nightshade-free beef fajita lettuce wraps with mango-avocado salsa

Peppers are the whole personality of a fajita: the char, the smoky heat, the color on the plate. This is a dish where you can genuinely miss what is missing, and that is worth sitting with honestly rather than talking yourself out of. What this version does instead is rebuild the flavor from someplace else entirely: warm ground spices, a hot pan, and a mango salsa with real acid and sweetness in it.

Zinc is why the beef belongs here beyond taste. Red meat is one of the more concentrated food sources of zinc, and this mineral plays a role in keeping immune signaling steady and in gut-lining repair, both under real strain during the elimination phase. The mango and avocado round it out with vitamin C and the kind of fat that helps your body use it.

There is a life behind the beef, worth a moment of acknowledgment while you slice it thin for the pan.

Build each wrap with your hands once everything is ready, lettuce leaf in 1 hand, filling spooned in with the other. Eating this way slows the meal down on purpose, and a dish this rebuilt deserves to be eaten slowly.

Ingredients

For the fajitas:

• 1 pound thin-sliced beef (skirt, flank, or sirloin)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 yellow squash, julienned
• 1 zucchini, julienned
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms (added in place of the bell peppers)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (omit for low-histamine or interstitial cystitis)
• dried oregano, to taste
• ground ginger, to taste
• ground turmeric, to taste
• sea salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 8 lettuce leaves

For the mango-avocado salsa:

• 1 mango, diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/4 small red onion, finely diced (keep it light, or omit for interstitial cystitis)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (omit for low-histamine or interstitial cystitis)
• chopped cilantro, to taste

The classic fajita pepper is a nightshade, so it is set aside here. Extra zucchini, yellow squash, and a handful of mushrooms stand in and give you the same soft-and-savory tangle the peppers used to. The marinade leans on oregano, ginger, and turmeric, which carry warm fajita flavor without any chili or seed-spice.

Method

1. In a bowl, combine the beef and the julienned squash, zucchini, and mushrooms with the garlic, lime juice, oregano, ginger, turmeric, and salt. Toss to coat and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Warm the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the marinated mixture and cook, stirring now and then, until the beef is done and the vegetables are tender, about 7 minutes.
3. While it cooks, stir together the mango, avocado, red onion, lime juice, and cilantro for the salsa.
4. Spoon the beef and vegetables into the lettuce leaves and top each with the mango salsa. If the wraps get juicy, serve it as a warm salad in a bowl.

A closing note

This is good company food. Set the filling, the lettuce, and the salsa out in separate bowls and let people build their own. The table slows down, and so does everyone at it.

*Adapted from acleanplate.com*