We’re just a couple of weeks into the pro football and while the playoffs are still anyone’s ball game there is one surefire way to win every tailgate you show up at – with a filling recipe that the entire crowd can enjoy. After spending a month learning the in’s and outs of Whole 30 I have a new appreciation for folks who create recipes for special diets.
Both hearty and healthy this easy recipe is perfect for tailgates where you want to eat healthy and still feel full before heading into the stadium. Over the last couple of month’s I’ve shared my favorite discada recipes for breakfast (Tailgate Breakfast Tacos) and lunch (BBQ Bacon Burgers). Today’s dish is my pick for dinner in the parking lot before the game begins.
For today’s recipe I am using a I’m using the 22″ Discada and 12″ burner stand from Carolina Cooker. This is a big cooking space perfect for mixing up a large batch of stir fry! Also known as a Cowboy Wok or a Disco, a discada is made from a recycled plow disk that has had the center welded into a large dish. I love the versatility of a discada for tailgating!
Eating healthy at a tailgate can be a challenge. This easy recipe is perfect for anyone who wants to enjoy a hearty and health meal before the game begins.
When I’m planning to tailgate the first step to prepare for cooking is prepping all of the produce and veggies. I love this dish because I can do all the chopping the night before and store each ingredient in a gallon ziplock bag. Once it’s time to cook just heat up the discada and away we go!
To start cooking, turn the discada up to a medium high heat and add olive oil in the pan. Once hot, toss in the yellow onions. I used 1 whole onion for this dish.
Allow onions to saute for 10-15 minutes or until translucent. Add sliced potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Potatoes take the longest to cook so keep an eye on the pan and make sure you aren’t allowing anything to burn.
Once potatoes are approximately 3/4 cooked, add the bell peppers. You can use any color of bell pepper you’d like. For my version I used an orange, yellow and green pepper.
Stir continually so nothing sticks to the pan. Once veggies appear close to done, toss in your sliced sausage. For this dish to be whole 30 I used Applegate chicken sausage because it is 100% sugar free. The sausage is fully cooked, so we are browning each piece while the veggies finish cooking.
If things appear a bit undercooked, push everything together into the center of the pan. This piling method allows for steam to finish cooking the potatoes and vegetables. Plate and serve with your favorite hot sauce or eat by itself!
[tasty-recipe id=”2626″]
Disclaimer: I received a product sample from Carolina Cooker to inspire this post. All content, opinions and thoughts are my own
When I was doing Whole30 a coworker introduced me to a chicken coconut curry recipe. I loved it, but I am terrible at keeping a wide variety of spices on hand and I usually have ground turkey in my freezer so this variation of the original recipe allows me to prep meals in advance and prepare it in the crockpot instead of stovetop.
What I love about this Thai Meatballs recipe is the flexibility to serve it as either an appetizer at a party or a dinner at the end of the day. This is perfect for when you are craving takeout, but want to eat healthy instead. I recommend doubling the meatball recipe and baking two batches at a time so one set is served for dinner tonight and the other is in the freezer for your next quick dinner.
The first step for this recipe is preparing the meatballs. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and toss the carrots, onion, cilantro, ginger, soy sauce, salt and pepper together in a bowl. I really love using fresh cilantro and ginger because it adds a crisp taste that I don’t feel you get from dried options.
Ginger root is pretty easy to find in the store, but preparing it can be a bit of a bear. A small amount goes a long way. Use a potato peeler to remove the skin and a grater or microplane to grind up the appropriate amount for the recipe. If you don’t have a grater on hand you could dice the ginger but make sure to keep the pieces small to prevent having too much ginger in any one meatball.
Mix all the ingredients together and shape into 1″ meat balls. Place about 1″ apart on a foil lined cookie sheet. Cook for 30 minutes turning halfway through. While the meatballs cook, start the sauce in the crockpot.
Place the Crockpot on high and add one can of coconut milk. If you like more sauce, you could put 2 cans.
Next add 3 tbs of red curry paste. If you use the Thai Kitchen Curry it is about 1/2 the jar.
Once the meatballs are cooked, pull them out of the oven and put them into the crockpot to cook for 3 hours. When the sauce has thickened it is ready to serve. I like cooking up a double batch of meatballs and freezing half for later. If you are cooking from frozen, use the same recipe for the sauce but place the Crockpot on low for 8 hours instead.
Serve on top of white rice or cauliflower rice if you are doing Whole 30. If you are using as an appetizer at a party, serve with toothpicks instead.
