Down South Paleo: Southern classics made grain free
Being raised in the Pacific Northwest, I’m no Southern gal. Call it a crime, but I don’t remember southern classics like huevos rancheros, chicken and dumplings, jalepeño poppers or homemade bread pudding ever gracing our kitchen table. So I have to make up for the 22 years of my life without Southern favorites. Enter… the Down South Paleo cookbook, by my friend Jennifer Robins at Predominantly Paleo.
Highlights of this cookbook for me include:
- Practical, family-friendly recipes These dishes boast simple preparation but don’t compromise flavor.
- A focus on recipes for various dietary restrictions. Not only are the recipes paleo friendly, many of them are autoimmune paleo as well. Jennifer denotes which recipes are nut, egg and/or nightshade free.
- Baked goods featuring a variety of flours. I’m not a fan of cookbooks that use only almond or other nut flours for baked goods. While a few recipes contain nut flours, many others use coconut flour, water chestnut flour, sweet potato flour, arrowroot flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour or fresh yuca. There’s something for everyone.
- Stunning photography from Stephanie Gaudreau, the talented photographer at Stupid Easy Paleo.
Paleo Crockpot Chili from Down South Paleo
What happens when you take the beans out of chili? With a few tweaks, you get awesome paleo-friendly chili. Jennifer created this fabulously easy dinner staple with a generous helping of vegetables and plenty of traditional spices for flavor.
Down South Paleo is on pre-order here from Amazon until August 11th. It’s 50% off while on pre-order, so grab it now if you want to paleo-ify your favorite Southern dishes.
- 1 lb (454 g) grass-fed organic beef
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 large carrots, chopped small
- 26 oz (728 g) finely chopped tomatoes
- 1?2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp (3 g) sea salt
- 1 tsp (3 g) onion powder
- 1 tbsp (4 g) chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) Worcestershire sauce (here's an easy paleo Worcestershire recipe)
- 4 tsp (12 g) chili powder
- 1 tsp (3 g) paprika
- 1 tsp (3 g) garlic powder
- Pinch of cumin
- Place the ground beef in a medium-size skillet over high heat and brown, stirring, until no longer pink.
- Spoon it into your slow cooker, including the fat. Now place the green bell pepper, onion, carrots and tomatoes into the slow cooker. Stir all the ingredients well, then add the remaining spices and seasonings. Stir once more, cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours. Top with nondairy sour cream if desired or additional diced onions.
This looks delicious. I seem to have a little reflux lately whenever I have tomatoes, so I’ve been unconciously avoiding them. Has anyone heard of a way around that?
Which slow cooker do you recommend? I have yet to find one that doesn’t have heavy metals or other toxic materials in the liner.
Lauren might have some other ideas, but I use a pressure cooker that doubles as a slow cooker. It’s the Instant Pot (on Amazon) and is pretty reasonably priced. Bonus – it has a stainless steel insert. Pressure cooker broth is delicious and gelatin rich (seriously, I’ve never had it gel better), but you can also throw it in slow cooker mode…which I plan on doing for this recipe soon.
I make a similar chili often because it’s so easy to batchcook. Chiili is a really easy way to get some more bone broth in as well- just add 3 or 4 cups of bone broth to the ingredients listed above.
For those that are sensitive to tomatoes- the bone broth will make it liquid-y and the herbs and spices still give a really awesome chili flavor without the tomatoes.
Are you intentionally avoiding beans? Could you write a post about eating beans, or why we shouldn’t?
Should I increase the cook time if I’m doubling the recipe?