing Recipe

A Whole30 buffalo chicken salad with homemade paleo ranch.

Ranch dressing is a one of the dipping sauces paired with the most appetizers in the South. It is served with fresh veggies at parties, served with buffalo wings, sliders, and frickles (fried pickles) at bars, and of course if a favorite for many on salads. I love ranch dressing! During my first whole30 experience I started experimenting with different ranch recipes that I found online. There is something about the creamy goodness of ranch dressing and I figured if I could figure out how to make it myself, the whole30 experience and transition to a mostly paleo life would just be so much easier.

I often make my own olive oil mayo using the recipe from "It Starts With Food" and love to make my ranch dressing just after I finish making a batch of mayo. This recipe is great because it is simple, dairy free, and preservative free. You can pronounce everything in it and probably have the spices in your spice rack already. Hope you enjoy!

AuburnGalNC's Paleo Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil mayo 1/3 cup coconut milk 1/2 tsp sea salt 1 tsp each of the following: garlic powder onion powder dried dill dried parsley pepper fresh chives (optional)	Wisk or blend all of the ingredients together. Keeps for up to 10 days when stored in an air tight container and refrigerated.