Easy crockpot beef casserole

I know I’ve posted about it before, but I love my crockpot!* I love the fact that I can leave the house with a bunch of raw ingredients in a pot, and come home to a beautifully fragrant, perfectly cooked dinner (sometimes this happens when Bear cooks too, but the crockpot doesn’t leave as much mess for me to clean up afterwards!). As my crockpot is pretty basic and doesn’t have it’s own built-in timer, I like to use a wall timer so that I don’t come home to a dried-up, over-cooked, unrecognisable pile of mush.

So for those of you who’ve been asking for more crockpot ideas, here’s a really fast and simple recipe.

*I imagine that the crockpot is only going to become more and more loved once our little bubba enters our world, and my time and energy available for creating paleo delicacies decreases even further.

Easy crockpot beef casserole

2 onions
3 cloves garlic
500g blade steak
2 tins of chopped tomatoes in juice
2 carrots, chopped into chunks
2 capsicums, chopped into chunks (I used 1 green, 1 red)
3 small dried bay leaves
2 tsp dried herbs (I used 1 tsp of mixed herbs, 1 of oregano)

Place all ingredients into a crockpot and stir to combine. Cook on low for 6 hours, stirring halfway through if possible.

Serve with cauliflower mash (or cauliflower rice, kumara mash…whatever you fancy)

Duped?

Does anyone else ever feel a little bit duped sometimes? A bit short-changed with this whole health and fitness gig?

I know I’m probably not meant to admit it, but I do. And I’ve been feeling a lot like that lately.

I mean, I eat really well (not even 80:20…probably more like 95:5), I train hard (but I’m careful not to overtrain), I don’t do drugs or drink much alcohol, I usually get about 8 hours sleep a night…and yet for the last couple of months, I’ve been feeling rubbish! It got to the point that I actually went to the doctor for blood tests last week because I was just so darn exhausted.

I thought I was meant to feel amazing from all this good behaviour?!

Instead, I’ve been constantly tired, I feel like my training’s been going backwards (particularly the metcon components), I’ve been moody, and even cooking hasn’t been helping! It’s been getting pretty hard going. I’ll even admit to the odd moment of thinking that, if all this clean eating and hard training isn’t paying off, perhaps I should just go and have a few wines or eat a couple of slices of cake…it’s not like it’ll make any difference, right?!

Well actually, that’s probably wrong…and I didn’t succumb to those thoughts. Instead, I took a step back and took a good look at myself and my life. Yes, my diet’s in order; yes, my training’s in order; yes, my sleep’s in order; yes, my stress…oh…hold on…my stress levels. Um yeah, about that. Probably not so in order.

So you know what I did? I made a change! It’s a little too early to tell if it’ll pay off, but I’m already feeling lighter, and I’m hoping that before long, I’ll notice the changes in my energy levels, my emotions, and my training too. I’ll let you know how I go!

So basically what I’m saying is, if you think you’re doing all the right things and you’re still feeling awful, take a really objective look at your life. Are all aspects of your life (and I mean all of them) as optimum as you can make them at this moment in time? If you think they are, then I suggest talking to your coaches/trainers/friends/family – they might have a different perspective to offer, or at least some suggestions as to how you can feel a bit better. If they’re not, then make some changes. Even small changes can make a big difference.

And if you’re doing all the right things and still feeling awful…just think how much worse you’d be feeling if you were doing all the wrong things!!

Satay Beef Casserole

Sesame oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed & chopped finely
1 heaped tbsp red curry paste
1kg casserole beef, cubed (if you talk nicely to your local butcher, they might do this for you!)
2 capsicums, sliced thinly (I used a red & a yellow, mostly for the colour)
5 tbsp almond butter (I used homemade, but store-bought would be fine)
1 400ml can coconut milk
2 tsp curry powder
Salt (to taste)
2 kaffir lime leaves

In a jug or bowl, combine coconut milk and almond butter and set aside.

