Sloppy “Rose” Lettuce Wraps - The Best Sloppy Joes Ever (Gluten Free, Grain Free + Refined Sugar Free)

I don’t know about you, but I loved Sloppy Joes as a kid.  It was one of my favorite meals that my mom would make.  She would make up a big batch of it and serve it on brown butter toasted buns.  Yum!    

I’ve been craving this lately and told my husband that I would recreate the recipe my mom used to make for me.  We both agreed this is the best Sloppy Joes we’ve ever had.  We’re still talking about how good it was and wishing we had more of it.  This is going to become a routine staple in our home. 

My husband named this a Sloppy “Rose” because of the way I plated it in the lettuce, like the lettuce was blooming out.  I loved it as a lettuce wrap, but of course you could eat it on the typical bun too.  It would be so delicious on a gluten free brown butter toasted bun or in a tortilla too.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Sloppy “Rose” Lettuce Wraps - The Best Sloppy Joes Ever 

(Gluten Free, Grain Free + Refined Sugar Free with Vegan-Option)

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Equipment:Cutting Board, Large Sauté Pan

·      3 tablespoons fat of choice, divided – pasture butter, ghee or coconut oil

·      1 yellow onion, diced

·      2 cups mushrooms, sliced

·      3 carrots, peeled and diced

·      3 garlic cloves, minced or grated

·      1 pound grass-fed ground beef (See Resources)

·      ¼ cup bone broth, veggie broth or filtered water

·      ¼ cup organic tomato paste (buy organic tomato paste here)

·      1 tablespoon chili powder blend (buy chili powder here)

·      2 teaspoons organic Dijon mustard

·      2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar or organic maple syrup grade B

·      2 tablespoons coconut aminos (buy coconut aminos here)

·      ½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt (See Resources)

·      2-3 pickles, diced (I use Bubbie’s)

·      Organic Romaine or Red Leaf lettuce leaves

1.    Wash and prep produce – dice onion, slice mushrooms, peel and dice carrots, and mince/grate garlic.  Wash lettuce – set aside. 

2.   Over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons fat of choice.  Add onion, mushrooms, carrots and garlic – stir occasionally until onions and mushrooms start to caramelize/brown, about 10-15 minutes. 

3.   Add remaining tablespoon of fat, ground beef and broth or water.  Stir, breaking up meat, until meat is browned, about 3-4 minutes.

4.   Add tomato paste, chili powder, mustard, coconut sugar, coconut aminos and sea salt.  Stir to incorporate and let simmer on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.    

5.    Add chopped pickles and stir to incorporate.

6.   Serve hot in lettuce wraps.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Serving Suggestions: If you don’t want to use lettuce wraps, serve on toasted gluten free buns, rolls or biscuits.  For added yumminess, cut gluten free bun in half, place ½ to 1 tablespoon of pasture butter or ghee on inside of bun halves, place under broiler to brown – don’t take your eye off of it or it could burn quickly. 

Tip: This is even better the next day after everything has had time to marry.  The flavor is incredible. 

Storage: Store in the refrigerator.  For best results, eat within 3 days.

Vegan-Option: Replace meat with extra sliced mushrooms and carrots.  Add 2 more carrots and 4 more cups of sliced mushrooms.    

This post is part of Fat Tuesday @ Real Food Forager, Traditional Tuesdays @ Cooking Traditional Foods, Hearth and Soul Hop @ Premeditated Leftovers, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays @ Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Allergy Free Wednesdays @ The Tasty Alternative, Real Food Wednesday @ Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Pennywise Platter Thursday @ The Nourishing Gourmet, and Simple Lives Thursday @ My Humble Kitchen..

Pearl Barley with Mushrooms Recipe

I'm always on the look-out for new side dishes utilizing different grains. I tried making a quinoa dish and discovered I don't like quinoa. So the next step was to try making a pearl barley dish. I love pearl barley in soups, so figured that using chicken broth to cook the barley, and adding mushrooms to it, would be a good way to make it. This recipe is very simple, flavorful, and hearty, and my family loves it, but can only eat it every once in a while since Sam is slightly sensitive to barley.

Pearl Barley with Mushrooms Recipe

1 cup pearl barley
3 cups chicken broth

1 package of whole mushrooms (8 oz.)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Put 1 cup of pearl barley in a 2 cup measuring cup, fill the measuring cup with water and stir the barley around with a spoon to wash them before cooking them. Remove any debris or anything that floats to the top. Drain out the water and put the barley in a Medium cooking pot. Add 3 cups of chicken broth and start the pot to boil over High heat. When it boils, cover the pot and turn the heat down to Low. Let it simmer for 45 minutes, covered.

During the last 20 minutes of the barley cooking, wash, dry and slice the mushrooms.

Heat a large skillet, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, to High heat. Add the sliced mushrooms, drizzle a little olive oil over them, salt and pepper to taste, and cook them until the mushrooms are browned.

When the barley is done, add the cooked mushrooms to the pot, along with a sprinkling of pepper and stir until well combined. Serves 4 people as a side dish.

Ground Beef and Mushroom Rotini Pasta Recipe

Recently, I wanted to make a "Hamburger Helper"-type dish for my family. We love mushrooms and beef together, so this recipe came about by putting our favorite things together into one dish. When served with a green vegetable on the side this is a delicious, complete meal.

Ground Beef and Mushroom Rotini Pasta Recipe

3/4 lb extra lean ground beef
1 package of whole mushrooms (8 oz.)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Shredded parmesan cheese (fresh)
2 cups brown rice rotini pasta (I use Mrs. Leepers Rice Vegetable Twist pasta)
1/4 cup of minced fresh chives (optional)

Wash, dry and slice the mushrooms. Wash, dry and mince a small handful of fresh chives.

Start a pot of water on High heat to boil for the rotini. When boiling, add the rotini and a dash of salt, and follow the package's cooking instructions.

Heat a large skillet, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, to High heat. Add the mushrooms, drizzle a little olive oil over them, salt and pepper to taste, and cook them until the mushrooms are browned. When browned, move the mushrooms to a covered dish and set aside until the ground beef is done.

In the same skillet, on High heat, add the ground beef. Break the beef into medium pieces, salt and pepper to taste, and brown the ground beef. Drain off any fat. When the ground beef is browned and fully cooked, add the mushrooms back to the pan with the beef, mixing thoroughly. Turn the heat down to low. Drain the cooked pasta and add it to the skillet with the mushrooms and beef. Mix everything until well combined.

Plate up the ground beef and mushroom pasta and top it with shredded parmesan cheese and minced chives. Serve with a green vegetable on the side. Serves 2 adults (and one small child).

Chicken and Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy Recipe

My absolute favorite supper growing up was when my Mom made her "chicken with mushroom gravy" and mashed potatoes. She would flour and pan fry the chicken to brown it, then add the chicken to a large pan and pour cream of mushroom soup mixed with milk over it and bake it in the oven until the chicken was fully cooked and the gravy was bubbly. She would serve it with mashed potatoes. This meal was Heaven on a plate in my mind, and still is, the rare times I get to eat it when we visit my parents. I decided I needed to recreate this meal for Sam, using ingredients she can eat, so she can have a memory built around it like I do. This is my version, and my family loves it.

Chicken and Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy Recipe

For the mashed potatoes:

Make baked mashed potatoes using this recipe. It will take about 1-1/2 hours to make the potatoes from beginning to end.

For the mushroom gravy:

Make the mushroom gravy using this recipe. It will take about 25 minutes to make the gravy.

For the chicken:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper

Butterfly the raw chicken breasts so they are not so thick and tenderize them using a fork to prick them. Heat a non-stick skillet, sprayed with cooking spray, to High heat and cook the chicken for about 7 minutes per side or until browned and fully cooked. Salt and pepper to taste.

When all of the components are done, plate the mashed potatoes and a serving of chicken breast, and cover everything with the mushroom gravy. I also serve a green vegetable, like green beans, with this dish on the side. Serves 2 adults (and one small child) with a little mashed potatoes and gravy left over.

Mushroom Gravy Recipe

I have looked and looked in the stores, and there are no gravy mixes or prepared gravies I can purchase for my family. Everything I have seen has *something* in them either or Sam or I cannot have. So I made up my own mushroom gravy recipe to go with my Chicken and Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy recipe. You could also use vegetable broth in it instead of the chicken broth for a vegan gravy.

Mushroom Gravy Recipe

1 package of whole mushrooms (8 oz.)
Olive oil
2 cups of chicken broth or vegetable broth (this is where the salt in the gravy comes from)
2 heaping tbsp unbleached flour (or any thickener you like)
Pepper

Wash, dry, and slice the mushrooms. Spray a large skillet with non-stick cooking spray, heat the skillet to High heat, and add the sliced mushrooms. Let the mushrooms sit without moving them for a couple of minutes to start browning. Drizzle a little olive oil over the mushrooms, pepper to taste, then saute the mushrooms, stirring every couple of minutes until they are all nicely browned. This will take around 15 minutes or so.

While the mushrooms are cooking, in a 2-cup measuring cup, add the broth (I use 2 cups of water and 2 level tsp of Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base- Kosher if I can find it) and the flour/thickener, and use a small whisk to mix in the flour/thickener completely so there are no lumps. When the mushrooms are fully cooked, pour the broth into the skillet (still on High heat) and use a spatula to mix the mushrooms with the broth and scrape the pan. Continue to mix the gravy with the spatula for 2 minutes or so while it boils. Then reduce heat to Low until you are ready to serve the gravy. Makes 2 cups of gravy.

Steak and Roasted Cauliflower Spaghetti Recipe

I created this dish when we stopped eating spaghetti sauce due to Sam's tomato sensitivity and my tomato, onion, and garlic sensitivities. I wanted to come up with a hearty and complete spaghetti dish for my family. I added the Roasted Cauliflower taking a chance, not knowing if it would work in a spaghetti dish. Amazingly, it blew us away with how good it works. We all love this recipe.

Steak and Roasted Cauliflower Spaghetti Recipe

3/4 lb beef top sirloin steak (boneless)
1 package of whole mushrooms (8 oz.)
1 medium head of cauliflower
1 handful of dry spaghetti (enough for 2-3 people)
Shredded parmesan cheese (fresh)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Roast the cauliflower using this recipe. You will need 1 hour total cooking time for the cauliflower, so don't start cooking the mushrooms, steak, or spaghetti, until the 30 minute mark.

Cut the raw steak up into small bite-sized pieces, removing most of the fat. Put the steak pieces into a medium-size mixing bowl and drizzle a little olive oil over it. Mix together the steak and olive oil, and set aside.

Wash and dry the mushrooms. Slice the mushrooms and set aside.

At the 30 minute mark of the cauliflower, spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray, heat the skillet to High heat, and add the sliced mushrooms. Let the mushrooms sit without moving them for a couple of minutes to start browning. Drizzle a little olive oil over the mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste, then saute the mushrooms, stirring every couple of minutes until they are all nicely browned. This will take around 15 minutes or so. Remove the mushrooms from the heat and put into a covered dish to keep warm.

At the 40 minute mark of the cauliflower, start a large pot of water on High heat to boil for the spaghetti. When boiling, add the spaghetti and a dash of salt, and follow the package's cooking instructions. Time your spaghetti to be done when the roasted cauliflower is done, so the pasta can be drained and added directly to the skillet with the beef and mushrooms at the end.

At the 50 minute mark of the cauliflower, spray the large non-stick skillet again, heat it to High heat, and add the steak. Add salt and pepper to taste and saute the steak until all of the pieces are cooked through and browned. This will take around 6 minutes.

When the cauliflower is done, reduce the skillet heat to Med. and add the mushrooms to the steak in the skillet, along with the cooked spaghetti, and stir/toss until everything is well mixed.

Plate up the spaghetti with the beef and mushrooms. Add a serving of the roasted cauliflower on top of that, and add freshly shredded parmesan cheese over the whole thing. Serves 2 adults (and one small child) using the quantities above. If you use more spaghetti to serve 4 people, you would want to add more steak and mushrooms, but as long as you use a large head of cauliflower instead of the medium, one would probably still be enough.