5 Things To Do With Ground Beef

With the social distancing forcing us to take what we can get for food at the stores, you might be finding yourself using ground meat more often than usual. Especially if you go to BJs, Costco, Sam's etc. and get one of these guys.

Great if you've got a family of 10, but if there are just 3 or 4 of you, you might get sick of ground beef pretty quickly. So, we all know the obvious, hamburger patties, meatloaf, meatballs, American Chop Suey. But what else can you do to break up the monotony? Well, one thing you can do is plan out a day to cook it all. Yup, cook it all. Then divide it up to use for a few different dishes. Freeze whatever you aren't going to use that night and you'll have some easy nights ahead of you. Here are just a few simple ideas to get you out of your hamburger rut. Oh - just remember to use plenty of salt and pepper when you are browning up the ground beef.

1. Taco Tuesday. Ok, this one might be a gimme for some families. Not mine. In fact I'd rather have a peanut butter sandwich, thank you. But, you can brown up some ground beef, put aside what you will need for tacos, add a packet of seasoning, or make your own. Then, when the meat is cool, put it in a freezer safe container or a Ziploc bag and freeze it for taco night.

 Here's just one sample recipe you can use to make your own taco seasoning.

  +1 tablespoon chili powder
  +1/4 teaspoon garlic powder  
  +1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  +1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  +1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  +1/2 teaspoon paprika
  +1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 
  +1 teaspoon sea salt
  +1 teaspoon black pepper

2. Hamburger Goulash. Alright, I know, it looks like American Chop Suey, and it's pretty darn close. But the seasonings make all the difference in this recipe. It truly is a different dish.

Ingredients:
 2 lbs lean ground beef
 1 large 29 oz can tomato sauce (unseasoned, not spaghetti sauce)
 30 oz of tomato paste
 1 medium shallot or 1 small onion
 1 box elbow macaroni or small pasta
 1/2 tsp salt, plus 1/2 tsp
 1/2 tsp pepper - plus 3/4 tsp
 3/4 tsp paprika
 1 tsp garlic powder
 1/2 tsp nutmeg
 butter
 olive oil

Directions:
 Cook box of elbows according to package directions.  Use a large pot because you will be putting all of the other ingredients into this pot after the macaroni is cooked.  Drain and set aside when cooked al dente, about 12 minutes. (Which means don't let the macaroni get too soft. You'll be cooking it again in the sauce so make sure it still has a bite to it).
 Finely chop shallot/onion. Saute in a frying pan with a touch of butter and olive oil for 5 minutes.
 Add ground beef. Break up, add 1/2 tsp of the salt and 1/2 of the tsp black pepper and mix up with the onions.  Cook until meat is browned.  Remove from heat and drain. (You need to season the ground beef before it's cooked to get the best flavor from it)
 Add the beef mixture to the pan of elbows.  Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste, add the rest of the salt and pepper, the garlic powder, paprika and nutmeg.
 Mix until everything is combined.  Cover and place on low heat, (or put in a crock pot on low). Let simmer for at least an hour to meld flavors. But you can make this early and let it simmer all day as long as you keep an eye on it and give it a stir now and then to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
 Serve nice and hot! Hubby and son had grated cheese on theirs.

TIP: As you can see, this is a recipe that is wide open for options. You could add chopped bell peppers. You could use ground turkey, or sausage or any kind of ground meat, or even a combination.  If you added a can of beans this would be a sort of combination goulash/chili.  Or, if you wanted a vegetarian version, use beans and veggies instead of the ground meat. This will be very thick. You can thin it out by adding beef or chicken stock, more tomato sauce or even canned diced tomatoes. It's all a matter of preference. Also works great with ground chicken or turkey which can be kind of bland.

3. Homemade Hamburger Helper. I don't know about your family, but my son loves Hamburger Helper. The rest of us are kind of meh on it. So, I make my own and it's tastier.

You just boil up some egg noodles, or pasta if you prefer. Bowties and rotini both work well. Add the noodles/pasta to the ground beef and then add the gravy. How much gravy you need will depend on the amount of beef/noodles you have. I usually use 2 large jars for 4 of us. This freezes very well.

