Leftover Beef Skillet Supper

This was one of those improvisational dinners that turned out really well. Thumbs up from the teenagers, fast and frugal. Win Win Win!
When I make my bone broth, if my beef bones are meaty enough, I pull them out at the 10 or 12 hr mark, pull off the cooked beef, and put the bones back in for the rest of the time. The beef, by this time is lovely and tender, and is usually enough for an entire meal. I like to buy my beef stock bones from Oakridge Acres. I "stock" up(pardon the pun!) whenever we go out there to shop. They are meaty and big, and considering all of the wonderful goodness you get from them, a very frugal purchase. Two packages generally make about 10 cups of bone broth, and a meal from the pulled meat. For under 4$ a package, it helps to balance out the rest of our food budget.
I love my cast iron skillets for dishes like this, a quick saute and they can go straight in the oven, giving you time to toss a nice green salad and whip up some dressing, like this maple balsamic that is one of our faves! Feel free to substitute any leftover beef or chicken in this recipe, its a great way to use up leftovers!

Leftover Beef Skillet Supper

1 large red onion, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sea salt or zesty Herbamare
1 cup Beef Bone Broth
1 796ml can of diced tomatoes (look for BPA free cans!)
4 cups pre-cooked beef
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400F
Heat coconut oil in a large cast iron pan over medium high heat until melted and hot. Saute the onion for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic, thyme and salt. Saute for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and beef, and stir well to combine. Top with grated cheese and using an oven mitt (cast iron handles get hot!!) place in hot oven. Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Remove from oven and serve hot, with a nice tossed salad.

Cheesy Swiss Chard and Onion Bake

My Swiss chard is still going strong in the garden, and I am always trying new ways to prepare this lovely leafy green. I threw this together tonight to go with this recipe.  (see my comments at the end of this post about the meat loaf recipe!) Supper was pretty darn tasty!  You could substitute any leafy green of your choice here, kale would be lovely, but would take a little longer to cook.

Cheesy Swiss Chard and Onion Bake

2 bunches Swiss chard, any colour (mine is a mixture of red and green)

1 large red onion, chopped

2 tbsp butter

½ cup cream

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 375F

Rinse the chard and then remove the large middle stem from the chard leaves. Roughly chop the remaining greens and set aside.

In a 8-9 inch cast iron (or other oven safe ) pan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Sauté the onion until it starts to soften and brown slightly. Start adding the chard by the handful, stirring after each addition until it wilts down.(it will look like you have a TON of chard to add, but it will wilt down, really it will!)

 As soon as you have all the chard in the pan and it is all nice and wilty, add the cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for approx. 5 minutes or until the cream reduces slightly. Turn off the burner, and sprinkle the cheese over top of the chard and onion mixture.

Using an oven mitt, (because the handle of your pan is probably hot!) place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is nicely melted and browned. Serve immediately!

A recipe from Real Simple, well worth trying!

The only thing I did differently to the meat loaf was to leave out the ground pork (It is hard to find a good clean source of ground pork in my area, and I am not all that fond of it anyway—I just left it out all together) I also used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. Other than that, the recipe was exactly as written, and was very very good! The roasted cherry tomatoes become a smoky sweet topping for the meat loaf,  It does use oats, which I use sparingly and only occasionally. Although this makes this recipe not grain free,  I think cooked quinoa would be a great substitute if you wanted to keep it grain free)

Grain And Gluten Free Honeyed Pear Upside Down Skillet Cake

 A customer of mine gave me a box of pears from her backyard tree last week (have I ever mentioned how much I love my job?) . I think they are Bartlett’s, but I am not quite sure. I do know that they are very tasty though.  I needed to get them used up, so I threw this recipe together this afternoon. The results are definitely worth sharing! The cake to fruit ratio was ideal, and the honey complimented the flavour of the pears perfectly. Pretty enough for company, but easy enough to make any day.
I used my 9 inch cast iron skillet for this cake  (mine measures 9 inches across the bottom on the inside) because it goes easily from the burner to the oven. If you don't have a cast iron pan, you could use a cake pan and transfer the honeyed pears into a cake pan and continue with the recipe, although the cooking time would probably be a wee bit longer. The cast iron's heat holding qualities speed up the baking process being as it goes in the oven hot. (in my last cooking class I talked about seasoning cast iron pans, this link gives a great step by step tutorial. Coconut oil is my "seasoning oil" of choice)

Grain And Gluten Free Honeyed Pear Upside Down Skillet Cake

Fruit layer:

3 cups peeled and thick sliced ripe pears (quartered and then ½’d again)

¼ cup butter (mine was salted)

¼ cup honey

Melt butter over medium heat in the bottom of a 9 inch cast iron pan. Add the pears and honey, and sauté until the butter and honey start to reduce, and the pears just start to soften, about 10-15 minutes. Stir often.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cake Layer:

Measure into a  medium mixing bowl:

3 eggs

2 Tbsp chickpea flour

¼ cup coconut flour

2 Tbsp arrowroot flour

¾ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 Tbsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp honey

¼ cup kefir

Mix together well with an immersion blender, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary.  Spoon evenly onto the hot sautéed pears, and carefully place in preheated oven (remember the cast iron pan will be hot!!). Bake for 20 minutes or until edges are starting to brown and top feels firm when pressed.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan, place a large plate over the pan, and invert carefully out on to your plate from the hot pan. Let cool slightly before serving, or serve at room temperature. Store leftovers, if you have any, in the fridge.