Spicing Things Up During The Quarantine

Posted on by Alison Brooks

Being pregnant during a pandemic is very interesting. One of the downsides, no dry gin martinis. I’d kill for one right about now. Four more months until that is a reality! On the plus side, buying lots of maternity clothes is not necessary. I have nowhere to go and pretty much live in leggings. While I have completely transformed our guest room into a nursery (both fun AND a lot of work), one of the other positives to having so much time on my hands is getting to take time to cook great meals. I started doing a weekly menu so that I limit the amount of times I go to the store. Creating weekly menus has been a great way to stay on top of eating healthy during this time when it is very easy to push healthy eating out the door and eat all the easy-not-so-good-for-you (but delicious) foods. What I buy we eat.

Since being pregnant, I have started to enjoy the spicier foods life has to offer. Which had me looking for recipes that have a little spice. One of our new favorite dinners is Chipotle Avocado Ground Beef Bowls. Easy meal to put together and full of flavor.

I took this recipe and changed a few things. Below is the original recipe, but here is what I changed. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. We just don’t eat as much ground beef these days. We have used cauliflower rice before, but since being pregnant cauliflower has become one of my food aversions. So we use brown rice. We also use two avocados as opposed to three.

The ingredients are easy to find. I have successfully always found Poblano peppers at Whole Foods and occasionally at Safeway and Giant. Roasting the poblano is so important to this recipe. Roasting the pepper adds the smokiness to this recipe which is key! We use whatever salsa we have on hand.

I love the spice but also love sour cream. So I always add a little sour cream on top before eating. We also add cotija cheese. It adds a nice saltiness to the dish. This is a Whole 30 dish (minus the brown rice) that is full of spice and smokiness. A must try if you enjoy all things flavorful.

A nice mocktail to pair with this dish: Spicy Margarita. Katie Lee from the Food network show the Kitchen is also pregnant and made this delicious mocktail:

  • Orange juice
  • 1 lime
  • Jalapeño pepper
  • Ice

Fill shaker with ice, pour orange juice and juice from one lime in shaker. Cut 1-2 slices of jalapeño pepper. Shake that bad boy up! Pour and enjoy! Garnish with slice of lime and jalapeño pepper slice. Add tequila if you aren’t growing a human.

40 Aprons Whole30 Chipotle Beef Avocado Bowl Ingredients: Click the link for the step by step.

Smoky Sauce
Whole30 Chipotle Beef & Avocado Bowls
  • 8 ounces grass-fed ground beef – We prefer ground turkey and I use the whole lb
  • 8 ounces baby Bella mushrooms minced
  • 2 12- ounce bags frozen cauliflower rice or about 6-8 cups, steamed – We currently use brown rice instead of the cauliflower
  • 2 whole limes juice of, divided
  • 2/3-1 cup fresh cilantro chopped, plus more for garnish, if desired
  • 3 whole avocados halved, pitted, and peeled – We use 2
  • 1/2 cup minced red onion plus more for garnish, if desired

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