Paleo Tex Mex Casserole

 

I love love love this dish. I found it here on Popular Paleo. Seriously, I have liked everything I have tried from that website. I highly recommend checking it out. I pretty much follow her recipe exactly (except I do it 1 1/2 times for my family and I have made a few tweaks just for our tastes) so I'm just going to copy and paste it here.

 I like to top mine with homemade Guacamole and pico de gallo. And I LOVE this dish as breakfast topped with an over medium egg. So good.  

I'll post my guacamole recipe another day....just to keep you coming back for more ;)

Paleo Tex Mex Casserole (from Popular Paleo)

• 1 – 1.5 pounds grass-fed ground beef 
• 2 cups spinach
• 2-3 carrots, diced (about a cup)
• 1 parsnip, diced (about a cup and a half)
• 1 zucchini, diced (6″ zucchini/one cup)
• 2 cups diced bell peppers
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 14.5 oz can organic diced tomatoes
• 3 TBSP preferred Paleo-friendly fat
• ⅓ cup taco seasoning (or make your own)
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 5 cups shredded sweet potatoes
• ½ cup coconut oil, melted
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• Optional garnish: fresh cilantro, sliced scallions, avocado and hot sauce

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees (Fahrenheit).
2. Chop, dice and mince all the veggies and garlic.
3. Melt half of your fat of choice in a very large skillet or heavy-bottomed pan and add in all the veggies.
4. Season with that ½ tsp of sea salt, toss together and cook these down until they are just about fork tender. Remove from the pan and set aside for later.
5. In the same pan, add in the other half of your fat and get it up to temp.
6. Crumble in the ground beef, top with taco seasoning (purchased or your own blend, whatever you are comfortable with), mix and brown.
7. While the ground beef browns, peel enough sweet potatoes to get about 5 cups worth — I used 3 fairly large ones. Grate the sweet potatoes and set in a large mixing bowl.
8. Melt ½ cup of coconut oil and pour over the shredded sweet potatoes while warm, toss immediately! The coconut oil will start to solidify again as it cools, so work efficiently.
9. Once the coconut oil is mixed well, sprinkle the sweet potatoes with the onion powder, chili powder and ground coriander. Mix together.
10. Add the cooked vegetables and the diced tomatoes back into the pan with the beef, mix carefully to bring everything together and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
11. Transfer all of this veggie-meaty goodness to a large casserole dish (I filled a 9″ x 13″ pan). Top with the seasoned, shredded sweet potatoes, cover with foil and pop this in the oven.
12. Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes, then remove the foil and broil on low for 5 minutes — or until the sweet potatoes have browned and crisped up a bit.
13. To serve, top with fresh cilantro and sliced scallions with some avocado and hot sauce on the side!