How to diet fast 1 week

I have a couple of friends who have embraced the Paleo Diet, so I've been learning more about it.  Happily, there's a lot of overlap between my South Beach Diet way of eating and Paleo, so it's not that much of a stretch for me to try to feature recipes occasionally that will work for my Paleo friends.  What *can* be challenging is that everyone who does Paleo seems to have their own rules about what they can or can't eat!  That's why when I redesigned my blog and added the new row of tabs to categorize the recipes by more diet types, I made a tab that says Can be Paleo.  Under that tab you'll find recipes that most Paleo eaters will be able to enjoy, like this Slow Cooker Southwestern Beef Stew with Tomatoes, Olives, and Chiles.  And even if you're not eating Paleo, I bet you'll still like this a lot if you like Southwestern flavors!

(Today's pick for the month of Daily Phase One Recipes is these flavorful Ground Beef Gyro Meatball Lettuce Wraps with Tzatziki and Tomatoes that I first posted in 2012. I've made these meatball lettuce wraps many times since then, and still love this recipe when I'm craving Greek food.  You can see all the recipes from the month by clicking the link Daily Phase One Recipes.  Check after the recipe for Phase One Flashbacks from this day in 2012 and 2013.)

This recipe is for everyone who loves the complex flavors of Greek Gyros (pronounced yeer-ohs), but it's especially for my brother Mark.  When the idea first popped into my head to make a lettuce wrap with Gyro flavors, I immediately thought of Mark and his love of Greek food.  It might have been a good thing that I had that image of him enjoying this in my mind, because it took Jake and I five tries to get the seasoning for the Gyro meatballs just right.  When I came back to the kitchen from taking photos and Jake sheepishly admitted he had eaten quite a few of the meatballs, I knew this final version was a keeper!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this recipe for Low Carb Stuffed Peppers with Turkey Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, and Mozzarella is something I love to make and freeze individually for quick meals later.  This recipe was featured in January 2012 for a Month of Daily Phase One Recipes, and it's been a big hit ever since.)

If you watch the left sidebar where it shows the most visited recipes, you might have noticed that Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are almost always there as one of the most-visited recipes.  Who knew stuffed peppers were so popular?  That recipe contains rice, but I also love this version of Phase One Stuffed Peppers and I recently made it again with Jake to update the photos.  We each enjoyed one, and then I had leftovers with my brother Mark, who also thought they were great.  This recipe makes six peppers, and this is the type of thing I'd make ahead and keep in the freezer to take for lunch when I was teaching school, so even if you're only cooking for one or two people I recommend making the whole recipe and freezing some. 

Maybe everyone but me knows about the idea of cooking ground beef in the slow cooker without pre-browning the meat, but when I saw this idea popping up on various blogs, I was intrigued.  I don't use a lot of ground beef, but I do love Taco Salad, and the idea of having Spicy Ground Beef for Tacos, Burritos, or Taco Salad in the freezer was enough to get me to try this method.  I love the ground beef tacos you get at a Mexican restaurant, where the meat is highly seasoned and very finely broken apart, so that's what I was going for.  I was fully prepared to try this several times to perfect the recipe, but my first try was a winner!  I did use a very generous amount of Cholula Hot Sauce to season the meat, so if you're making this for kids (or adults who don't like much heat) you probably want to use the smaller amount listed in the recipe.