[tasty-recipe id=”2702″]Interested in other crockpot recipes? Check out my Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe.
Fall is my favorite time of year. The leaves are changing colors, the weather is cooler AND its the perfect time for slow cooker recipes and soups.
Chicken tortilla is one of my favorite recipes because its so easy to make, and it makes a big dish of leftovers I can eat all week long. When Drew and I first started dating, I made this recipe up and brought it all the away across town to him when he was sick. His favorite joke is telling people that this soup is why he married me.
This is a super easy recipe and one of my favorites for starting in the morning in the CrockPot and enjoying for dinner that night. It also works great stove top if you don’t have the time for slow cooking.
For this recipe you can either start with diced raw chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken. I’ve even used leftover chicken from Qdoba catering in the past and it turned out amazing! You’ll also want 2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 can of Rotel with Green Chilis, 1 can of Corn, and 1 can of black beans. If you want to take the heat up, add an extra can of green chilis.
The primary seasoning in this recipe is McCormics Taco Seasoning. Since we make this so regularly I buy the big canister at Costco
but if you want just a 1 time amount you can pick up a packet of taco seasoning at the regular store.
Measure out 2 cups of shredded chicken. When I’m using a rotisserie chicken I like to have a good mix of both white and dark meat. Rotisserie chicken is perfect for soups and two cups is about half of the chicken. I like to save the other half by freezing it for another meal later.
Next toss all the cans into the crock pot and turn it on low. Add the chicken and 3 tablespoons of taco seasoning.
Mix everything together and put in 3 cups of chicken broth. I like to use Better Than Bouillon for my broth but you can use regular canned broth as well.
At this point the soup is going to look a bit thin. This will cook down as you slow cook. Set your CrockPot to Low and plan to leave for 6-8 hours.
If you want to add rice to make your dish a bit more hearty, there are 1 of two ways. I usually have pre-made rice frozen so I toss 1 cup in about 30 minutes before I am done cooking. If I don’t have any frozen rice on hand, I use 1/2 a cup and put it into the pot an hour before I plan to eat. You don’t want to add the rice in at the beginning since it will absorb too much of the broth while cooking.
Once the soup has thickened, its time to serve. Top off the dish with cheddar cheese, sour cream and of course a few tortilla soup and you have the ideal fall meal!
[tasty-recipe id=”2677″]
College football may have officially started last week but for me Football season doesn’t really start until the Rocky Mountain Showdown [especially since then I can pretend CSU’s brutal beating to Hawaii didn’t happen].
Tailgating at the Showdown was always one of my favorite things in college and now that I’m an Alumni I love going to the game because it doesn’t require a drive up to Fort Collins.
I shared my favorite breakfast tailgate recipe last week, Tailgate Breakfast Tacos, and today I’m cooking up BBQ Bacon Burgers on the Discada for lunch. Burgers are a tailgate staple but using the discada allows you to punch the dish up a level by frying bacon, sautéing onions and toasting the buns. It’s a classy way to tailgate!
Discada’s are made from a recycled plow disk and welded in the center so they can act similar to a wok when placed on top of a burner stand. I’m using the 22″ Discada and 12″ burner stand from Carolina Cooker. This set up is big enough to cook 10 – 12 burgers at a time.
This is another recipe I wrote before starting Whole30 😉
Everyone loves burgers when they are tailgating and this recipe elevates you from tailgating rookie to tailgate graduate student.
You’ll want to mix up your patties before you head to the game. You can make them up the night before and store in a ziplock baggy with waxed paper in between each one.
For 1lb of ground beef I used 1/4 cup of Carolina Cooker’s Sweet with a Little Heat BBQ Sauce. After that I mixed in 1/2 an onion and 2 chopped Anaheim peppers. This will make 4 burgers and you can easily multiple the recipe for the number of people you plan to visit your tailgate.
Once the burgers are shaped its time to head outside to heat up the discada. I used a medium high heat for the bacon and allowed it to cook for 10 minutes. As soon as the bacon was finished I added the burgers to the already hot pan.
Burgers should cook for 5-10 mins or until the center temperture reaches 160 degrees. If you want to add additional toppings the leftover grease is perfect for sautéing onions and you can toast your buns around the outside edge of the discada.
[tasty-recipe id=”2597″]
Disclaimer: I received a product sample from Carolina Cooker to inspire this post. All content, opinions and thoughts are my own.
