Hands down my favourite days to cook are Sundays. I am often at home for a good chunk of the afternoon, so I have the ability to get fancy and creative in the kitchen! I’m talking slow-roasted ribs, braised chops, roast duck (new accomplishment as of yesterday)…oh how I wish every day was like Sunday!
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But alas that’s not how life works. And to be honest, I love work, and Sundays are the only day I don’t work, so if every day was Sunday, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love.
So what do our week day meals look like?
Often it’s pork chops, burgers or sausages. But there are days that we get home from the office at 8pm and you can bet that we are STARVING at that time! Those nights we try to get dinner together as quickly as possible! What can I throw together in 10 minutes or less???
Lettuce Wrap Tacos!
The best part? You can get as fancy as you want, or keep it simple and straight forward. It can also be modified to any diet – autoimmune protocol, low-carb, dysbiosis protocol, SCD, GAPS. Odds are you have most of these ingredients in your kitchen right now!
Optional prep step: Sautee onions and garlic in some fat (coconut oil, organic lard / tallow, bacon grease) for a few minutes.
Step 1: sautee 1 lb ground meat (pork, beef, chicken, turkey). We buy our meat from Brooker’s.
Step 2: season liberally with sea salt and pepper
Optional seasonings: cumin, chili powder, chill flakes, oregano, hot sauce, paprika
Step 3: while the meat is cooking (keep an eye on it, stir regularly) prep the wraps. Choose a leafy green that is large enough to make into a wrap – butter lettuce and romaine work, but my favourite is the Collard Green. It is so sturdy it never breaks! They can be hard to find organic, so we rely on Mama Earth CSA for ours!
Step 4: prep toppings. This is where things get fancy or stay simple! Choose any or all of the following toppings:
salsa
sauerkraut
mayo
fermented carrots
diced tomato
sliced avocado
guacamole
diced onions
cilantro
sauteed onions
sauteed peppers
Step 5: Turn off the heat once the meat has cooked through and start building your wraps. We put together our tacos right in the kitchen to save time transferring it to pretty serving dishes! Dish up the meat right from the pan, leave the toppings on the cutting board, and let the lettuce wraps dry in the drying rack.
So there you have it – easy peasy lettuce wrap tacos that turn into great taco salads for lunch the next day! If you don’t scarf it all down at dinner that is…
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 tbsp fat of choice (bacon grease, lard, coconut oil)
- 1 lb ground meat (pork, beef, chicken, turkey)
- sea salt
- pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ - 1 tsp chili flakes
- 8 collard greens (sub butter lettuce or romaine)
- 2 small avocados
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- ¼ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
- Heat pan over medium.
- Add fat, sauté onions and garlic for 3 minutes.
- Add ground meat, season liberally with sea salt and pepper.
- Add cumin, oregano and chill flakes. Stir well.
- While the meat is cooking (keep an eye on it, stir regularly) prep the collard greens by washing and breaking off the stems.
- Slice avocados, dice a red onion, wash and chop some cilantro. Leave on cutting board.
- When meat is finished, assemble tacos directly from the dishes they were cooked in.
- Divide ¼ of the meat mixture between 2 collard leaves.
- Top with prepared avocados, onion, cilantro.
- Add salsa, sauerkraut and any other sauces you have around the house!
- Additional spices: paprika, hot sauce, coriander
- Additional toppings: diced tomatoes, homemade mayo, fermented carrots, guacamole, sautéed onions, sautéed peppers