Yeah, you could call this a ‘I pulled this out of my ass’ kind of recipe. Because it is. I had bacon. I had ground beef. And I had plantains. So why wouldn’t I put them in dish together and call them a casserole? That’s something that is so great about paleo. Pretty much everything tastes good together. So if you have no idea what to make one night, just pull everything out of your fridge, cook it in a pan together, and call it a casserole. Or stir fry. Either will work. And people will think you know what you’re doing. Fake it ’til ya make it.
I want a quesadilla. Like those ones from Qdoba that are super bad for you. And you can dip them in queso to make them even worse for you. That’s what I want. I’m sorry. I won’t eat it, but I’ll sure as hell dream about it right now as I type.
Ok, I’m over it.
I’m totally not.
So I’ve been a bit on edge lately. I don’t know what it is, but I think it has to do with traveling a bunch and not getting as much sleep. As I age (just a reminder, I’m only 25) I’m starting to feel the effects of not sleeping as much. When I was 22 or 23, no problem whatsoever. I slept around 3-4 hours a night, work 9+ hour days, and worked out 2-3 times within that day, and did it all over the next day. Now, if I have a crappy night of sleep, I’m dead to the world. Well, I usually have a great morning then a great afternoon workout, but once 4pm hits, I’m done. I don’t want to talk people, I don’t want look at a computer, but I do want to eat sweets. I got the sweets-emotional situation going on right now. Damn it to hell sweets. Why do you have to be so sweet and scrumptious? Pretty sure the only thing that will solve this situation is not eating sweets. Or sleeping. But neither of those things are going to happen anytime soon, so I must cope. With more sweets.
So I got caught in the act the other day. Believe me, it’s not what you’re thinking, damnit. I was sitting in my car, minding my own business, and what song low and behold came on? This Drake song. And if you haven’t seen Starbucks Drake Hands, you’re missing out. Anywho, when I was in Pittsburgh, it was an ongoing joke that George, Hayley, Bill and I had. Mostly because that song is on EVERY TIME you get into your car. So we made multiple videos, like any blogger would do. You can see some of the videos here. So once I got back to Colorado and the car instantly began to play in my car outside of my house, I had to make a video for a group text message. Obviously. So I did my best impression of Drake hands, noticed that I wasn’t even pressing record, did it again and then found myself feeling some eyes on the back of my head. It was my roommate, pulling up in her car, staring directly at me with a disgusted look. And it’s all on video. She said I was the creepiest person she’s ever seen, which says a lot based on the men she’s dated in her day. I think this may be one of those ‘you have to be there’ types of stories. My b, my b.
I can’t stop picking my nail polish off. How do women do this?
Beef, Bacon and Plantain Casserole
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Ingredients
- 6 strips of bacon
- 3 yellow plantains (you want them to be slightly brown, but not green)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large pan over medium heat, cook bacon until slightly crispy. Set aside.
- Drain excess bacon fat, leaving behind about 1-2 tablespoons.
- Cut off the ends of the plantains and remove the peel. Thinly slice the plantain lengthwise into 3 slices. Repeat with other 2 plantains.
- Add plantain slices to bacon fat pan and cook about both sides for about 2-3 minutes until they are slightly browned. Set aside.
- In the same pan, add minced garlic clove, ground beef, onion and salt and pepper. Cook until meat has broken down and completely cooked through.
- Now for the stacking of the casserole, you can do this any way you’d like.
- Place 3 plantain slices on the bottom, then 2 slices of bacon on top, then a couple spoonfuls of the ground beef mixture. Repeat two more times on top of the ground beef mixture.
- Put in oven and cook for 12-15 minutes. Let sit for about 5 minutes.
- Scoop out and serve.
Honey Mustard Crunchy Chicken Plantain Salad
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just want to say i did this dish last night and OMG i had to put it up and away cuz i would have ate the whole thing in a sitting I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT (bananas is my favorite fruit)!! You pulled an amazing recipe out of your ass..as you so gently put it….i am in love with your website
I made this earlier this week. Prepping the plantains took more time and energy than I thought. I thought it would be more like peeling a banana. I also used a bigger pan so I ended up using all of the bacon in the package and I cut the plantains into 4 sections. I was worried when I was putting it all together but once cooked and I tried it, I was pleasantly surprised. The plantain really makes this dish work.
Hey Katie. Yeah, plantains don’t usually peel the way a commercial banana does. The trick with plantains is to slice the ends off first, then make an incision down the full length of the plantain only the depth of the peel. You can then hole the plantain in both hands with your thumbs at the top. Using your thumbs pull either side away, making your way down to the bottom. The riper the plantain the easier this will be. If you are making a recipe that calls for green plantains then you may need to cut the plantain into smaller sections first, or you may even need to use a paring knife to peel it away. Peace.
Puerto Ricans make this but they add cheese to it. It’s called pastelon.
I am making this for the second time tonight, only I’m not just doubling it…not just tripling it…not just quadrupling it. I’m…uh…how do you say it? Six timing it? Sextupling it? Doesn’t it sound like I’m cheating?
Sorry. I’m cracking myself up here, but really, this dinner feels like cheating when you add the bacon to it! 🙂 My clan of 7 is excited I made this one again. Tonight I threw in a little oregano, just to see how it would taste. Tomorrow we might even serve up the leftovers alongside some eggs (over easy) for breakfast. That is, if there are leftovers!
Nice. I grew up eating this dish minus the bacon. PuertoRicans call this a Pastelon.
This recipe sounds great. I only take issue with the garlic. The only thing that 1 clove of garlic is good for is adding it to 5 more cloves of garlic. I am making this tonight. I will use 6 cloves of garlic though.lol
To this day I can’t hear Darke’s song and not start laughing at the visual of you creeping out in your car! Enjoy the laughs and the wonder food ideas you provide to us
This was a weird combination for me. I am pretty open to trying many types of dishes in foods, and I always give things a try before assuming it is good or bad. This was good for sure but I ended up eating the plantains after I ate the rest of the meal. I didn’t hate it but I wouldn’t necessarily make it again.
My recipe turned out soo sweet. it felt like i was eating banana flavored meat (even though i used plantains). not sure if i did something wrong…
Made this last night for dinner! 4th recipe from this blog that I’ve made this week. It was fantastic. Love all the comments about this being a Puerto Rican/Dominican dish haha. I’m Puerto Rican and my grandmother used to make this for me when I was a kid haha. She would add cheese. Which really isn’t missing honestly. My boyfriend and I loved it!