dairy-free | baconwrappedbarbells

Thanksgiving last week was awesome, because I was able to spend time with my family, including my adorable nephew Tayo. My family lives in Texas, while I live in Oklahoma, so I don’t see my nephew as often as I would like. He is full of energy and spunk, and his laughter and smiles make everything better (but when he is hungry, you better watch out, cause he’ll let you know how he feels 😉 ).

Every Thanksgiving, my parents invite relatives and friends from their local church to celebrate Thanksgiving. We have a large potluck at my parent’s house, and this year I whipped up some of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes, including a green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole. My sweet potato casserole is a family favorite, and is usually polished off before the end of dinner.

I’m Nigerian-American, and we also have several Nigerian dishes as well, like Jollof Rice (rice cooked with tomato stew and spices), Moi Moi (a dished made from black beans), meat pies and fried plantains.

I love having family and friends come together to celebrate and give thanks for health, well being, and being able to gather together and celebrate the holidays. However, one of the absolutely best parts about Thanksgiving in Texas, is that I don’t have to worry about finishing off leftovers! By the time I make it back home, turkey (and any other leftovers) are the last things I want to eat.

If you’re also tired of turkey, ham, and casseroles, than I have a ground beef and vegetable dish that is sure to make your tastebuds happy!

This dish was inspired by my desire for latin american flavored meal without being too carb-heavy. With low-carb veggies like cauliflower and green and red bell peppers, and ground beef flavored with spices like cumin, chili powder and oregano, you are going to enjoy this flavor combination.

Depending on your tolerance for spicy foods, you can also kick it up a notch by adding more red pepper flakes.

I’d love to know how your Thanksgiving went! Feel free to leave a comment below sharing your favorite traditional (and non-traditional) Thanksgiving dishes. If you make the Mexi-Cauli Rice Bowl, please let me know what you think!

Mexi-Cauli Rice Bowl

Servings: serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
1 14 oz can diced tomato
1 large red onion, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon cooking fat (lard, tallow, coconut oil, butter, avocado oil)

Instructions:

Process the cauliflower florets into cauliflower rice by using the shredding attachment on a food processor. If you don’t have access to a food processor, you can “rice” the cauliflower by using a handle held food grater. Pour the cauliflower rice into a large bowl and set aside.
Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and all of the spices (but reserving 1 teaspoon of sea salt). Cook the ground beef over medium high heat until browned, approximately 10-12 minutes.
Once the meat has browned, add the diced tomatoes and lower the heat to medium-low, simmering the browned beef and diced tomatoes for 15-20 minutes. Once the browned beef has finished simmering, remove from heat and set aside.
While the beef and diced tomatoes are simmering, preheat a large pot over medium high heat. Then add 1 tablespoon of the cooking fat to the pot.
Once the cooking fat has heated, add the minced garlic and sautee for 20-30 seconds. Add the diced onions and sautee an additional 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the diced red and green bell peppers to the large pot, and continue sauteeing for 6-7 minutes.
Add the cauliflower rice to the large pan, and mix with the diced onions and bell peppers until combined.
Continue cooking the cauliflower mixture, stirring the mixture periodically until the rice has softened, 8-10 minutes.
Once the cauliflower rice mixture has cooked through, remove from heat.
Mix the cauliflower rice mixture with the beef and diced tomatoes, and stir to thoroughly combine.
serve immediately.

Notes:

This meal makes great leftovers.

I’m a person who loves convenience when it comes to breakfast during the work week. I typically workout in the mornings, and by the time I come home from the gym to get ready for work, the last thing I want to do is try and start cooking breakfast. As a result, my go-to-meals for breakfast in the morning are usually egg muffins.

They are easy to make, and packed full of flavor. I like to make a large batch of egg muffins on Sundays while I am meal prepping for the week. I portion the egg muffins into ziplock bags and then throw them in the freezer. During the week, it’s a simple task of me throwing a pre-portioned bag of frozen egg muffins into my lunch bag before I head off to work.

When I get to work, I heat the egg muffins in the microwave in my company’s office (they re-heat really well). I get several comments from co-workers about how wonderful the eggs muffins smell in the mornings while they are warming up. Those comments also include strong hints to share my breakfast(which I ignore, because I’m hungry). I may share my cookies with you, but don’t touch my breakfast 😉

Although this recipe includes ingredients found as toppings on a supreme pizza, feel free to play around with ingredients and spices. Try making taco egg muffins by using ground beef, cheddar cheese, taco seasoning, onions and peppers. I’ve also made egg muffins with baked chicken, bacon, caramelized onions, mozzarella and artichoke. Those were the bomb!

Please share some go to tips you have for making easy breakfasts during the week,and your favorite egg muffin combinations in the comments below!

Supreme Pizza Egg Muffins

Servings: makes approximately 24

Ingredients:

For the Muffins:

13 eggs
1 pound ground pork sausage
1/2 cup coconut milk (canned)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (optional, omit to make dairy-free)
4 ounces pepperoni slices, chopped
4 ounce can portobello mushrooms, drained
2.25 ounce can black olives, drained
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cooking fat

For the Pizza Sauce:

8 ounce can tomato sauce
3 ounces of tomato paste (1/2 of a 6 ounce can)
3/4 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage to the skillet, and cook until the meat has browned and is in crumbles.
After the sausage has cooked, drain the excess fat (reserving 1 teaspoon), place the sausage in a large bowl and set aside.
Heat 1 teaspoon of fat from sausage over medium-high heat. Added diced red onion and saute for 5 to 6 minutes.
Add the diced green bell peppers to the skillet and saute with the onions for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove the skillet from heat, place the peppers and onions in to the bowl with the ground beef, and set aside to cool.
In a small separate bowl, mix together the pizza sauce ingredients thoroughly until completely combined. Set aside.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, Italian seasoning, sea salt, garlic powder and ground black pepper.
Once the peppers/onion/sausage mixture has cooled, to the large bowl add chopped pepperoni slices, black olives, portobello mushrooms and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and mix together.
Line two 12 serving cupcake pans with liners (or grease the muffin cups with cooking fat).
Fill each cupcake liner half way with the egg/coconut milk mixture, and then fill each liner with approximately 2 tablespoons of the supreme pizza topping mixture.
Dollop a tablespoon of pizza sauce over each cupcake liner.
Take the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, and sprinkle a pinch of mozzarella cheese on top of each cupcake liner.
Place the cupcake pans in the oven and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes until firm (a knife inserted into the egg muffins should come out clean), rotating the pans half way through (and also making sure to rotate the pans from top to bottom).
Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.