TIP: Have a big family and want to make this stretch a little farther? Add a vegetable or two, put it in a casserole dish and top with either a premade pie crust or a box of Jiffy corn bread mix. If you use the corn bread mix you will need to cook it until the bread is very well done and very brown on top or it will not be cooked underneath. When you take it out of the oven, cover it loosely with foil and let it stand 5 minutes to finish cooking.

4. Cheeseburger Macaroni. Another version of Hamburger Helper that is better home made. Make a box of Kraft Deluxe, the kind with the premade cheese sauce, or Velveeta or whatever brand you have, stir in the ground beef, then add Cheez Whiz until you have it as cheesy as you want it. And again, freezes great.

TIP: No mac and cheese? Buy some pasta and a big jar of Cheez Whiz. I also like to use some Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup. Mix them together with the pasta, whether you just want mac and cheese or cheeseburger macaroni.



5. English Meat Pie. Yum! One of my most favorite meals! It's basically seasoned ground beef and mashed potatoes in a pie shell, but it is SO much better than it sounds. This is also a great recipe for hiding vegetables from your kids. I usually puree some spinach and sun dried tomatoes and add to the mix. If your family likes veggies, diced carrots and peas go perfect with this. It's also a great dish to make with leftovers. I wish I had a pic, but I don't :(

Directions:

Such as they are. I'm not big on measuring, so I apologize in advance.

1.5 - 2 lbs of ground beef
2 boxes ready made pie crust
2 containers ready made mashed potatoes (can use frozen or make from scratch)
any veggies you want to add, pureed if you want to hide them
1 of beef gravy
onion powder
garlic powder
dried thyme

Preheat oven according to directions on pie crust box.

Add onion powder, garlic powder and thyme to ground beef (about a tsp or so of each) and brown. Drain grease.

Mix beef, potatoes, veggies together. Mixture should be thick.

I recommend a springform pan if you have one, otherwise use a very deep dish pie plate or casserole dish.

Using 1 crust, line the bottom of the dish. Using 2 more crusts, line the sides of the pan as close as you can to the top. Prebake crust for 15 minutes.

Fill the pan with meat and potato mixture.

Top with final crust. Cut slits to vent.

Place in oven to bake according to pie directions. Bake until crust is golden brown and there are no translucent spots. Slice and serve hot with gravy.

This is not my pic, but it gives you an idea of what it would look like.

And again, freezes beautifully!

TIP: Some people like this with sautéed or caramelized onions. You could even add sautéed mushrooms. The great thing about a recipe like this is that you can make it what you want. You can add peppers, beans, use oats to bind it instead of mashed potatoes. You could use ground chicken and make a curry sauce instead of a gravy.

BONUS ITEMS: These are items I don't make, but I know are out there and might be useful to you.

Shepard's Pie - layers of ground beef and vegetables topped with mashed potatoes
Salisbury Steaks - ground meat formed into patties - not like hamburgers
Sloppy Joe's - loose ground meat in a sauce, may have peppers and/or onions on a bulkie roll
Stuffed Shells - mix up ground meat like you would for meatballs, stuff it into partially cooked large shells, cover with sauce and bake
Stuffed Peppers - like above but stuffed in bell peppers not shells
SOS - otherwise known as creamed chipped beef. Usually served on toast or biscuits
Double Stuffed Potatoes -(want to try!) you can make many versions of this
Chili - with or without beans, it's a classic
Stroganoff - lots of versions of this out there. Maybe switch up your favorite recipe
Meat Lasagna - always a treat
Enchiladas - traditional Mexican dish
Cheeseburger Pizza - use ground beef with cheddar cheese on your home made pizza instead of mozzarella and pepperoni
Hamburger and Potato Soup - hearty soup that hits the spot

Chicken Sausage and Apples with Rice Pilaf

I am always looking for new ways to get my daughter to eat protein. She's not much of a meat lover, but not enough of a vegetable lover to be a vegetarian.  Both of my kids love apples and if my daughter is going to eat meat, chicken or turkey are her first choice, so when we discovered a brand of chicken sausage in our local market called Sweet Apple with pure Vermont maple syrup, I thought it was a good chance to introduce something new. Neither of my kids cares for breakfast sausage or Italian sausage, so... I was taking a risk.  Luckily, and to my relief, they both liked it. So did my husband and I.

