hobson german rouladen

Yesterday marked the end of our Pay to Play challenge at CrossFit Addiction. As much as I'd love to sugar coat my results, I'll own up. I never got close to my 30 double under goal, but did manage to string together 10 in a row a couple times in workouts. In my mind, 10 double unders in a workout seemed on par with 30 rested. But the funny thing is, it didn't matter much whether I was just practicing double unders or whether I was doing them in a workout, my max was still around 10 or so unbroken regardless of if I was tired or rested. That signals to me it's a bit of a coordination problem. But the good news is, I didn't tuck my legs up under me. I piked out or jumped straight up. So at least I'm breaking old habits. But enough about that.

This past weekend, James' mom came into town and taught me how to make German Rouladen, arguably one of James' favorite meals. I vaguely remember the first time I had rouladen with James' family. I was scared to death because the dish just looked weird and brown with lots of gravy. But one bite surprised my tastebuds and I realized this dish was quite delicious.

So Mrs. Hobson taught me how to make it on Saturday, and I thought I'd share her version of rouladen (except we made her sub coconut flour for wheat flour). Just keep in mind that there's no real measurement for ingredients, but many of the ingredients are household staples, which makes it pretty easy.

Hobson German Rouladen (the paleo way)

Ingredients

• thin-sliced beef
• coconut flour
• salt
• pepper
• spicy mustard
• nutmeg
• bacon
• sliced pickles
• onion
• canola oil
• gluten-free gravy

1. First, lay down sheets of wax paper and sprinkle with coconut flour, salt and pepper.

2. Lay sliced beef on top of flour.

3. Spread a layer of spicy mustard on top of beef, then sprinkle with nutmeg.

3. Place folded bacon strip near widest end, and top with sliced pickle.

4. Top pickle with thinly sliced onion.

5. Carefully roll up meat, keeping toppings in place. Also, make sure back of meat is fully coated in flour as you roll.

6. Thread ends with toothpick and place one toothpick through the center to secure.

7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

8. Cover the bottom of a skillet with canola oil, set to medium high heat and add rouladen rolls once oil is popping.

9. Every couple minutes, turn rouladen so that all sides are browned.

10. Once rouladen is browned, place in oven-safe dish with lid, and save grease drippings for gravy.

11. We made 9 rouladen rolls, and accordingly used 2 gravy packets. We mixed the gravy packets with 3 cups of water, then added to our skillet. It won't thicken up as quick as normal gravy, since we used coconut flour instead of wheat flour. But it's just as tasty.

12. Pour gravy over rouladen rolls, put on lid and bake in 325 degree oven for 1.5 hours.

13. After 1.5 hours, turn over rolls so that the tops don't dry out, turn oven down to 300 degrees and bake for another 1.5 hours.

14. After 3 hours of baking, turn off oven and let rouladen sit in oven for another 30 minutes.

Delicious!

Since I'm on a salad kick, I made a big salad with topping options, and Mrs. Hobson made dill potatoes.

It was a fabulous meal, and I can't wait to cook it again!

This recipe is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Seasonal Sunday.