Tag Archives: ground beef

Paleo Spicy Beef Jerky

paleo spicy beef jerkyHectic Hectic Hectic.  That is how I would describe these last few days.  Even with everything being hectic I had recorded the first episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley and I had a chance to watch it last night.  I work in IT, more specifically Computer Software design and architecture etc so its pretty safe to say I was looking forward to this show.  I absolutely loved it.  It reminded me alot of Office Space meets The IT Crowd.  It was a good show and I found myself messaging 1 liners back and forth with a friend of mine.  So needless to say I hope it continues and doesn’t get cancelled.  It’s good to see a comedy every once and a while on a pay channel that doesn’t have nudity etc all over the place.

So today’s recipe is one of my favorites.  I started making Jerky over a year ago and I have made all kinds of Jerky.  Before I decided to venture on this Paleo journey all the jerky I made was not Paleo compliant simply because it contains a form of gluten or soy.  So it took a while to try to come up with an alternative and I will post a series of different recipes but I will start with a bit of a spicy one.

In general there are different types of jerky you can make one is made from a ground beef/bison or you can get a flank steak or similar and cut that in to strips.  I have made both types but personally I have gravitated towards the ground beef simply because of price and it gets a texture like a slim jim.  Here is a video of me putting some jerky on to my dehydrator.

This is really just a jerky gun and I load my jerky in to it and shoot it out.

On to the recipe.

Paleo Spicy Beef Jerky

Ingredients

  • 3 lb Flank Steak or Ground Beef, as lean as possible (fat turns tough when dehydrated)
  • 3 cloves Garlic, minced or pressed
  • 1 cup Coconut Aminos
  • 1 tsp Black Pepper
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
  • 1 tsp Onion Powder
  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 tsp Chipotle Powder

Instructions

    If you are using ground beef
  1. Take all ingredients except for the meet and blend it all together
  2. Mix ground beef with marinade
  3. Let it sit for about 2 hour in the fridge (no more than 24 hours)
  4. Load in to Jerky Gun and and put it in dehydrator.
  5. If using flank steak
  6. Partially freeze meat for 2-4 hours, until mostly solid.
  7. Slice meat into thin strips. (try to make sure they are all about the same size)
  8. Create the marinade in a large ziplock bag
  9. Toss meat in to marinade
  10. Let it sit for atleast 2 hours in the fridge (no more than 24 hours)
  11. Place strips on to your dehydrator
  12. Sprinkle with a little Salt & Pepper (I also add a bit of red chili if i want it spicier)
  13. If you are using an oven
  14. You can dehydrate by setting your oven to lowest temp possible most can get to 160 or 170
  15. Add the steak strips or jerk gun strips on to oven sheet
  16. Cook for about 3.5 - 4 hours be sure to not over cook
  17. How to tell if its done
  18. Take out a strip let it cook for a min, try to bend it. if it snaps its over cooked if it slowly peels apart when you bend it.. its perfect.
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/04/paleo-spicy-beef-jerky/

Spaghetti Squash with Bolognese Sauce

spaghetti squash with bolognese sauce

So today I had my first realization, a true realization that I can do this. You when I first started with this paleo change I kept craving breads etc, I love bread anything bread with butter yummmm! So I would crave it alot and more than just bread would be Italian food. Pasta, pizza anything that had red tomato sauce on it I wanted. My wife got a bit creative today atleast for me, some of you that have done this for a while probably would laugh at this but she made a spaghetti squash. To be honest before this week I had no idea such a thing existed.

On a funny side note after realizing that I needed to cut the squash because it was pretty much a pain to cut and she couldn’t she started scraping the seeds out. I turned to her and asked wait isn’t that the spaghetti stuff we are supposed to each, her response ::rolls eyes:: no that is the seed and the stem filling. I should have just listed at that point I mean she does pretty much cook all day and anything that does not involve making sweets or BBQing I know crap about. As I said I should have stopped but not me, not today I pressed forward convinced she was wrong. When they came out the over I was like you see there is nothing in it. One fork swipe by her later I was like ahhhh yea never mind, and it was at that moment she laughed at me. Nothing says I love you like a good old fashion poke fun at the husband game.

So outside of that story this recipe was actually amazing. I really like the taste and texture of the Squash it really tasted amazing. This recipe did not take to long to make, yes I can say that because outside of the questioning of the squash I actually helped cook dinner tonight.

Spaghetti Squash with Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

    For the Spaghetti Squash
  • 1 Spaghetti Squash
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • For the Bolognese Sauce
  • 1 lb Ground Beef
  • 1/2 White Onion (diced)
  • 1 Tomato(diced)
  • 1 Can Diced Tomato
  • 3 Cloves Garlic (Minced)
  • 1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar
  • 1 Zucchini (Diced)
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Black Pepper
  • 1 tsp Coconut Oil

Instructions

    For the Spaghetti Squash
  1. Preheat the over to 400
  2. Cut the squash in half length wise
  3. Clean out the seeds and pit area
  4. Add salt and pepper to taste
  5. Bake for 45 mins
  6. For the Bolognese Sauce
  7. In a pan heat to medium high
  8. Add coconut oil
  9. Add the tomato, onion, garlic, zucchini and salt and pepper to the pan and cook until the flavors mix (~3-5 min)
  10. Add the ground beef and cook it through
  11. Add vinegar and mix all ingredients together
  12. Add the can of diced tomato and let all the flavors mix again while stirring, cook for about 3-5 mins so the sauce can thicken a bit
  13. Combine them
  14. After taking the squash out rake out the squash using a fork this will give the spaghetti like structure. Scoop out a batch of the squash that you just pulled off and put it in a plate. Top with the Bolognese sauce and enjoy
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/03/spaghetti-squash-with-bolognese-sauce/