Carne Asada Pizza or Carne Asada Salad
As a busy mom, there is little time to create separate meals to meet your fitness goals, especially if you aim for paleo, keto, or other low carb lifestyle. Since my daughter enjoys a fast metabolism, I make rice, bread, or pasta dishes for her while modifying for low carb swaps for myself.
She recently discovered a love of steaks so I made carne asada flatbread pizza and a salad for myself which was super quick to make. There are notes about my oven in the instructions. I have to adjust 25 degrees over what most recipes call for and increase the time to get the right amount of crispness.
Low Carb Swap: Salad
This recipe uses the carne asada, tomatoes, mini peppers, etc. over gem or butter lettuce with a cilantro lime dressing. If you have avocado, put a few slices on top and it will definitely fill you up. I’m still working on the Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette recipe, I’ll post the recipe once it’s perfected. In the meantime, use your favorite dressing or vinaigrette.
Low Carb Swap: Carne Asada Wrap
Use the carne asada, cheese, tomatoes, mini peppers, lettuce, and low carb tortilla. You can put sliced avocados or guacamole into the wrap. I like the Siete Foods Coconut & Cassava Tortillas for wraps or the Siete Foods Almond Flour Tortillas for quesadillas. You can find these tortillas at Whole Foods or order them on Amazon (linked).
The recipe instructions show each step, so it makes it seem really long, it’s pretty quick and easy to make. When I started cooking, I found that people left out steps and I would wonder why my dishes didn’t come out the same.
Ingredients
- • Sliced flat iron steak (about 1/2 lb per person)
- • Oval pizza shells
- • 5 mini sweet peppers
- • Mexican cheese blend
- • Sliced red onions
- • Gem lettuce or butter lettuce
- • Vine-ripe tomatoes
- • Cilantro-lime dressing
- • Mexican chili spice (1/2 tsp each: cumin, chili powder, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F (my oven needs to be 25 degrees higher)
- Put the oval pizza shells into the oven, directly onto the oven rack, and cook for 4 min.
- NOTE: in my oven I had to have the temp at 475°F and cooked for 8 minutes to make sure that the flatbread would stay crispy after putting the toppings on it.
- Use tongs to carefully remove the pizza shells from the oven and transfer them to a baking sheet lined in parchment paper (or foil).
- Gently wash and dry your fresh produce.
- Then use a kitchen knife and cutting board to:
- Slice the mini sweet peppers into rings, and discard the seeds.
- Core the vine-ripe tomatoes, and dice into bite-sized pieces.
- Chop the gem lettuce into bite-sized pieces.
- Place the sliced flat iron steak into a mixing bowl.
- Season with a pinch of salt, pepper, and half of the Mexican chili spice.
- Place a sauté pan onto the stovetop, add 1 tbsp. of avocado oil, and set the heat to medium-high.
- When the oil is hot, place the seasoned sliced flat iron steak into the pan.
- Cook for 90 sec, without moving the pieces.
- Then use tongs to turn over the pieces, and cook for 60 additional sec.
- Turn off the heat, and set aside for the assembly of the flatbread pizza.
- Reserve some carne aside for salad, if you are choosing the low carb version.
- In a sauce pan, add 1 tbsp. of avocado or coconut oil, and set the heat to medium.
- When the oil is hot, add the sliced red onions and the mini sweet peppers
- into the pan. Cook for 3 min.
- Then add the diced tomatoes and the remaining Mexican chili spice.
- Cook for 3 minutes, or until the tomatoes have cooked down into a sauce.
- OPTIONAL: Put the tomatoes, onions, mini peppers in a blender and blend to a sauce. You can set some aside for a salad.
- Evenly spoon the tomatoes, peppers, and onions across each of the flatbread. If you blended, spread the “pizza sauce” evenly across both flatbreads.
- Top with the sliced flat iron steak (carne asada) and the Mexican cheese.
- Place the baking sheet into the oven, and cook for 8-10 min, or until the flatbread pizzas reach your preferred crispiness.
- Use a potholder or a folded towel to carefully take the baking sheet out of the oven.
- Put the flatbread on a cutting board and use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the flatbread.
- In a salad bowl, add the chopped gem or butter lettuce, add tomatoes, onions, mini peppers, carne asada and the cilantro-lime dressing, then mix.
- Optional: You can add other roasted veggies or jalepenos for a spicy kick.
- Taste, and season with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
What are your thoughts?