I hope everyone had an amazing Labor Day Weekend! I can’t believe summer is already over. It went so fast with everything we had going on, but I can’t help but be happy fall is on its way. Who knows what sort of “fall” Texas gets, but it can’t stay 90 forever! We originally were going to San Francisco for the Holiday weekend but decided pretty last minute to stay put, save money and explore our new digs! We ended up finally finding a new gym, trying a few really good restaurants, making our way to a friend’s lake house for dinner and puppy sitting this little guy. Our friends had a wedding out east so we decided to re-live June’s puppy days by hanging out with Winston for a few days. As much fun as he was, we are happy June is 1 year old now.
The lake house we went to is on Lake Conroe, my new favorite Texas place, and is about 45 minutes from where we live. The one thing Colorado lacks is water, so I was really happy to see that we have such a beautiful lake so close by. Mitch also got to ride his first Jet Ski and I think he’s sold for life. Even though we only went up for a few hours it was the perfect Labor Day activity with lake fun and lots of grill food!
So, this rice bowl! We made these for dinner last week and both loved them for their uniqueness and how easy they were. I love when I can throw ingredients into my crock pot then come home hours later and dinner is 80% made.
We’ve been eating Chipotle a lot lately so I decided to try to re-create one of my favorite bowls by making some barbacoa, or shredded beef. The beef just falls apart after it slow cooks and goes perfectly with rice. In this case, I served it with cauliflower cilantro lime “rice” and it was a delicious low-carb option.
These little bowls are really versatile and you can add whatever you like to them. Use the cilantro lime cauliflower rice as your base, then add a protein of your choice(shredded crock pot chicken, grilled chicken breasts or grilled steak would all be great options), and any toppings you like. We went very simple and added tomatoes, tomato salsa and chopped lettuce. If you eat dairy, full-fat plain greek yogurt would be another great topping!
This is an easy, fast dinner for busy weeknight dinners & also fun for kids to build their own bowl. If you make the cauliflower rice the day before, all you need to do when you get home from a busy day is quickly finish the rice and shred your beef. Grab your kids, get them involved in adding their toppings and you have a quick, interactive dinner on the table! You can also double the barbacoa recipe so that you have healthy leftovers for the rest of the week. Enjoy these versatile bowls!
- For the Crock Pot Barbacoa
- 1/2 lb flank steak
- 1 c broth (chicken, beef, or veggie)
- 1 onion - diced
- 3 cloves garlic - minced
- Juice of 1 lime
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp paprika (we used smoked)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- For the Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
- 1 head cauliflower - florets removed and either finely chopped or pulsed into "rice" in a food processor
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 c chopped cilantro
- 1/2 - 1 tsp salt - taste
- 1 tbsp butter
- Toppings for your rice bowls
- 1 head of romaine - chopped
- 2 tomatoes - diced
- Salsa
- Hot sauce
- Place all of the Barbacoa ingredients into your crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours
- After the meat is finished cooking, use 2 forks and shred and let it sit in the juices on low while you prepare your rice and toppings
- To prepare the rice, remove the florets from your head of cauliflower
- You can either chop by hand (this might get messy) until you achieve "rice-like" pieces, or use your food processor and pulse until you have "rice"
- Add the cauliflower rice to a large sauce pan and cook for a few minutes on medium
- Add your butter, salt, cilantro and lime and stir to combine
- Cook until your rice is warm but not too long - you don't want the rice to become mushy
- Scoop your rice into bowls, add your Barbacoa and toppings and enjoy!
- You can also use regular white or brown rice for this recipe. Just prepare your rice according to the package and add the cilantro, lime, salt and butter just like the cauliflower recipe.
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