Take-Out Fake-Out Crispy Beef and Broccoli with Cauliflower Rice

Sundays used to be a day of Chinese buffet engorgement. It was a day to nurse hangovers. It was also the place I met my husband for our "first date". He will tell you it was "just lunch". But that lunch lasted 5 hours...soo...I say it was our 1st date. So Chinese food holds a small, special place in my heart.

However, since changing my eating habits, I have noticed more intensely how my body doesn't react too kindly with the buffet line these day. Luckily, I can make my own Chinese take out at home and make it much healthier! This is a super non-intimidating recipe that your whole family will love. Pst--we are going to sneak in lots of veggies!

Gather Up:

• 1 pound grass-fed steak (flank or skirt work fine!) and cut into thin strips
• 2 heads of fresh broccoli or one bag of frozen
• 1 head cauliflower
• Garlic powder
• Ginger powder
• sea salt
• pepper
• ghee, butter, or oil
• 1 cup coconut aminos
• 1/4 tsp fish sauce
• Juice of 2 limes
• tablespoon arrowroot powder

1. Chop cauliflower florets and add to a food processer. Pulse until the cauliflower resembles rice and set aside.
2. Heat pan to medium heat and melt 2 tablespoons of butter, ghee, or oil
3. Place beef in pan a few strips at a time. Do not overcrowd! We want to let them be for 3 minutes on each side to get them nice and crispy to get that nice take-out texture. You may need to do the beef in a couple batches. Once you add the beef to the pan, sprinkle with garlic powder, ginger, salt and pepper. Flip and repeat. Set crispy beef to the side.
4. Add in your broccoli and let it cook in all that browned seasoning and fat. Cook until tender yet crisp and remove to the plate with beef.
5. Reduce the heat to low and add coconut aminos, fish sauce, lime juice, and arrowroot to the pan. Be careful with fish sauce--it is very salty! Scrape up any remaining browned bit in the bottom of the pan. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens to coat the back of a spoon.
6. Meanwhile heat another pan over medium heat and add a tablespoon of butter, ghee, or oil. Add cauliflower rice and saute for approximately 5 minutes so your "rice" remains al dente.
7. Keep and eye on your sauce mixture. Once thick, add the beef and broccoli back to the pan and toss to coat and heat through.
8. Add "rice" to plate and top with beef and broccoli mixture! Sprinkle with red pepper flakes for good measure. 
9. Devour with someone you love!

Hasselback Chicken Casserole

Things I love: garlic, onion, creaminess, tons of flavor, and crazy easy.

This has it all. 

I kept seeing this recipe for hasselback chicken. Which is essentially a chicken breast that you slit and then stuff. But, I am a casserole girl. I just like them. So I took all the flavors and did just that!

Gather up:

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 15 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
• 3 cups frozen spinach (I used frozen leaf spinach)
• 3 tsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp onion powder
• 3 tsp paprika
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 1.5 cups shredded white cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place chicken breasts in a stock pot or dutch oven and fill with water until water just cover the chicken. Boil the chicken until done. About 35-45 minutes.
3. Once chicken is done, let slightly cool enough to touch and then shred your chicken using 2 forks.
4. Meanwhile heat 3 tsp of olive oil in a large skillet and add spinach. Cook until heated through and thawed.
5. Add entire tub of ricotta cheese, garlic powder, onion powder paprika and salt and stir. Continue to stir often until the ricotta is melted and creamy and everything is thoroughly mixed.
6. Add shredded chicken to skillet and mix well with the ricotta and spinach mixture.
7. Transfer your chicken mixture to a 9X13 baking dish.
8. Cover chicken mixture with shredded cheese and then bake at 350 for 45 minutes

Great as leftovers, too!

Do you follow my portion control system? This counts roughly as 1 red, 1/2 green, 1/2 blue

Cucumber (no-pasta) Salad

You are probably wondering why I'm calling this Cucumber (No Pasta) Salad instead of just "cucumber salad". Reason being--it STARTED as my very, very favorite pasta salad recipe and turned into this! 

Here is the thing: pasta isn't bad for you (whole wheat, quinoa or brown rice please!) in moderation. However, pasta is a trigger food for me. So in my weight loss/get-abs journey I steer clear. It is so hard, but I know when noodles hit my lips it is a fast and scary downward spiral for me. I know it, so I plan for it by just avoiding it except for very rare occasions.

This pasta salad was actually my mom's recipe. Yall, I would make it with an entire box and it would be gone in a day and a half (see--downward spiral). I would eat a big bowl for lunch, snack, and dinner. Now that I have my super awesome portion control containers and realize what a serving SHOULD have been I look back and realize I was eating about a week's or more worth of carbs in a day. Yikes. No WONDER I wasn't seeing any give in my clothes! So, yes you could make this with pasta and measure it properly, but now that I make it this way I realized I don't think I was after the pasta, I was after the cheese, onion and ranch. ha!

Gather Up:

• 1/2 cup homemade ranch dressing
• 4 cucumbers- peeled and diced (seeds removed!)
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, cubed
• 1/2 red onion, diced small

1. Dump it all in a bowl and stir. Serve chilled!

If you follow my portion control system, measure a serving in your green container. Count as: 1 green, 1 blue, 1 orange

If you want to know more about this portion control system and how you can join my next accountability group (we start the first Monday of each month!) shoot me an email. I promise I am a super fun and sweet person. I don't bite ;) BrittanyLerbakken@gmail.com

Homemade Ranch Dressing

Ever made your own ranch? It's really easy!! It is a hell of a lot better than the store bought stuff with all those nasty chemicals and completely unnecessary ingredients. This is way too easy to make to not do it yourself and then you know exactly what you are putting in your body! #important

Ready for the easiest thing ever? Let's go!

Gather Up:

• 1 wide mouth mason jar (or deep bowl)
• immersion blender
• 1 egg
• 1.5 cups of light olive oil (NOT extra virgin olive oil--it gives way too strong of an olive taste!)
• tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dill

1. Crack the egg into the wide mouth jar and add the lemon and dijon mustard then put the immersion blender into the jar and press it into the bottom
2. While the blender is on, sloooowly pour a steady stream of the oil into the jar. Continue to pour the oil and you will notice it will start to get thick!  *NOTE** If you stop here--you have homemade mayo!!!
3. The make the ranch. Add garlic, and blend one more time quickly! Stir in the onion powder and dill...and that is literally it! Your dressing expires when your egg does!

Use this ranch to dip veggies, add to veggie salads, etc!

If you are following my portion control system, this is 1 orange when measured in your orange container!

Enjoy! xoxo

Brittany

Marinated Kale Salad

My husband will tell you that he hates kale. I admit that I have served it to him in some not so tasty ways, but that was before I really got to know kale. So you are in luck and you get to benefit from my mistakes and only eat it in the most scrumptious ways. Even Dave will eat this recipe!

Gather Up:

• 2 bunches of kale. Ribs removes and ripped into small pieces.  
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 garlic cloves, mashed
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (and extra for garnish) 

1. Mix olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl.  
2. Pour mixture onto kale and toss and massage with your hands. Let this sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes.  
3. Next, dump your Parmesan into the kale and toss. Serve with a few extra large shavings of parm as garnish!

**Kale is not like other lettuce. It is hearty and will keep in the fridge, without getting soggy, for several days!**

If you follow my portion control system, I would measure this in your green container and count it as: 1 green, 1/2 blue, and 1 tsp.