Spinach Tiger loves ground beef. It’s our go to for easy meals that are fast, but not fast food. A meal like this can be made in about twenty minutes, Those of us who don’t want to rely on processed or frozen food need these ideas.  

Crack slaw is one of those easy, approachable recipes that is a savior when you’re eating low carb and you’re short on time. I’m not sure where this was invented or created. There are many recipes for it on the web and everyone puts their own spin on it.

My take for crack slaw is to slather it with an easy three-ingredient comeback sauce.

One of the ways I like crack slaw is to use a mixture of ground beef and ground pork because it makes me feel like I’m eating an egg roll. You can choose your ground meat. Most use beef, but the pork adds in a little extra flavor, resembling more of  that egg roll taste.

How to Make Crack Slaw with Comeback Sauce

It generally start with a little olive oil or avocado oil with some garlic, followed by ground meat. Once the meat is browned, l’ll add in the cabbage, fresh ginger, sesame oil, tamari or soy sauce. My secret for crack slaw is using my own homemade comeback sauce at the end.

Tip for Browning Ground Beef

This is a great tip that actually works for browning ground beef. I don’t know why it works, but it does.

• Add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to 2 tablespoons water. Pour over raw beef and wait 15 minutes before frying.

The Comeback Sauce

My comeback sauce is pretty simple. I use sriracha, mayonnaise, and a touch of soy sauce (tamari). I’ve seen recipes with a long list of ingredients, but this does it for me. I’ve tried adding in various ingredients and they did not work!

The ratio is mayo/sriracha is 4/1 and the tamari is to taste. You may want to add a tablespoon of tamari, but I would start with a teaspoon at a time. It’s so good.  It has the acid, fat and salt necesary. Creamy, tangy, and cool enough to counteract some of the heat in the crack slaw.

So tell me, do you have a secret sauce recipe? I’d love to hear about it.

More Ground Beef Ideas

• Ground Beef Cabbage Stir Fry
• Stuffed Cabbage
• Ground Beef with Peas and Onions, (most popular recipe).
• Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers
• Sautéed Cabbage with Bacon and Onion
• Beef Cabbage Soup

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Crack Slaw with with Three Ingredient Comeback Sauce Recipe

An easy ground beef and shredded cabbage dish, using bagged cole slaw mix, sesame oil, sriracha and ginger.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Prep Ground Meat

• 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or avocado oil more if needed once the slaw is added
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 pound ground beef see notes
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• salt pepper
• 1 bag cole slaw mix shredded cabbage
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon sriracha

Comeback Sauce

• 8 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons sriracha
• 1 tablespoon tamari sauce or soy sauce more if needed

Instructions

• Mix baking soda and water. Pour over meat. Wait 15 minutes before cooking. This helps to brown the meat. In meantime, gather rest of ingredients.
• Saute the garlic in the oil just to soften.
• Add ground beef that has been seasoned with salt and pepper
• After meat is browned, add in the cole slaw mix.
• Mix thoroughly. It will seem like a lot of cabbage, but it will cook down.
• Add in sesame oil, ground ginger, sriraacha.
• Season to taste. You may need to add more oil.

Comeback Sauce

• Mix mayonnaise and sriracha together.
• Add tamari sauce one teaspoon at a time. Add as much as you need to taste, but not so much as to make this salty.

Notes

You can mix half ground pork, half ground beef for more flavor

The post Crack Slaw with Comeback Sauce Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Skipping to present day, now I skip the outside and sometimes still order eggrolls and just eat the insides. That’s why this healthy eggroll in a bowl is so perfect for the low carb or grain free diet.

This is a very easy recipe, one you should put into your rotation frequently. It’s also pretty affordable, as ground pork is inexpensive as is a bag of cole slaw. If you’re thinking this is something that you can’t feed your family because it’s not enough, buy a bag of frozen rice (I love what Trader Joe’s sells).

