Lamb & Beef Kefta and "Hummus"

Starting today CaveBoy and I are fortifying ourselves against back-to-school-colds and damp-weather-ick by eliminating dairy and inflammation inducing oils, along with all processed foods with even a hint of added sugar or harmful additives. If you're interested, we are following the guidelines of the Whole30 program.

In practical terms, following this program means that we will only be eating food prepared at home for the next month. So I need to step up my game!

Over the summer our good friend made a delicious spread of paleo appetizers, including roasted cauliflower hummus, and I have been thinking about it ever since.  Because I was in the mood for raw veggies--and ranch dressing is off the menu--I decided to build our entire lunch box around this delicious dip.

I found this recipe for cauliflower hummus online, which gave me an idea of the ingredient ratios, and I based my seasoning profile for the kefta on another recipe I found after a quick google search.

Lamb & Beef Kefta

2 lbs ground lamb
2 lbs ground beef
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Large pinch of salt
Black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until completely combined.  Divide into 10 equal portions, and then divide each again twice, for a total of 40 equally sized portions. Roll into elongated meatballs of equal thickness.  Arrange on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Don't you want to have this in your lunch box?

	Cal	Fat	Carb	Protein
L&B Kefta	432	30*	0	35
"Hummus"	118	10	6	4
Veggies	31	0	6	3
Total	580	40*	12	41

*The fat content of the Kefta is a little misleading.  A large portion of the fat is left in the pan after cooking, but I am not quite sure how to capture that here.


Roasted Cauliflower "Hummus" 

1 head of cauliflower
1/2 cup tahini, well mixed
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt
pepper
paprika

Wash and break-down cauliflower into equal sized pieces.  Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a few shakes of salt and pepper.  Arrange on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until browned (and softened).  About 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  In a food processor, puree cauliflower, tahini, olive oil and lemon juice until it has the consistency of a thick paste.  Shake in salt, pepper, and paprika, to taste, and continue mixing until completely combined.

Note: this is my first attempt at this recipe and, while it tastes amazing, I think I can do better.  I will continue my research and update this post if I decide I like different ingredient ratios.


Update: I re-worked the hummus and posted the much-improved recipe here. Enjoy!