A Make-Ahead Meal for the Days You Cannot Cook

This is the recipe for the good days, the ones where you have the energy to cook, so you cook enough to carry you through the days you do not. 1 session at the stove fills 8 containers, and future dinners wait in the freezer for whenever your body asks you to rest instead of stand over a pot.

Built on ground beef and a sweet potato mash, this dish is a source of protein and iron, nutrients involved in energy and the steady rebuilding a body does over time, and the sweet potatoes bring vitamin A, involved in tissue and immune health. Ginger, turmeric, and oregano bring warmth and have been studied for a role in the body's inflammatory response.

Let this be a small act of gratitude for the animal on your plate. Cooking this way, unhurried and prepared with care, is one way to meet real food with the attention it deserves.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 small onion (omit for IC)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 inch fresh ginger
• 3 celery ribs
• 3 carrots
• 1 cup mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup currants
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 pounds ground beef
• Juice of half a lemon (omit for IC)

For the mash

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Swaps made: none needed for AIP Core. Onion and lemon are flagged omit for interstitial cystitis (IC) per the source.

Method

• Boil the sweet potatoes for about 20 minutes until fork-tender, then drain and set aside.
• In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the onion in coconut oil for about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 30 seconds, then add the celery and carrots and cook 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook 2 to 5 minutes.
• Stir in the chicken broth, currants, oregano, turmeric, sea salt, and cinnamon. Transfer this vegetable mix to a bowl and set aside.
• In the same skillet, brown the ground beef. Fold the vegetable mix and the lemon juice back into the beef.
• Mash the drained sweet potatoes with the olive oil, sea salt, ground ginger, and cinnamon.
• To freeze, portion into containers with the meat layer on the bottom and the mash on top (wide-mouth pint jars work well). Cool completely, then freeze loosely capped for 24 hours before sealing.

Instant Pot variation

You can speed the sweet potatoes by pressure cooking them whole or cubed with a little water on high before mashing, and you can brown the beef and saute the vegetables using the saute function in the same pot before assembling. Pressure cooking times are not given in the source, so treat any appliance timing as untested (verify).

*Adapted from a-clean-plate*