Choose Ground Meat, Shrimp, or Shredded Pork, for Healthy Egg Roll in a Bowl

You can replace the ground pork with left over roast pork. You can also replace the pork with ground turkey or ground beef. I also like this recipe with shrimp. YOU DECIDE what is best for you.

Pickled Red Onion

I like to dice up some pickled onion just to have another layer of flavor. While I hate raw onions usually, I love pickled onion.

• Slice red onion in half moons. Place in colander over a bowl.
• Pour two cups bowling water over the onions.
• Pour a cup of vinegar into jar. (apple cider is a good choice).
• Add Peppercorns, teaspoon sugar.
• Add in onions.
• Ready in 30 minutes.

More Recipes You Might Like

• Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry
• Thai Peanut Salad Dressing
• Thai Peanut Bowl
• Honey Sesame Chicken Tenders
• Crack Slaw with Come Back Sauce

This recipe is low carb, paleo and keto friendly. It’s also gluten free.

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Healthy Egg Roll in a Bowl

An easy Low Carb Ground Pork or Shrimp Dinner and shredded cabbage dish, garlic, sesame oil, sriracha and ginger.

Course Entree

Cuisine Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil or avocado oil more if needed once the slaw is added
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 6 scallions cut Into one Inch pieces
• 1 pound ground pork OR 1 pound shrimp
• 1 bag cole slaw mix or 1 whole cabbage shredded
• salt
• 3 tablespoon tamari sauce or coconut aminos
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 knob fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon hot chili oil or your choice of hot sauce
• optional pickled red onion recipe in blog post

Instructions

• Saute the garlic in the oil just to soften.
• Add scallion (spring onions). Saute for a two minutes.
• Add ground pork or meat of your choice that has been seasoned with salt and pepper
• After meat is browned, add in the cole slaw mix.
• Mix thoroughly. It will seem like a lot of cabbage, but it will cook down.
• Add in Tamari sauce, Coconut Aminos.
• Add in sesame oil, ginger, your choice hot sauce.
• Season to taste. You may need to add more sesame oil, more ginger.

Notes

You can mix half ground pork, half ground beef for more flavor

The post Healthy Eggroll in a Bowl (Low Carb) appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

You can use ground chicken or ground turkey, because it’s the seasonings and the sauce that is going to drive flavor. Make sure to use butter lettuce, if possible, as the perfect carrier.

The sauce is made ahead as the meat will be cooked in half of it. The rest of it will be used as a dipping sauce.

Don’t let the amount of ingredients for ground chicken lettuce wraps throw you. Most of these you will probably already have in your pantry.

• Asian Slaw
• Peanut Noodles
• Thai Peanut Salad Dressing
• Ground Chicken Meatballs

Macros for Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps

10 Servings: Per Lettuce Wrap: 172 Calories 4 Net Carbs 13 g Fat 10 g Protein

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Healthy Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce Wraps made with ground chicken, served with ginger peanut sauce.

Course Entree

Cuisine Asian

Keyword ground chicken, lettuce wraps

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8 wraps

Calories 172kcal

Ingredients

Lettuce Wraps

• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 1 onion diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 carrot shredded (optional)
• 1/2 recipe of sauce below
• 1 cup water chestnuts drained, chopped
• 10 leaves butter lettuce
• 3 scallions garnish
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds for garnish

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or apple cider
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 6 tablespoons avocado oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
• 1 teaspoon sriracha or chili sauce
• 4 tablespoons Tamari or soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon black strap molasses optional

Instructions

Lettuce Wraps

• Make sauce below. Set Aside.
• Add oil to large frying pan.
• Add chopped onion. Cook until softened, about 3 minutes.
• Add minced garlic. Stir in. Cool about one minute.
• Add in ground chicken, breaking up with wooden spoon.
• Once cooked, add in carrots, 1/2 of sauce. Stir continue cooking a few minutes.
• Add in chopped water chestnuts.
• Taste for seasoning. Add in sriacha, salt, pepper.
• Arrange lettuce in platter. Add ground chicken mixture. Garnish with sliced scallion, and sesame seeds. Pour sauce over meat. Enjoy.

