Weekend Cooking: OMG That’s Paleo by Juli Bauer

Title: OMG That’s Paleo

Author: Juli Bauer

Published: February 21, 2013 by Scribe Publishing

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Add: Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

I don’t follow a Paleo diet, but I do pick up Paleo cookbooks and recipes fairly often. Given my love of all things pasta and bread, it’s good to get some meat and veggie recipes. Paleo in theory closer to what our ancestors eat. Good foods – lean meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and healthy fats. Things to avoid – grains of all shapes and sizes, starches, dairy, legumes and all kink of processed foods and sugars. And definitely if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.

Juli Bauer blogs at paleomg.com and her cookbook follows her blogging style. It’s conversational and light in tone. She starts by telling us a little about herself and about the paleo diet. She also emphasizes that she does what works for her but the each individual is different. She also tells how her kitchen is stocked and the kitchen gadgets she uses most frequently.

Of course, the recipes are the most important part of a cookbook for me, and I like how she has these divided out, especially the 5-ingredient meals as a separate section, because sometimes you just need something easy. There are so many recipes I want to try, like the spinach artichoke dip with baked plantain chips, actually all the plantain recipes, the cherry jam crepe stacks, the slow-cooker pineapple pork. It all sounds delicious and the recipes are clear and, for the most part, have ingredients that I can easily find in our stores (not true of all cookbooks).

The other day I made the Savory Sweet Potato Meatloaf because I had most of the ingredients on hand. It turned out good, although it fell apart a little. I have one small complaint – I’m not a cook, I’m a recipe follower. So when she wants me to add bacon to a skillet and begin to cook it down, I wish she’s tell me to put the burner on medium high or whatever. On the other hand, I got to use my new food processor for the first time to shred the sweet potato. I love it! (Thanks, Mom!)

Savory Sweet Potato Meatloaf

Ingredients

2½ lbs ground beef
1 sweet potato or yam, shredded
1 sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
1 lb uncured bacon, diced (I only used 12 oz cause that’s how much was in the package)
1 cup almond flour/meal
2 eggs
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup golden raisins
½ tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Prep time: 10 minutes – Cook time: 45 minutes (my prep time took longer, but it usually does)

Serves: 4-5

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Time to get the meatloaf “insides” ingredients going. So tale ½ pound of the bacon and chop it up into bite-size pieces. Add to a deep skillet and begin to cook down. Once the fat has begun to render, add the chopped onions and raisins to the pan and cook with the bacon.
3. While those ingredients cook together, shred the sweet potato either in your food processor with the shredding attachment or with a cheese grater. Whatever you have on hand.
4. Once the bacon is cooked through, the oinons are slightly translucent, and the raisins have begun to bloat (you’ll see what I mean) add them to a large bowl along with all the other ingredients: beef, sweet potatoes, almond meal, eggs, and all the seasonings.
5. Use your hands and get dirty. Mix all ingredients thoroughly together and press meat into 2-3 bread loaf pans, depending on their size. I sometimes use the disposable ones, because then there is no clean up. I’m dirty enough as it is.
6. Top off the meatloaf with the extra slices of bacon.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Everybody ate it, even Amber. I kinda told her the orange bits were carrots.  She’s not a sweet potato fan, but I did fess up after dinner. My photo didn’t turn out very good, but here ya go. She promises it makes good left-overs to, and we’ll see. This made two loaves for me and we didn’t even finish the first one.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads.