Category: Meal Plans

Advanced & Core Plan

Serves 4

This recipe is comfort food for sure and you get all of the benefits of cooking the meat on the bone.  It is incredibly flavorful and surprisingly easy.  If you can find fresh grass-fed beef shanks, great.  If not, you can order them here…

You can certainly do this in a stock pot but you will have to cook it for 2-3 hours.

4 Grass fed beef shanks
sea salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3-4 carrots, sliced
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 head cabbage, chopped into large chunks
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay eaves
1 can organic diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups beef or chicken broth (preferably homemade)
1/2 cup red wine (optional)

About 30 minutes before you are ready to prepare, generously salt the shanks on both sides.  Do not skip this step.

Set InstantPot to saute and add coconut oil.  When heated, brown shanks on both sides and set aside.

Add carrots and onions and saute until softened.  Add the garlic and cabbage and mix together.

Set InstantPot to Meat/Stew and add beef shanks back in to the pot along with the broth and wine, if using.  Top with the tomatoes.  Cook for 60 minutes then do a quick release.

This recipe has some more obscure ingredients than normally appear in my recipes but the additions make for an enhanced taste.  You can find these ingredients at most health food stores.  The InstantPot helps make the meat extra “fall off the bone” tender and does an amazing job with the flavors.  Oven roasting will take a lot longer and requires more attention while roasting.

These are terrific served with cauliflower rice or mashed cauliflower and quick pickles (see below)

Preparing meat on the bone gives you so much more nutritional benefit than boneless cuts.  The pressure cooking or slow oven roasting helps bring out the minerals, glucosamine,  hyaluronic acid, collagen (to name a few) from the bone.

3 lbs grass-fed beef short ribs
coconut oil
sea salt or Himalayan salt
black pepper
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup tamari or coconut aminos
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion, grated
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
4 cups dashi broth (made from kombu- see below)
fresh parsley, optional

About 30 minutes before cooking, salt and pepper the ribs and let get to room temperature.

Make the dashi broth.  Put a 4 inch piece of kombu in 4 cups of water and soak for 15 minutes.  Boil the kombu for another 15 minutes then remove kombu. Once done, add the tamari, mirin, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, onion, and cayenne pepper.

Heat 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil in the Instant Pot on the saute function.  Add the ribs, bone side up, and fry until browned.  Brown the other two meaty sides of the ribs until golden brown.

Turn the Instant Pot to the meat setting and place the ribs in the pot, bone side down. Cover with the dashi broth/tamari mixture.

Set the pot to 45 minutes and start.

Do a quick release when done and serve with broth ladled over the ribs.  This is great served with cauliflower rice/mashed cauliflower, and quick pickles (thinly sliced cucumbers with sea salt and red wine vinegar).

 

 

 

 

OVEN ROASTING METHOD:

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Follow the instructions above but sauteed in a cast iron skillet instead of the instant pot.  Transfer the ribs to a dutch oven and pour the broth mixture over the ribs and cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and cook for another 3-4 hours, basting with the broth every hour or so (add more broth if necessary)

This is a simple, yet exotic recipe that highlights so many fabulous flavors and textures. You will feel like a gourmet cook when you serve it. This recipe is great served with any vegetable or with grilled halloumi (greek goats milk cheese).

4 free range chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
Natural Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 tbsp Za’atar spice (add 1/4 cup olive oil if dry spice) *see below for the kind I used)
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 onion, cut in chunks
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup filtered water
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
Olive oil for drizzling

Sprinkle chicken generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil on sautee function on the Instant Pot. Brown chicken, skin side down first until browned. Brown the other side. Remove chicken and set aside. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add garlic and saute for 1 more minute. Rub 1 tablespoon of za’atar over each breast being sure to get some underneath the skin. Add the chicken back into the pot and add the remaining ingredients except for parsley and olive oil. Set Instant Pot on Meat setting and cook for 12 minutes. Do a quick release when done and serve.

ROASTING METHOD:  Brown chicken in a cast iron dutch oven and add the rest of the ingredients and roast in a 425 degree oven until done.