Sauce

• Add all ingredients together. Taste to your liking. You CAN add another tablespoon of peanut butter if you desire.

Nutrition

Serving: 1of 10 | Calories: 172kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 13g

The post Healthy Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

The key is to mix it up with lots of crunch and color from various cabbages, greens, colored bell peppers, snow peas and top it off with a very bright citrus ginger dressing. You can add peanuts or sliced almonds for added flavor.

When I first made this asian slaw, I took the time to shred Napa cabbage, but then realized a bag of angel hair slaw would save a lot of time and provide the same result. I also used a bag of broccoli slaw which has added carrots (more color). The only time consuming part of Asian Slaw will be doing thin slices of colored peppers and making a homemade dressing.

I highly recommend you make your own dressing, as it’s easy, fresh and won’t contain harmful seed oils like canola oil.

My Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing is full of flavor and jumps with brightness. I brought this salad to an Asian night potluck and it was a big hit. I kept hearing words like refreshing, flavorful, delicious.

The main components of the ingredients for Asian slaw are listed below. You can skip the nuts altogether or replace broccoli slaw with more napa cabbage or angel hair slaw. You can add in slivered carrots or finely chopped celery. I’ll leave that to you.

Main Components of Asian Slaw

• Large Napa Cabbage or Bag Angel Hair Slaw
• Broccoli Slaw (bag)
• Red and Yellow Bell Peppers
• Snow Peas or Snap Peas (optional)
• Scallions
• Peanuts or Sliced Almonds
• Sesame Seeds
• Cilantro or Thai Basil

Sesame Ginger Dressing Ingredients

• Fresh Knob of Ginger
• Shallots
• Tamari Sauce (or soy sauce)
• Garlic cloves
• Orange juice from fresh orange
• Lime Juice from fresh lime
• Rice Vinegar
• Sesame Oil
• Avocado Oil

How to Make this Slaw Turn into a Full Dinner

This slaw can be the base for grilled for the following poached shrimp, salmon, fish tacos, salmon tacos.

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Asian Slaw with Ginger Dressing

Asian Slaw with Ginger Dressing for a side or serve with a Protein

Course Salad and Salad Dressing

Cuisine Asian

Keyword Asian Slaw, Ginger Dressing

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1 Napa Cabbage Or Bag Angel Hair Slaw
• 1 bag Broccoli Slaw
• 6 Scallions
• 1 cup snow peas or edamame optional
• 1 Red Bell Pepper
• 1 Yellow Bell Pepper
• 1/3 cup Peanuts or Sliced Almonds
• 1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds optional

Ginger Dressing

• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons Freshly Grated Ginger (1 large knob)
• 1/2 orange
• 1 lime
• 4 tablespoons Rice Vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Tamari or Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
• 10 tablespoons Avocado Oil
• 1 large shallot
• 1 tablespoon fresh herb cilantro

Instructions

• Slice Bell Peppers into very thin slices. Slice scallions.
• Cook Snow Peas or Snap Peas and put on Ice to maintain color. You can serve them raw in the salad.
• If you are using Napa Cabbage, clean, rinse, dry and slice thinly.
• Put all cabbage and broccoli slaw in bowl. Add vegetables.
• Toss with dressing. You may not use all of the dressing or you may need more. For best flavor dress a few hours ahead and refrigerate.
• Add Peanuts and a sprinkling of cilantro right before serving.

Ginger Dressing

• Grate a large knob of ginger.
• Mince garlic.
• Finely chop shallot.
• Put vinegar, Tamari sauce (or soy sauce) and honey Into a jar Add garlic, ginger and shallots.
• Add juice from orange and lime.
• Add avocado oil and sesame oil and give a good shake.
• You may choose to add more of any Ingredient according to your taste.

The post Asian Slaw Recipe, Ginger Dressing appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Well that changes now. I’m going to give you two methods to make steak tips, and I’ll tell you my preference. 

What are steaks tips?

