Paleo & wallet-friendly recipes

[gitstash]

I'm rather new to the paleo way of eating and am not super strict, although no dairy is tolerable for me.  I have plenty of meat-centric recipes (we buy a half grass fed beef and half pig from a local farmer who is fantastic with stewardship of the animals and the land).  But without rice and beans (which my family doesn't really like anyway), I don't have a great stash of healthy frugal recipes.  I'd also like to scale back on the amount of meat we consume.  I should add my husband and daughter are complete meat-aholics, although they are both open to trying new things.  Anybody have any recipes to share or websites to recommend that use meat as more of a garnish than the main event?

[lauren_knows]

Pro-tip for the Paleo rice lovers:  Use the grater attachment on a food processor, and grind a whole head of cauliflower. Bake or sautee this "cauliflower rice" and add to whatever meat dish you desire.

Over at MarksDailyApple.com, there is a recipe for Morroccan Chicken Casserole that utilizes this "rice" method.  The rice also freezes well, and can be made it large batches (pre-cooked) and cooked later.

[ECrew28]

We love pasta in our house, but obviously, it doesn't play into paleo.  So we use zucchini.  We shred it up, put a VERY light fry on it with some olive oil, and then top with our homemade pasta sauce and maybe some meatballs.  Kids don't really know the difference and leftovers dont clump together too bad. 

[lauren_knows]

We love pasta in our house, but obviously, it doesn't play into paleo.  So we use zucchini.  We shred it up, put a VERY light fry on it with some olive oil, and then top with our homemade pasta sauce and maybe some meatballs.  Kids don't really know the difference and leftovers dont clump together too bad.

Spaghetti Squash aint bad as a substitute for pasta. Spaghetti squash + meat sauce is my paleo lazy man meal.

[rugorak]

I'll second spaghetti squash. Had some leftovers of that last night for dinner in fact.

An easy recipe I use is just a mix of ground beef, sweet potatoes and spinach with some seasonings. Tastes great, easy, not too expensive.

I've also lucked out in finding a slaughter house nearby that now is a USDA licensed reseller. They do things right, have great cuts of meat, and it truly is fresh. Plus the cost is less than the grocery store. For veggies frozen can work well, and during the season you can try and get in on a CSA.

With that in mind homemade soup from stock is awesome. Get a few extra meals out of that meat. Some of the best nutrition is in the bones and other parts that people would typically through out. I never was a big soup person but that was because I didn't know of anything besides the cans. So much better when it is homemade.

[gitstash]

Thanks for the ideas.  I'll definitely try the cauliflower rice and spaghetti squash.  We used to belong to a csa for a couple years, but they closed up shop several years ago.  I loved it especially since we did try quite a few things we'd have never tried otherwise. We just moved to the Chicago area, so I'll have to research CSAs close by. I'm definitely more of a recipe gal, rather than throwing together whatever happens to be handy.  I've always been rather envious of people who can pull that off.

[thurston howell iv]

There's also a mashed faux-tato's recipie floating around that uses Cauliflower- Pretty decent. Just into Paleo myself for past 2 months. Not 100% but maybe 80%?  I've lost 20lbs and have more energy and enjoy everything we eat...  We also eat lots of sweet potato- usually mashed.

We're still experimenting with baking a paleo bread or cookie- We've used almond and coconut flour-added some nuts and raisins- cookies came out "too" moist and even sitting in a ziplock back for a week they were still moist and sat in your gut like a rock.  It's a work in progress...

[c]

I made the cauliflower rice after reading this thread. It was AMAZING! A big hit in my house.

We made a Moroccan spice mix and braised some chicken thighs. I cooked the cauliflower rice in the left over fat and spices in the pan. We will definitely be making this again, thanks!

[Bullseye]

We don't even cook our cauliflower rice, we just grate in cheese grater and pour stuff (like a homemade curry) over it!  Also do spag squash once a week.  Taco salad bowl (salad, olives, tomatoes, salsa, etc)

Eggs are paleo and very cheap, we eat 36 a week in our house. 

Google Rachel Ray's Smashed Cauliflower, better than mashed potatoes, and a meal on its own.

Grow your own salad greens, indoors or out, and eat for lunch every day in a simple salad.

Squash is pretty cheap, we roast acorn or butternut and make into various things. 

Various coleslaws.  Cabbage is cheap and filling, super tasty done right

[meadow lark]

My current fav recipe - Polish Sausage & cabbage
2 Tblsp (approx) bacon grease
2 (1 lb) bags shredded cabbage
2 (1 lb) Polish Sausages, sliced

Cook them all in a big pot either on the stove or in the oven, until the cabbage is as cooked as you like it.  Dutch-style comfort food and it reminds me of my childhood.  I just read all the Polish sausage packages and find the one with the least sugar in it (I think I settle for one that says, "contains less than a 2% solution of blah blah blah.") 
Lark

[gitstash]

I tried a fried egg on the cauliflower rice and it was delish!  Much better option than the fried egg on potatos.  Now that I think of it, I should try the egg with sweet potato also.