Monday, January 12, 2009

Stretch your ground meat

Specifically, ground beef (ground chuck, sirloin, whatever you choose), but this idea might work well with other ground meats. I always add some "filler" when I make meatloaf, meatballs, or hamburgers. I throw in about a cup of oatmeal and half a cup of wheat germ with the spices (instead of bread crumbs). This helps make the meat stretch farther, and I like to think I'm tossing in a small health benefit as well. You can also use grated carrots or other "on-hand" veggies, like zucchini, onions, etc...too! (I, unfortunately, have a picky eater in my house that does not tolerate veggies, or I'd pull this trick more often!)

4 comments:

Amy said...

I did the shredded carrot bit with a pot of chili tonight and no one knew! It just looked like 2 pounds of ground beef instead of 1. Great idea!

snippity1 said...

Glad you like it! I can only do the veggie bits if it happens that Mr. Snippity is not going to be home for dinner :)

Amy said...

I'm doing it again tonight wiht shepherd's pie. I'm adding chopped mushrooms, celery, carrot and onion to the mix.

Amy said...

BTW - The added mushrooms, carrot, celery and onion was fantastic. I seasoned it with a little steak seasoning (the brown liquid kind) so the mix was the right color and the pieces were the right size. My husband never said a word, and if he had known about all the veggies, he would have.