Saucing It Up and Whole30 Steak Stir Fry

Today was a sauce making day. I made ketchup, salsa and a stir fry sauce. I'm glad my food processor is still hanging in there even though it has multiple cracks. 

I made The Clothes Make the Girl's Kickass Ketchup. I followed her recipe exactly except that I omitted the mustard. I used 1/8 tsp cloves and allspice.

I also made the Food Network's Ree Drummond's Restaurant-Style Salsa, minus the sugar. It isn't as good as my friend Eleanor's salsa, but it is tasty, easy and makes a large batch. I was getting tired of just having hot sauce on my eggs in the morning. This salsa will be a delicious change. 

We have a lot of leftover steak from making fajitas this weekend and my FAVORITE use for leftover steak is Steak Stir Fry. Before Whole30 I would make a stir fry sauce with hoisin sauce, ketchup and some other ingredients. But hoisin sauce is definitely off the plan and the kind I buy locally isn't Tommy safe anyway. So I created a new stir fry sauce that is Whole30 and Tommy safe. And instead of rice we'll be having the stir fry with spiralized sweet potatoes. This sauce turned out really good (if I do say so myself). It's sort of sour, a little sweet and has a little spice. And it's super easy.  The flavors worked really well with the steak and sweet potatoes. Yum. 

If you haven't gotten the message, I'm loving my Paderno Spiralizer. It's such an easy way to make veggie noodles and hash browns too. If you don't have a spiralizer, you could always serve this stir fry over rice, millet or quinoa.

Stir Fry Sauce

1/2 cup Kickass Ketchup
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp coconut aminos
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp tamarind paste
1/4 tsp granulated garlic (garlic powder)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Stir until smooth.

Steak Stir Fry with Sweet Potato Noodles

2 sweet potatoes
2 cups cooked and sliced steak
8 oz can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
4 large cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 Tbsp oil, divided
1 recipe Stir Fry Sauce

Cooking the Sweet Potato Noodles
1. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a dutch oven sized pot over medium heat.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and chop a little off one of the short ends to make it flat.
3. Firmly press the sweet potato into place on the spiralizer, with the small spiral cutting blade.
4. Cut the sweet potato into spiral noodles. Repeat with the other sweet potato.
5. Add the sweet potatoes to the pot. Cook until crisp tender, carefully stirring the sweet potatoes so they cook evenly.

Preparing the Rest
1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the mushrooms and saute until browned.
3. Add the steak and bamboo shoots. Saute for a couple minutes until warmed. 
4. Add the stir fry sauce and heat thoroughly, stirring continuously.
5. Pour the contents of the skillet into the noodle pot. Carefully stir together.

Carnitas Tacos (And Tips for Making Tortillas)

If you're looking for a quick way to change your mood from happy to super frustrated, make some gluten, corn and rice free tortillas. I made Brittany Angell's Quinoa Flour Tortillas, except I used sorghum flour for the quinoa flour. This is the second time I have made them. The dough comes together well, rolls out pretty easily with some starch on top and bottom, but is almost impossible to transfer to the pan. It's so frustrating to see a nice round tortilla all rolled out and pretty, and then watch it disintegrate as you attempt to get it in the pan.

I was about to throw in the towel, but then I had one last idea. I decided to roll out the tortillas on small pieces of parchment paper. Then put the tortilla in the pan tortilla side down with the parchment paper still attached. As the tortilla begins to cook you can pull off the paper easily and the tortillas stay intact. I still need practice on rolling them thinner, but at least these look like tortillas and they can be folded! 

I'm glad I didn't give up, but I sure won't be making these again soon. I was planning on having burritos for dinner, but I couldn't seem to roll the tortillas thin enough or big enough, so we had tacos instead. 

This dinner has several components, so it's not the fastest dinner around. The good part is many of the steps can be done in advance, like the pork, tomato salsa, and sauteed peppers and onions. 

I served these burritos with Wholly Guacamole. Recently I've had a bad string of luck trying to buy ripe but not spoiled avocados. So this time I saved a step and went with store bought guacamole. Not as good as homemade, but it was tasty on the tacos. I mixed a couple tablespoons of the guacamole with some apple cider vinegar to make a salad dressing. Nice and tangy and creamy. 

I used "garlic pepper" in the peppers and onions. It's a seasoning blend in the bulk aisle of Winco. It looks to just be maybe 3/4 dry minced garlic and 1/4 red pepper flakes. It's really tasty for how simple the combination is. I use it a lot when I make kale chips.

Overall this dinner was delicious, but it sure had some frustration along the way. Hopefully I learned my lesson that this is not a dinner I should attempt after I just got home from the gym. Maybe this would be a better Sunday night dinner instead.

Carnitas

3.5 lb Country Style Ribs (with or without bones)
1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika
1/2 Tbsp ground black pepper
1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

1. Optional: Line Crock Pot with liner.
2. Combine all ingredients and cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours.
3. Shred pork, discarding any bones (if applicable) and big chunks of fat.
4. Using a gravy separator, separate out the fat and add the juices back to the pork.

Refried Black Beans

1/2 Tbsp oil
1/4 of a medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 can black beans, undrained

1. Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened.
2. Turn the heat to medium low. Mash the beans and liquid in the pot.
3. Heat until warmed. They will thicken a lot when cooled.

Tomato Salsa

5 small tomatoes (I used roma since they were on sale)
1/4 small onion
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lime juice concentrate

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until the consistency you want.

Sauteed Peppers and Onions

1 1/2 medium onion, sliced into thin strips
2 poblano peppers, sliced into thin strips
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp garlic pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add remaining ingredients and saute until the peppers and onions are tender.