Paleo Burrito with Rice and Beans

[Brad Hefta-Gaub]

Paleo Burrito with Cauliflower Rice and "Paleo" Beans #paleo #whole30 #met #glutenfree #dairyfree #legumefree #grainfree - burrito was wrapped in omelet, beans was made from eggplant, butternut squash, and almond butter. Delish!!

To make these "Beans" I roasted eggplant, and butternut squash. I mashed about 1/4 cup of each and added 1 Tbsp of almond butter. I added salt, pepper, cayenne, and paprika to taste. They really tasted a lot like refried pinto beans! I was very pleased with the result!

[Shelli]

WOW! That looks amazing!

[Tom Denham]

Looking at the picture, "I'd eat that."

But seriously, replicating foods from our old ways with Paleo ingredients is dangerous to completing a Whole30 and to developing the new eating habits necessary to live better in the future. If we stay close to the old ways, we slip back to the old ways all too quickly. The Whole9 discusses this issue as SWYPO - sex with your pants on.

Brad, Please devote your mad kitchen skills to creating delicious recipes that don't mimic anything else. Break new ground!

[missmary]

yeah Tom, if this was Brad's first recipe on the whole30 path I would be right there with you, but knowing that he is actually POST-whole30 and trying to keep up this lifestyle while bringing back some old faves for his kids (like pancakes, and burritos with refried beans), I think this is pretty cool.

I know the forums are supposed to be strictly whole30 to avoid confusion for newbies, so, maybe this would be better posted in the POST-Whole30 log area?

good job making it work for your kids, Brad!

[Brad Hefta-Gaub]

Well, I'll admit. I don't get it. I don't understand how you can call this SWYPO. Because it looks good?

If we break this down:

Was it a snack? No.

Was it carb heavy? No.

Was it sweet? No.

Was it a large portion? Yes. But I'm an Ironman in the middle of a 16 hour training week. I need food.

Had I made a fake margarita with it, using lime juice and some blended fruit for sweeteners, than that I would have called that SWYPO.

But even if on Whole30 I wouldn't call this SWYPO. Even if for some people Mexican food is a trigger, it isn't for everyone. Maybe for me, crock pot short ribs is a trigger because that's what my mom used to make when I was a kid. One persons trigger is another persons "meh". I don't think you can judge a food's "sexiness" unless you know the backstory of the person eating it.

[Snicci]

I don't think you can judge a food's "sexiness" unless you know the backstory of the person eating it.

So true! For me bananas are a slippery slope, but for others they may not be. It's all relative and personal.

[Aberrantatavia]

You know, the first thing I thought when I read this was, cool... A different use for eggplant! Maybe because it was labeled as a Mexican dish, it might give the impression that you were replicating something, but I didn't see it that way when I read it. This would not be SWYPO for me.

Sometimes I don't get the criteria either....

Thanks for posting, I will definitely try something similar!

[Brad Hefta-Gaub]

FWIW, I honestly never even considered that someone would think this was a SWYPO meal. I was stunned when I read Tom's post. I'm still a little rattled, but I'm probably over thinking it.

It's been 39 days since I had any legumes, and I don't expect to have them again any time in the foreseeable future... I don't miss them... I'm not feeling lost without them. I just thought it would be fun to create a healthy alternative to refried beans.

From the Whole9 blog... I read this...

In the case of Paleo desserts, it's a straight swap – you're desperately trying to duplicate the sweet treats you know and love in a way that's still technically Paleo. But if you're looking for a sandwich substitute, and you decide to use a lettuce leaf or a coconut Pure Wrap, well, that's a different story. Spaghetti squash for pasta, a portobello mushroom cap for a burger bun or egg and spinach “muffins†for traditional muffins are all examples of perfectly healthy and appropriate substitutions during your Whole30. (Another tip: If you're subbing something unhealthy with vegetables or high-quality meat, that's almost certainly a thumbs-up.)

I guess someone could argue that any mexican food is somehow junk food? But I certainly didn't get that from this quote. My "refried beans replacement" seemed to me to fit very nicely into the "speghetti squash for pasta" mold. I took a small bit (1/4 cup total on my plate) of flavor and texture that's made from legumes (bad for all the reasons covered in ISWF) and substituted it with a similar small amount (1/4 cup) of similar texture and flavor that was made from healthier components (sweet potatoes, almond butter, and eggplant). It seemed like a pretty much no brainer swap, whether it was my first Whole30 meal or not.

In addition, context matters. For example, the amazing fried chicken in Paleo Comfort Foods is a perfectly appropriate (and delicious) dinner choice while on your Whole30. However, if you're coming off a wicked addiction to KFC, perhaps Jules & Charles' creation isn't the best choice for you during your program. Make sense? So think critically about whether the food choices you are making during your Whoel30 fit the spirit and intention of the program, not just the technicality of the rules.