Another thing I am always looking for are meals to make ahead of time and freeze/reheat. That lead to the recipe below. I wasn't sure how the apples would take with being cooked, frozen and reheated, but they were fine. Probably because they aren't cooked very much to begin with.

If you've read other posts on my blog, you know my family has trouble agreeing on vegetables, so dishes like this, you'll almost never see any green veggies in.  We heat up individual ones on the side because we all like something different. But of course, you can add what you like to it, or you can do like we do if you have fussy eaters too.


Chicken Sausage and Apples with Rice Pilaf

1 package Chicken Sausage with Apples (4 links/12 oz)
1 package rice pilaf mix
2 tsp maple syrup
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped/diced carrot
1/2 small apple, diced
2 - 3 tbsp. crushed walnuts
1 tsp butter (for rice mix)

1. Cook rice pilaf according to box directions, adding carrots
2. Slice sausages in half lengthwise and then into pieces, cook over medium heat in skillet
3. When sausages are almost cooked, add apples, walnuts, syrup and brown sugar to skillet, mix. 
4. Cook til sausages are done and apples are nicely glazed.
5. When rice is done, stir in sausage and apple mixture. Serve hot

If you plan to freeze, wait until the food is completely cool before you place in a freezer bag or container and put in freezer.  To serve after freezing: Thaw and reheat in oven at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes, or reheat in a skillet on stovetop.

As with many of my recipes, this is an easy recipe to adapt to the tastes of your family. You could use long grain and wild rice or even quinoa or couscous if you prefer. You could add more apple, or a variety of apples. You could add pecans instead of walnuts. You could add broccoli, or green beans with almonds.  You could even add cheese to the top. There are lots of ways to make this your own.

Enjoy!

Kerry's Chicken With Pasta - Easy and a Good Way To Sneak in Some Green Veggies!

Now anyone who knows me will tell you, I am no fan of green vegetables. I do not like them, Sam I Am.  I will force myself to eat canned green beans, but after 40 plus years of doing it just to please my mother, it is still forced. I do not like them.  That is the only green veggie I will eat.  However.... I have found a way to "sneak" baby spinach into a few of my recipes. My kids didn't know at first, then they protested, but once they realized they'd been eating it and enjoying it, they really didn't have a leg to stand on.

Here's the thing with spinach, it's like a sponge. It will absorb the flavors of what you are cooking, so if you use it in a recipe with a lot of herbs/seasonings, it won't taste like 'spinach'.  The other thing I do is I pulverize it in my food processor until it's an unrecognizable green paste.  I add it to meatballs, meatloaf, and this, now favorite family recipe.  It's broken down so much, you don't even know you're eating it, which, in my book, is a good thing :)

Also, with the spinach so pulverized, there's no way to  "pick it out!"

With this recipe, I also add sun dried tomatoes in the food processor with the spinach. I like tomato sauce and ketchup, hate tomatoes. It's a texture thing. But again, pulverized to a paste.... you get a hint of the sharp tang of the sundried tomato, but never a big bite of it, or the texture of the tomato. So, another bonus for me and my fussy kids.

This is also a recipe that you can tailor to meet the tastes of your family. It is so easy, super quick, can be made ahead of time, frozen, varied depending on what's in your pantry and easily zap some "add on" items for people who want certain things that aren't like by everyone.

For instance, you could cook peas, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, etc., separately, and let only those who want those items to mix them in after they've dished out their portion.  That's how we have to do it here at Picky Eater Central.

One of the reasons this is so easy is you can make it with convenience items. I buy bags of frozen, pre-cooked chicken to use. I try to keep a bag on hand as it's great for a lot of things.  You could also use a rotisserie chicken from your market deli - an especially good buy on their $5 days that most markets have. You couldn't buy that amount of chicken for $5 and it's already cooked. All you have to do is strip the chicken, which is pretty easy. The other convenience item is Land O' Lakes Sauté Express - which is AWESOME! Unfortunately, only 1 market near me carries it. I've asked my regular market again and again and they won't carry it. Annoys the heck out of me, but as long as I can get it, I'm happy. This is a fabulous product and I highly recommend you try it.  If you can't find it, you can try making your own (see below *).  Or you can try using Italian salad dressing.

