As a carnivore, I loves me some steak. You may not be a carnivore, but I’m sure you loves you some steak, too.

Most of the time, I’m quite content to eat nothing but the steak. It’s delicious. You really don’t need much else. Maybe a pat of butter on top if you’re getting fancy.

But every so often, I’m reminded of all the delicious things you can put on top of a steak, and I get food envy.

Behold:

• Red wine pan sauce
• Roasted Cipollini onions
• Sauteed mushrooms with thyme and garlic
• Gremolata

None of these steak accoutrement are incompatible with a paleo, keto, or LCHF diet. Onions, mushrooms, fresh greens, garlic, wine, bone broth. Richness or brightness of flavor and sumptuous texture that play off the steak and contribute to a spectacular eating experience. I used to think that cooking paleo was a challenge; now all I see are delicious choices.

For now, my body insists that we remain strict carnivore. (By “we” I mean myself and the Leviathan that lives in my gut. Most people call it Crohn’s disease.) Any carb stronger than the faintest whisper of the lactose in cheese or sour cream gets a resounding “NO” from the inflammation markers in my body.

But a girl can dream.

Someday, I will eat mushrooms and onions and thyme with my steak, and it will be beautiful.

Someday, I will actually deglaze a pan with something other than water.

Someday, I will not pick the garlic out of the cooking pot.