Make That Meat Go Farther! And Sneak in Veggies!
I am a firm believer in adding veggies to your meat dishes to get more extension from your meat. You can take a dish that feeds 3-4 and make it feed 6 if you just bulk it up with some simple vegetables. Vegetables, rice, pasta all cost less than even cheap hamburger meat.
I cook with a lot of ground beef. It is cheap and my husband likes it. It is also easy to add veggies to almost any hamburger meal. But these tricks work with chicken, pork, whatever!
When I post recipes I will post in them things to add or ways to extend the meal to feed a crowd, but I thought I'd make this one general post to discuss all the options I could think of all at once.
Onions go great with ground beef. I almost always cook my meat with onions. I usually use a half but if we are having guests I'll use a whole one. During this step if you need to make your meal go farther, add a celery stalk or two chopped about the same size or smaller than your onion. This is also a GREAT way to sneak some good veggies in to your kids! You can even sneak carrots in to things that have a tomato based sauce!
I have this recipe I'll post soon which is a Mexican style stove top dish and kids would love it. It's cheesy and has tortilla chips in it, it's mild. But if you add some celery it becomes healthier and they'll never know.
Also adding bell peppers. I add my bell peppers after the meat is cooked because I love bell peppers and like them to have some crunch. If you're hiding them in the dish, add them earlier.
For most of these dishes I am talking about a Hamburger Helper style deal but you use your own ingredients. Or any one dish thing you cook over a stove top. So if it calls for rice or pasta and whatever, you can add a bit extra of that and not have to add more meat.
If the recipe calls for squash or zucchini or anything like that, add more of that instead of more meats.
Add in black olives if it's Spanish style or Italian.
Throw in some frozen peas or corn.
Add a can of beans or diced tomatoes.
Make a side of rice or pasta if it isn't included in the main dish. Put tiny diced peppers or shredded cabbage into your rice and frozen vegetables into your pasta at the end of the cooking.
You can make one pound of hamburger or pork chops or chicken or whatever you have go for a mile by simply adding everything but the kitchen sink to your dishes.
I love having family over for dinner and with these tricks I don't have to buy extra food. I just use the veggies I already have on hand and make the same old thing I already make for me and my husband.
Share with me your favorite meal extenders!