Steak tips are usually cut from the sirloin or round muscle. They are tasty but not tender like filet. Sometimes they are known as sirloin tips. They do well marinated and then cooked on hot grill, quickly.  

Sirloin tips are very versatile. Here they are coupled with caramelized peppers. You could make them with this mushroom sauce or sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, and various marinades or barbecue sauces. You could even serve them with this chimichurri. 

Do you have to marinate steak tips?

I recommend at least a one-hour marinade that has fat, acid and salt. Be careful not to over-marinate with fruits that can break down the meat too much like pineapple, which can turn the meat to mush.

What is the best marinade for steak tips?

You can do the marinade in this recipe which has sesame oil, coconut aminos and lime juice. Or you can use your favorite marinade.  For example, you could simply do some oil, vinegar, and worcestershire. Your acid could be red wine or balsamic. Acid and salt helps to tenderize the meat. 

Can you cook steak tips in the oven?

You can quickly cook steak tips in the oven under the broiler. The oven should be hot and the steak tips only cooked about three minutes on each side. 

Which method works best to cook steak tips?

I did a test. I marinated the steak tips for one hour. Half of them went on to a very hot grill. Half of them went in the oven under the broiler. 

I made sure to dry the marinade off so they wouldn’t steam. Steamed meat is gray and not good. 

The result: The steak tips cooked on a hot grill were much better, more tender than those under the broiler.

Where I buy my Steak Tips

I’m proud to say I love meat and I especially love steak. I have found a new place to buy the best steak I’ve ever eaten. 

Last year, we subscribed to Butcher Box and have been over the moon with the quality of the meat, and I asked to become an affiliate, which earns commissions on sales, because I was so impressed. We heard so much about Butcher Box and the only thing I can say is I wish we would have subscribed sooner. 

Benefits of ButcherBox

• • High-Quality Meat: Delicious 100% grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, heritage-breed pork, and wild-caught seafood.
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Go Here to find out more about Butcher Box

More Steak Recipes from Spinach Tiger

The Perfect New York Strip Steak (my most popular post of all time)

How to Cook a Ribeye Steak

How to Make Teres Major (a cheap, tasty cut of steak)

 How to Make a Skirt Steak with Chimichurri

How to Make a Flank Steak

Ropa Viaja (braised flank steak)

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Grilled Steak Tips

Two ways to make steak tips, grill or broil

Course entrees

Cuisine American

Keyword steak tips

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Marinating Time 1 hour hour

Servings 2 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound steak tips
• salt, pepper for seasoning

Marinade

• 1/3 cup sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil
• 1/4 cup coconut aminos or tamari sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 serrano pepper seeded, siced
• 1/4 orange juiced
• 1/2 lime juiced with zest

Fried Peppers

• 8 small sweet peppers or 3 bell peppers
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

• Season steak tips with salt and pepper. If they are extra large cut in half. Set aside.

Marinade

• Mix all ingredients for marinade. Taste and adjust as you see fit. You may want more or less ginger, etc.
• Marinate meat in half of marinade, reserving the rest for later. Marinate for one hour on the counter. This takes the chill off the meat and it will cook quickly.

Steak Tips on the Grill

• Heat all burners on grill for 15 minutes until grill is very hot. You will be cooking the steak tips fast.
• Put on the grill for 5 minutes. Turn over for 2 to 3 more minutes.

Steak Tips in the Broiler

• Heat broiler for 15 minutes and adjust rack at the top. You want a high heat to hit the tips.
• Broil for five minutes. Check at 3 minutes to make sure tips don't burn. Turn over for 2 minutes.

Fried Peppers

• The key is low and slow to caramelize peppers.
• Trim off ends, take out seeds and make thin slices.
• Heat pan, add oil and once oil is hot, turn to low. Add peppers and allow to cook for at least twenty minutes. You can do this while the meat is marinating. Turn every few minutes. You don't want charred peppers. You want these too cook slowly.
• Season everything again with salt and pepper. Serve with reserved marinade.