Oh - and I always make a huge batch so we can freeze the leftovers for another meal on another day.

So - here we go! 

Kerry's Chicken and Pasta

1 Box corkscrew pasta
1 cup shredded carrots (you can use diced or sliced if you prefer)
Land O' Lakes Sauté Express Italian Herb
2 bags frozen chicken strips or diced ( I usually buy Tyson Grilled Strips)
1 can chick peas (aka garbanzo beans)
Approx 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
5 - 6 sun dried tomatoes in oil (adjust as you feel to taste and depending on size of tomatoes)

1. Boil the pasta according to directions on box.
2. I add the shredded carrots to the boiling pasta because I like the carrots thoroughly cooked. If you want them crispy, you can leave them out of the pan and add them in at the end.
3. In an electric skillet on 300 or large pan on med, place 3 cubes of the LOL Sauté Express.
4. Add the 2 bags of chicken. Cut up and extra large pieces.
5. In food processor add spinach and sun dried tomatoes. Puree until a smooth paste. Add to the chicken.
6. Drain the chick peas and add to the chicken.
7. When the pasta and carrots are cooked, drain and return to pan. Place remaining 3 cubes of Sauté Express in with the pasta and mix until melted and thoroughly combined. Add to the chicken mixture and combine.
8. Cover and continue to cook until chicken is hot all the way through.

You can freeze this for future meals. Just thaw and reheat in a skillet or frying pan.

There are so many things you can add/change to this. Sometimes I add pine nuts or a can of corn (the only vegetable all 4 of us can agree on! lol). But you could add water chestnuts, any kind of vegetable, use a different meat, or perhaps fish/shellfish.  You could use a different flavor variety of Sauté Express (Garlic and Herb, Lemon Pepper, Teriyaki, Southwest).  You could put it in a casserole and cover it with cheese.

You can also put all the ingredients into a ziplock bag and freeze to put in crockpot (just cook the pasta first and I'd suggest a couple of frozen cubes of chicken stock).

We made this and are having it tonight and the 2nd helping is going to a friend who is recovering from surgery. (Hope you and Bill and the kids like it Carol! :) )

So! Get creative! Think outside the box, use what you have on hand and think of ways to make it easy.


* Make your own herbed butter:

1 stick  butter (1/2 cup), softened

4 Tbsp olive oil

Herbs and spices of your choosing (approx. 2 Tbsp)

 

Mix together and place into plastic wrap. Roll into a log and then wrap up and refrigerate. Cut off slices as needed.

Chinese Chicken Wings Recipe

This is another recipe from my big sister. I love these wings. No, no. I mean I LOVE these wings. I could eat them until I made myself sick. Well, until I started to feel sick. But you know what I mean. She actually got asked to make these so often that she boycotted for awhile.

The key to this recipe is letting the wings marinate overnight.  The flavor is sooooo good.  It's a pretty simple recipe and you can use frozen or fresh chicken wings. I usually use frozen, unless there is a big deal on fresh wings.  But with frozen wings, you don't have the useless tips and the pieces are pre-cut.  Yes, you can leave the fresh ones whole. Nothing wrong with that. But it's nicer, IMO, to have them in more manageable pieces for a party. And you can easily double it, or even triple it, if needs be.

As you can see, the meat is falling right off the bones.

Ingredients:

5 lbs chicken wings
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup orange juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup molasses

Directions:

Place wings in a large baking pan (I usually use a foil one for easy clean up).  Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the wings.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  You should try and give them a stir a couple of times to get them marinated evenly.

Bake, covered with foil, at 400 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.  Then drain off the excess liquid, remove foil, reduce heat to 350 and bake until wings are brown. (about another 45 minutes to an hour)

This is a recipe that's easy to reheat too, so you can make these ahead of time. You could even make them ahead of time, let them cool completely, and freeze them until you needed them.

These will be a big hit for your party!

Enjoy!