Disclaimer: This post contains meat. Yep! I'm a yoga teacher and I eat meat. Crazy, I know. The more I learn about gut health and how our digestive system works, the more I firmly believe that for my body, I need meat in order to maintain optimal health. If you choose to eat meat, I highly recommend buying quality, local, pasture-raised meats whenever possible. If you are interested in learning more, I highly recommend the following books: Vegetarianism Explained, GAPS, Eat Dirt, The Good Gut. If you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, you could absolutely replace the steak here with tempeh, or something similar.
One of the things that became glaringly obvious to me after a weekend with Carley at our Yoga and Gut Health Wellness Retreat was that I don't eat enough raw foods. Raw veggies help feed the probiotics that are in our gut. Probiotics eat prebiotics, and prebiotics are found on raw veggies. Coming from the GAPS diet, which I used to heal my gut after longterm antibiotic use for Lyme disease, I never felt much of a need to include raw foods with every meal because I was still in that GAPS mindset - that a damaged gut has a lot of trouble breaking down and digesting raw foods. And while that's true, it now longer applies to me! Hallelujah! My gut is pretty healthy now, and I realize how important it is to be eating raw foods with every meal now that I can physically handle it.
I have been making big salads every week to accompany every meal I have, but this past weekend I thought I'd break away from my traditional salad, and try something different. Introducing steak lettuce tacos.
Steak Lettuce Tacos
Now, I'm not following a Paleo diet, and don't have a problem with grains, but I do feel like it's really hard to find a tortilla in the store that isn't highly processed. Lingering gut issues (read: discomfort and bloating) only really happen when I eat anything with canola oil in it, and any grain treated with pesticides. So, I decided to forego the traditional tortilla and stick with bib lettuce for the taco shell.
Then, I made a quick pico de gallo and a side of guacamole, seared some flank steak, and used some riced cauliflower for a little extra carbs because who's gonna turn down more carbs? Not this girl! Truth be told, I would've used rice, but I was all out.
Steak lettuce tacos
Guac:
- 1 avocado
- 1 sweet onion (red onion is probably more traditional, but I'm slightly allergic)
- fresh cilantro
- 1 lime
- sea salt
Instructions: Mash the avocado. Add chopped onion, lime juice from one lime, sea salt and cilantro to taste.
Pico de Gallo:
- 1 roma tomato
- 1 sweet onion
- fresh cilantro
- 1 lime
- 1 jalapeno
- sea salt
Instructions: Chop the tomato and onion. Add chopped cilantro to taste. Cut the jalapeno, and add, depending on how spicy you want it. Add the juice of one lime and sea salt to taste.
Flank Steak:
- 1lb flank steak
- sea salt
- pepper
Instructions: I'm probably the most boring "chef" ever. I don't marinade meats (mostly because I don't trust most marinades - too processed for my stomach - and also because I'm lazy and I JUST WANT TO COOK IT NOW). So, this is a very simple (#understatement!) way to cook flank steak. I think it tastes great, but there are probably better recipes out there if you are looking for more flavor. Turn your pan on high and let it heat up. Salt and pepper the steak. Once the pan is extremely hot, put the steak on it for about five minutes before flipping for another five. Remove from heat and let it rest while you work on the cauliflower rice.
Cauliflower Rice:
- One packet of riced cauliflower (I buy this at Whole Foods in the frozen section or you can rice it yourself using a food processor)
- Adobo seasoning
- Sea salt
- Pepper
Instructions: In a large skillet, heat up the cauliflower rice. As it starts to thaw, begin heavily seasoning with the adobo seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir continuously until thoroughly cooked (about ten minutes or so, depending on how big your skillet is.)
To serve: Take one piece of bib lettuce, add a school of cauliflower rice, layer that with a small piece of flank steak, followed by a scoop of the pico de gallo and guacamole.
Hope you enjoy! I'd love to hear your thoughts, and any other recipes you use to ensure you eat raw veggies with each meal!