The post How to Make Steak Tips on the Grill and the Broiler appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing Gluten Free

Gluten Free Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing is part of a series in my exploration for a homemade Asian inspired dressing. It’s important to make your own if you want it to be gluten free, as the store-bought sesame ginger dressing will have soybean oil and soy sauce, which as gluten.

I recently discovered avocado oil, which is great when you don’t want that olive oil taste (my usual preference). To that, of course I add in a small amount of sesame oil and lots of freshly grated ginger. Bottled ginger dressings have a lot of onions; I add in a smaller amount of shallots. I use Tamari (which is gluten free) instead of soy sauce and an organic rice vinegar. I added mustard to bond the dressing, but you could use honey, if you like it a little sweeter.

The Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing can turn a Salad into Dinner.

I made a salad of chopped cabbage, lettuce, toasted rice noodles, chicken, edamame, pineapple and toasted almonds. Another idea would be use the sesame ginger salad dressing on lettuce wraps and skip the rice noodles, for a paleo, low-carb, grain free option.

However, it’s so flavorful, it’s good on lettuce.

I love using fresh ginger in recipes. This gingered roasting salmon is one of my favorites. Carrot Ginger Soup is another healthy choice.

More Spinach Tiger Salad Recipes

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Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing

How to make homemade sesame ginger salad dressing for salads, dips, marinade.

Course Salad Dressing

Cuisine Asian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 large knob ginger grated (about a full tablespoon or 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 shallot minced
• 1 tablespoon tamari sauce or soy sauce
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 2 tablespoons orange juice can use juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard can use honey
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 6 tablespoons oil

Instructions

• Peel ginger and grate.
• Mix ginger, shallot, tamari sauce, garlic, orange juice rice vinegar and mustard in a jar.
• Add in oil and shake well.

Notes

You can replace mustard with honey (or add in additionally)

The post Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing, Gluten Free appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Until I had to make an Asian salad dressing for a client, I didn’t realize all the options.

I’ve seen Asian salad dressings based with peanuts, sesame oil, ginger or even cilantro. They are all appealing for different reasons. Thus, this Asian-inspired salad dressing series was born. I plan to bring you all three, but today, I’m featuring the Thai Peanut Salad dressing.

Thai Peanut Salad Dressing

In this recipe, I’ve used peanut butter, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, honey and olive oil.

I’m still devoted to olive oil and think a nice peppery extra virgin olive oil that doesn’t have a heavy taste is still best. I’ve also used grapeseed oil (which as no flavor) and avocado oil.

If you are allergic to peanuts, almond butter is a great substitute, and a little sesame oil will go a long way and ought to be a staple in your pantry.

If you want to transform this Thai peanut salad dressing into a peanut dipping sauce, add one more tablespoon of peanut butter and reduce oil by half. This makes a great appetizer and would be great for crudités (or grilled skewers of meat).

I’ll bring you the salad separately. Like Asian dressing there are so many options. Remember the days of frying up ramen noodles for a crunchy topping, and adding mandarin oranges. I still like that, but hope to bring you some fresh options, using grilled pineapple. mango or fresh oranges.

I always like to hear from you, so please let me know about your favorite Asian-inspired salad dressing, and stay tuned for at least two more salad dressing options.

Let’s connect. Find me on instagram, and all of my recipes are in one place on my Pinterest board.

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Thai Peanut Salad Dressing

Thai peanut salad dressing with honey, sesame oil and Tamari sauce tops your favorite Asian Salad or makes for a great dipping sauce.

Course Salad Dressing

Cuisine Asian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or Tamari Sauce
• 1 large garlic clove minced
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red chile flakes ground red pepper or 1/2 teaspoon chili oil

Instructions

• Mix vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic.
• Add in honey. Mix well.
• Add in peanut butter.
• Add olive oil, stirring in slowly
• Add in sesame oil, chili flakes.
• You can use ground red pepper or dash of sriracha as a substitute.

The post Thai Peanut Salad Dressing appeared first on Spinach Tiger.