Last week we had some awesome recipes from the Quantum CrossFit GET REAL Challenge.  It seems like people are getting more gourmet by the week!  We’ve got some serious winners in this week’s recipe round-up.  Enjoy!

I’m starting with 3 different creations from Jodi….apparently she is gunning for Top Chef Paleo edition and/or to be my personal chef.

Jodi’s “Melt in your mouth Lamb Shoulder Roast”

Ingredients
2lb lamb shoulder roast (mine was boneless)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 full garlic separated into cloves but not peeled
Rosemary
2 cups beef stock
1 tbsp almond flour
1 tbsp chopped capers
Fresh chopped mint

Directions:
Preheat oven to 500
Line the bottom of a roast pan with half the rosemary and held the garlic cloves
Rub the roast with olive oil and season on all sides with salt and pepper.
Place roast in pan and top with remaining garlic and rosemary.
Cover roast with tin foil and place in oven. Immediately turn oven down to 325.
Walk away and come back 3 hours later.
Remove from oven and take roast from pan. Leave to sit on cutting board and cover with foil to let set.
Pour fat from roast pan and add almond flour and stock to pan on stove top. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the drippings to be part of the gravy and bring to simmer.
Add capers, and mint (up to you how much to add) and reduce over low heat.
The roast will shred super easily and then serve with gravy over top.

Here is a picture of the Before:

Enjoy!

Jodi’s “Slow cooker baby back ribs”
aka: The way to Summer’s heart.

Before Pic.

Ingredients:
– 1.5 lb baby back ribs
– 4 onions (cut in quarters)
– 2 shallots finely chopped
– 2 shallots sliced thinly
– 1 tsp chopped garlic
– 1/4 cup tamari
– 2 tbsp maple syrup
– 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp Allspice
– 1/2 tsp Ginger Black Pepper to taste

Directions:
I started by laying out the onions in the bottom of the slow cooker. In a bowl, mix together the finely chopped shallots, garlic, tamari, maple syrup, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and black pepper. Cut the ribs into individual pieces and place in a zip lock bag. Pour seasoning mix into bag and seal bag and squish bag around to cover the ribs entirely with the sauce. Empty contents of Zip lock bag into slow cooker on top of base of quartered onions. Top with sliced shallots. I cooked this on the low setting of my slow cooker for 7 hours.

Then the real trick…

When finished cooking, I made a reduction out of the juices/sauce from the bottom of the slow cooker by pouring first into a measuring cup and separating off the fat from the top and then pouring into a sauce pan and simmering until delicious (until it was reduced to about 4 tablespoons) and then drizzled the sauce reduction over the ribs.

The result – perfectly fall of the bone delicious ribs.

Jodi’s gorgeous “Tuna Salad”

This was one of my favourite salads ever. Seared tuna, guacamole, tomato, mushrooms, spinach and pea shoots topped with a home made tamari, olive oil, cayenne pepper and dijon dressing.

Lisa’s “Chicken masquerading as Chili”

Ingredients
– coconut oil
– 2 large onions. diced
– 3 glove garlic, diced
– 2 lbs ground mennonite chicken
– chili powder, chipotle chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, oak smoked sea salt, pepper
– 16oz mushrooms, chopped
– 1 small can tomato paste
– 1 28oz can diced canned tomatoes
– cocoa powder

Directions:
Saute onion in coconut oil in large pot over medium heat (I did this til starting to caramelize).
Add garlic and saute a few more min.
Stir in ground chicken and (lots of) seasoning and brown. (You can add the seasoning later but I’ve convinced myself the meat tasted better if I put the seasoning on it while it cooks.)
Add in mushroom and cook til mushrooms are soft.
Reduce heat and mix in tomato paste.
Stir in canned tomatoes.
Once heated, taste and add more seasoning as needed (I had to put a ton in mine!)
Simmer on low heat for an hour to two.
Add about 2 tsp cocoa powder partway thru.

Anthony’s “Kale Chips”

Whose having a party? Because I’ll be bringing the kale chips.

Baked at 150 degrees for 3 hrs. Works well but a bit time consuming. Dressed with sea salt, pepper, lemon, and olive oil.

Amanda’s “Mexican Meatloaf”

There is no picture, but I am sure it will make you do this…. (note: I spent far too long trying to find a pic of Richard Simmons in a Sombrero to capture the spirit of this recipe, so I had to settle with this…)

Happy humpday! I took some gf ground beef and a package of sausage out of the freezer this morning with no real plan. Got home from the gym with no real cooking motivation, and threw this together with what I had on hand: Mexican meatloaf! Turned out pretty darn tasty, and will surely help you PR your deadlift.

The loaf:
Lb ground beef
4 spicy sausages (I used Rowe farms hot Mexican)
one minced onion
2 shredded carrots
½ Cup almond Flour
1 or 2 eggs

Remove sausage casings.  Mix all of the above and put in a loaf pan.  See how it fits just perfect?  Oven at 350 for an hour.

The Way Better Than Ketchup Glaze:

Can of Tomato Paste
Salt, Pepper, Garlic
Tbsp of grainy mustard, olive oil and chili powder
Tsp of ginger
½ tsp of cinnamon
juice of 1 lime

Mix and heat for about 15 min.  I added half to the top of the loaf about half an hour in and saved the rest for the side of my plate for reheats.

Note: Since the sausage I used is pretty spicy and zippy, I didn’t add any other seasonings to the meat mixture.  If you try something like Italian Sausages, maybe add some of your own spicy zip.  Ole!

James’ variation on Jason’s Famous Zuc Noodles…

Loved Jason’s idea of zucchini spaghetti and everyone’s variations on it. This version has some diced pancetta, vine tomatoes, arugula as well as some left over ground beef.

Elizabeth’s “Simple Scotch Eggs”

I love eggs but don’t like choking down plain hard-boiled eggs when I need a portable protein snack. These are a super easy adaptation of scotch eggs with no breadcrumbs or other haute mess ingredients.

You need:
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
3/4 lb ground pork
salt, pepper
Spice it up: I add about 1 tbsp red pepper flakes, a couple shakes of ground cloves, a couple shakes of garlic powder,1 tbsp of dried onion, 1+tbsp parsley (i use the paste bc I am lazy)

To make:
preheat oven to 375
put your pork and spices in a mixing bowl and mix it up with your (clean) hands. grab a handful, flatten it in your palm, add an egg and wrap it like you are making a snowball.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until it gets crispy and brown.

I have jury duty next week and intend to bring these in the hope that being the smelly egg woman will get me excused quickly.

That’s it for this week!  Stay tuned for next week’s recipe round-up!!