Heat sesame oil in a large casserole dish, on the stovetop. Add onion, garlic and red curry paste, and cook, stirring often, until fragrant & onion is soft. Add beef and cook until browned. Stir in capsicums and cook for a couple more minutes.

Pour over coconut milk and almond butter, then add curry powder and salt. Stir. Add kaffir lime leaves and stir gently. Bring to the boil.

Stir again, then place the lid on the casserole dish and transfer to the oven. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 30 minutes.

Serve with cauliflower rice and garnish with fresh coriander.

Spicy meatballs with sunflower butter sauce

This was the first meal I cooked for Bear. He stuck around, so it can’t have been too bad…


Meatballs
500g beef mince (although pork or lamb mince would also work)
1 egg
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
¼ cup chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
Salt & pepper

Sauce
¼ cup sunflower butter (you can get this at Huckleberry Farms, or Ceres Wholefoods)
1 cup coconut cream
½ cup water
1 red chilli, finely chopped


For the sauce
Put all ingredients into a saucepan and heat, stirring frequently, until boiling.


For the meatballs
Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Shape into meatballs.

Brown meatballs in a frypan. Add sauce to meatballs. Stir, cover, and simmer 10 mins or until meatballs cooked through.

Serve over chopped red cabbage.

Notes:
Last time I did this, I used cauliflower rice which was great, but cauliflowers are now $6 each!! We had half a red cabbage that needed using up, so I figured I’d try using that. It was also really good!

I also used a casserole dish last time, but that’s currently packed in a box somewhere! It was probably slightly better than done in the frypan. Brown the meatballs in the dish on the stovetop, add the sauce, cover & bake at 150 degrees for 15-20 mins (I think!).

How to kill your boyfriend in two easy steps...

What sort of a ninja would I be if I didn't have at least one post about killing? So here's my first 'death' post...

You've all heard of 'Death by 10 metres', right? [If you haven't, quickly check out this link, and then you will have] Well, last night, Bear experienced 'Death by Lettuce'. Step 1: try to make up 5 blocks of carbs using mostly lettuce, some tomato, & a carrot. Step 2: eat it, for time.

Seriously, it was a lot of salad. What looked like a pretty reasonable amount for a 2 block meal (mine), suddenly became a Hero Workout as a 5 block meal. True story.

Honestly, I thought we'd be up half the night. 'Can we go to bed now?', 'No, I'm still eating salad'...'How about now?', 'Nope, still going...'. Thankfully, we weren't. Like the trooper that he is, Bear ploughed through it and called time at 19 minutes and 56 seconds...just squeezing in before the 20 minute time cap. Shot baby - you're a star.

Ok, seriously now...we are trying to keep meals reasonably simple this week while we get our heads around Zone, which meant naked burgers and salad for dinner last night. I wasn't going to post the recipe, because it's not really a recipe and it's not anything mindblowing, but then I figured it might be a quick, simple option for some of you when you're short on time or inspiration [it was also Measuring Fail II, in that I reverted to my old self & completely forgot to measure anything…sorry! I’ll try harder next time]. So here it is...

Quick & easy naked burgers

700g beef mince

1 egg (to bind)

Ground cumin

Ground coriander

Dried thyme

Dried oregano

Dried parsley

Hot sauce (I used Kaitaia Fire, but Tabasco or similar would also be good)

[Basically, the ingredients were dictated by what I found in Bear’s cupboard. You could use different herbs & spices, although I do recommend you keep the cumin (if you like cumin)…it gives it a nice flavour]

Mix the egg and herbs/spices into the mince with a fork (or your hands, if you like getting dirty).

Divide the mixture into 14 even portions  and form each one into a burger pattie (each pattie is approximately 1 block protein).

Cook in a frypan or on a barbecue - you shouldn't need to add additional fat. Time depends on how well done you like them and the thickness of the patties, but you're probably looking at around 4 or 5 minutes on each side.

Serve with salad...or maybe something else, if you're not game to attempt 'Death by Lettuce'. And babe, we'll find a better way of making up your carb blocks tonight, I promise!