Unstuffed Cabbage

I wanted to call this Deconstructed Stuffed Cabbage but that is a mouthful.  Anyway, this has all the parts of stuffed cabbage without the actual stuffing part or icky tomato sauce.  It is one of the tastiest meals I've had in a long time.  Okay, really since the kickass chicken soup I made on Wednesday.  I'll post that recipe later.

Anyway, I was making my very first batch of sauerkraut this morning and decided to set aside a wedge of cabbage for my dinner since I haven't eaten any in donkey's years.  I also had too many hamburger patties in the freezer (hubby suddenly decided to boycott hamburgers: groan).  So an idea was born.  How about making some rice, some savory ground beef with a side of cabbage.  OMG it was awesome!!  And it is consistent with the WAP diet except I didn't soak the rice first.  My bad.

Ingredients
serves 2-3

1/4 - 1/2 small head of cabbage
1-2 carrots
2-3c cooked brown rice (I used the Lundberg Jubilee Rice mix)
~1lb grass fed ground beef (in my case it was two preformed patties)
1/4c diced onion
1 clove garlic crushed (or 1t minced from a jar)
several sprigs fresh dill
several sprigs fresh parley
1-2 sprigs fresh thyme
1t cumin
1/2t coriander
1/4t cardamom ground
1/4t allspice
1/4c beef broth
1T arrowroot powder
celtic sea salt
pepper
olive oil
butter

1. Start cooking rice first.  Allow enough time for it to almost or completely cook prior to starting the rest of the meal.  I love my rice cooker!
2. Use a mandolin to slice cabbage into 1/4" strips.  Discard core/stem.
3. After peeling carrots use peeler to make thin strips of carrot and combine with cabbage.
4. Set up a vegetable steamer and steam cabbage and carrots.  Alternatively use only about 1" of cooking liquid in pan and keep a lid on and use low heat set to simmer.  This will allow the vegetables to steam instead of boil which keeps most of the nutrients in the veg instead of leaching out into the cooking water.  Keep checking so that water doesn't boil off.  This will be cooked by the time the rest of the dish is done. 
5. Finely chop onion and crush garlic clove.  
6. Mince fresh herbs together and set aside.
7. Heat 1-2T olive oil and a pat of butter in frying pan.  When hot saute onion and garlic until onion is soft.
8. Add ground beef.  Break up into small bits as it is frying.  Add the dried spices, salt and pepper. Continue to stir.  
9. When beef is almost done but still showing some pink, add beef broth and fresh herbs.  You could drain off the extra fat prior to adding the broth and herbs but I'm trying to increase animal fats in my diet so I left it in.
10. Sprinkle the arrowroot over the beef mixture and stir it in.  The broth will thicken up into a thin sauce for the beef. The thickness can be adjusted by either adding more broth or more arrowroot until the desired constancy is reached. Cook until beef is no longer pink.
11. Taste test cabbage.  It should be done.  I like mine with some crunch.
12. Serve beef over rice with the cabbage/carrots on the side.  If you are so inclined melt lots of butter over the hot cabbage mixture.  Extra yum points!

Basic Beef Broth

This recipe is as old as the hills.  There are many many versions of it on the internet.  I'm going to include two here so that you can make whichever you like depending upon time, ingredients and of course energy level.

Basic broth has been considered a healing food for generations.  It is now strongly recommended both by WAP  (Weston A Price, see resources page) and GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome: again see resources page) to heal the digestive tract and to keep us healthy.  On GAPS it is supposed to be taken daily as either a meal or a drink.  WAP recommends adding gelatin from cartilage or knuckles or even powdered unflavored gelatin packets.  And, by the way, the fat is supposed to be consumed not drained off.  According to both WAP and GAPS, animal fat from pastured animals is good for you and essential to normal digestive functioning.

Any basic stock consists of:

• Onion, celery and carrot
• Meat and/or bones and/or cartilage/knuckles
• Filtered water
• Celtic sea salt, peppercorns, herbs such as parsley and thyme

I made my first beef stock in my slow cooker and it is kick ass!  I did the super easy version; toss everything in and walk away.  There are several versions that recommend roasting the meat in the oven first to add a layer of flavor but heck the stuff I made is chock full of flavor.  Be sure to use organic ingredients and Celtic sea salt.  This reduces toxic load and adds helpful trace minerals to the stock.

Ingredients

Makes roughly 5 pints

2lbs 100% grass fed beef oxtails (make sure it hasn't been grained off*) with bones

3 large carrots

3 stalks celery

1/2 large onion

1t peppercorns

1 bunch fresh parsley

several sprigs fresh thyme

1t Celtic sea salt

1. Peel onion and cut into large chunks.
2. Cut nasty looking bits off celery and carrot and cut down to fit in slow cooker.  For mine this meant cutting in half.  The larger the bits the better.  Don't bother peeling.  Just rinse and cook.
3. Place meat in cooker.  Add everything else.
4. Cover ingredients with filtered water leaving at least and inch from the top edge of cooker.
5. Set on low, cover and walk away.
6. Several hours later come back and skim off any scum that has risen to the surface and discard.
7. Check again several hour later and skim again if necessary.
8. Cook a minimum of 8 hours preferably 12-24.  I think I cooked mine closer to 30.
9. Remove large pieces and discard.  Reserve meat and marrow if so inclined.
10. Run broth through a fine mesh sieve or through cheesecloth to remove pieces.
11. Fill clean storage containers with broth.  Let come to room temp and then freeze (this is the easiest storage method by far).  
12. Meat and marrow can be added back into broth as desired and can even be pureed first.
13. To reheat use stove top.  It is rumored that the microwave destroys the nutrients in the food but I haven't seen any science behind that claim.

To add a layer of flavor to the soup (I haven't done this yet so I can't make any claims that it makes it way better than it already is), roast the meat and vegetables in a 350F oven for about an hour until the meat is nicely browned.  You can deglaze the roasting pan with stock, water or red wine and add this to the slow cooker if desired.  Honestly the soup is fantastic as is so I'm not sure this step is worth the extra trouble.  Maybe if I were feeling better myself I would give it a go but honestly the broth is wonderful without this step.

*In the US, meat processors are allowed to call cattle that has spent up to one month eating a grain diet pastured if it was grass fed prior to the grains.  However, the body chemistry of the cows change in this short time and many of the benefits of pasturing are lost in the graining off of the cattle.  Make sure the beef you purchase is 100% grass fed and has NOT been grained off.

See U.S. Wellness Meats on the resource page for more information about the benefits of eating 100% grass fed beef.

Turkey In Gravy

What to do with those pesky leftovers?  My family actually likes this one which uses left over turkey and gravy.  It is super fast to make and can either be served over noodles or with left over mashed potatoes.

Ingredients
serves 2-3

One half medium onion sliced thin
Half a small carton of sliced mushrooms
2-3Tolive oil
2-3c diced cooked turkey
1/3c cooking sherry

1. Heat oil in frying pan
2. Add onion and mushroom and stir fry until soft and just starting to brown
3. Add sherry and stir to deglaze the pan then cook until the sherry mostly boils off
4. Add the turkey and gravy and heat until bubbly and the turkey is heated through

Variation: 
This could also be done with beef and beef gravy, just use red wine or Madeira instead of sherry to deglaze the pan.