And I guess this is my point about "sexiness"... I know plenty of people who are addicted to fried chicken. But eating the amazing fried chicken that is absolutely paleoizing their "junk food" would clearly violate this recommendation. I wasn't trying to break the spirit of the rules by eating this. I was just trying to make a healthy tasty alternative to refried beans.

[AmyS]

I get what you're saying. I've thought this about, for instance, muffins and caffeine. Paleo-ified blueberry muffins are not allowed, but caffeine is.

However, I don't often eat a blueberry muffin, and I would not be subbing it for something less healthy, and it would just be something I'd eat (I don't like muffins much so this is all pretty theoretical).

At the same time, caffeine is a rip-roaring train wreck for me, even though it is allowed and many recipes on the forums (fora?) talk about how to drink caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, kombucha) on Whole30. I can't even imagine including caffeine on a Whole30. It would be more than SWYPO, it would be courting disaster.

So, yeah, the adage YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) certainly applies.

(Also, true Mexican food is one of the world's great cuisines. I'd be horrified to learn that Whole9 considers it junk food.)

[bonnynancy]

General comment: I truly appreciate the concern for avoiding SWYPO, especially for those of us who are new to the Whole9 community. I have talked about my 'Wheat Belly' experience and how miserably I failed at finding/making wheat-free substitutes for foods I now find I am better off simply eliminating. Rice flour pizza crust and crackers made out of hard-baked nuts and pasta made from corn..... etc. Yuck!I

Post-specific comment: I truly appreciate your creativity, Brad. This sounds delicious, and I think I'm going to give it a whirl! I do love Mexican food, but I have not felt especially deprived by giving it up, so I think this would be a safe option for me. And I do love me some eggplant! Yum!

Forum at large comment: You guys are all so great!

[befabdaily]

OK, have I been missing something all along? How is this more SWYPO than, say, making rogan josh and replacing the cream with coconut milk, and then serving it with cauliflower "rice" done up as vegetable biryani?

[TrayS]

So maybe in a situation like this the key to avoiding the SWYPO label is to not call a food something different than it actually is.

Using this as an example, instead of making roasted eggplant/butternut squash w/ almond butter, salt, pepper, cayenne, and paprika and calling it "beans", call it "roasted eggplant/butternut squash w/ almond butter, salt, pepper, cayenne, and paprika."

Just a thought, to settle the is-it-or-is-it-not question. If you call something what it is, you aren't trying to make it into something other than exactly what it is.

[Brad Hefta-Gaub]

Does a rose by any other name smell as sweet?

[Brad Hefta-Gaub]

It seems to me that SWYPO is a lot like what the US Supreme Court said about pornography. "It's hard to define, but you know it when you see it." And also "local standards for decency may vary".

I think if you look at a recipe and it screams SWYPO, then for you, it is. And you shouldn't eat it on whole30. But if it's not a food or meal that you have an "unhealthy" relationship with. And, assuming it is properly balanced from a carb/protein/fat perspective such that it's not "crowding out healthier options" then I think you should feel free to enjoy it.

I feel pretty strongly that we should make food that is not only nutritious but is also pleasing to ALL the senses. Taste, smell, looks, texture. (And it should sound good when it's described.) I don't think that's contrary to ISWF or Whole30.

I don't think that recreating any traditional dish and calling it the traditional name, using whole30 approved ingredients is by definition SWYPO. It depends on the dish (cookies, cake, ice cream, pie, etc are clearly always SWYPO) and the person (if you have a weakness for BBQ ribs then making ribs and sweetening the BBQ sauce with date purée is SWYPO!)

I will continue to cook in a manner that recreates traditional dishes, using healthy whole30 approved ingredients, and is nutrient rich and low glycemic index/not carb heavy. If that makes me unwelcome in Whole30, then I guess I can live with that. I'm sorry to hear that, and I'm sorry if I somehow violated the cultural norms of the community.

[Aberrantatavia]

Local standards for decency might vary... That's a good point. I agree with your points above, for what it's worth.

I hope you don't go. I enjoy your posts, your thoughts, and your general contributions.

[Kirsteen]

Brad, I'd hate you to feel unwelcome. As you say SWYPO is, in many ways, a personal thing. For me it's kale chips - to me they lost their pants long ago so I don't make them; for others they're fine. I'm totally with you that food should please all the senses. Believe me If I thought you had to give up enjoying food you wouldn't see me in this forum for dust.

Now, I know I'm not very good at explaining this so bear with me please. Recreating traditional foods with W30 compliant ingrediants to give you healthy meals you really enjoy is great. The problem arises when we're so attached to that meal that we won't give it up and still want the meal itself. For instance I used to absolutely adore fajitas. I had to give up gluten for health reasons and drove myself crazy trying to find or make a gluten free tortilla that actually tasted good. Did I ever suceed - no. A couple of times I got so fed up I threw caution to the wind and used flour tortillas which inevitably led to to days of agony (yeah I'm a slow learner )

Now I'm not implying for one minute that you're like this, I'm pretty sure from your posts you're not. However I'm sure there are other people out there like me (please don't tell me i'm that unique ) who can get so caught up trying to recreate a noncompliant meal that they end up saying 'Stuff it - I'll just have the original', instead of moving on to all the delicious food they can have. The problem is if you keep craving something it's so easy to slip back to eating it.

As we said SWYPO is a personal thing. to me it's a sort of continuum and we're all at different places along it. So when anyone here reminds us that x, y or z could be SWYPO, it's not a personal criticism. No one knows what anyone else is thinking or feeling. It's a reminder to all of us to think about what we're eating and why. So please don't feel you're not welcome. Keep the cooking skills going.

[MrsStick]

I think that sounds amazing - I might have to try it just to see if the flavor/texture is good for me! That being said, I've never had a bad relationship with Tex-Mex food (having eaten real Mexican food, I don't think that most of our "Mexican" food qualifies AT ALL). I used to do a lot of breakfast burritos or make tacos/fajitas for friends who were eating over simply because they were simple.

Although, considering this...maybe not until after I can do dairy again. I usually smothered my tacos/burritos/whatever in cheese and sour cream (also why I haven't made chili or taco soup). And that would be a sad day to eat anything Mexican-ish without any dairy for me! I <3 dairy, always have.

[CaseyD]

SWYPO is really an individual thing, although I think deserts are just an across the board no. I once posted about making paleo chicken nuggets for my kid and partaking so that I didn't have to eat two meals, not because I even care about chicken nuggets, and it was agreed this was o.k. If making this dish isn't anything more to you than a creative way to eat these ingredients, I don't see that as SWYPO. But, if say my husband were to try a Whole30 ( and he is not paleo at all), this would definitely be SWYPO for him, no doubt about it. He would totally be trying to squeeze his old unhealthy foods into a W30 package, which is what SWYPO is.

From your original post, there was no way to know if you were brand new to paleo, a veteran, or what. I think that is part of why the SWYPO issue got brought up. it is a fine line for a lot of people. Some may read your post, and if no one brought up the SWYPO issue, they may have thought "sure I'll make this because I miss eating garbage at a Mexican place." And for them, it could be a real problem. There are a lot of new-to-healthy-eating people on this board and a dish like this could be a problem. But, if it honestly isn't to you, the way paleo chicken nuggets are to me, then it isn't SWYPO for you. I'm glad to see this recipe because it looks amazing, but I'm also glad SWYPO got brought up in this thread.

[Derval]

I've never even eaten a "real" burrito with rice & beans so definintely not swypo for me!

[RevKT]

I am so interested when people combine foods and know if it will even taste good. Like how did you know to add almond butter to this? So creative and shows a real understanding of taste and texture.

[Brad Hefta-Gaub]

I am so interested when people combine foods and know if it will even taste good. Like how did you know to add almond butter to this? So creative and shows a real understanding of taste and texture.

My approach is to first think about the five major flavor profiles: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savory).

In this case, beans are an umami, salty, slightly sweet flavor. Butternut squash is pretty sweet and a little umami. Eggplant is umami and a little bitter. Nut butters (almond or walnut) are umami and a little salty. So these will basically mix into umami, salty, sweet; like beans.

Next, I think about texture. I'm pretty tolerant to texture. My wife and kids will turn up their nose to foods that have "strange texture". But in this case, I'm just trying to get close to refried beans, which from a texture perspective is pretty much "mush". So it's not hard to get close to that.

Finally, I think about Macronutrient balance. My goal is to reduce the glycemic load of any carbs. So even though butternut squash is already low, by adding protein and fat to it will further lower the potential insulin reaction to the food. Nut butter adds the protein and fat.

[Derval]

Clever boy!

[Aberrantatavia]

Hmmm... I just throw stuff in a pan and see what happens:)

[CaseyD]

Made this for dinner and holy crap - my 2 year old just ate 3 different vegetables in one meal! This is very good!

[Brad Hefta-Gaub]

Made this for dinner and holy crap - my 2 year old just ate 3 different vegetables in one meal! This is very good!

Yeah! That warms my heart!