I'm pretty sure the words "beauty" and "ground beef" have probably never been put together into the same blog post heading. We are making waves people!
But really, let's talk about ground beef. It's not a glamourous cut of meat. It's not like a nice thick cut steak or pork chop that even before its cooked is beautiful, or at least to us it is! What it does have going for it, is it's delicious and has an extreme amount of versatility.
Ground beef sometimes gets a bad rap for being "unhealthy". Truth is, it's all about the source and how that animal was raised. Grocery store grain-fed ground "beef" that's actually full of fillers and lots of fat is unhealthy. Locally raised, grass-fed ground beef is lean, full of nutrition, flavor, and isn't the villain grocery store ground beef is.
Side note - even "organic" grocery store beef was raised in a feedlot eating corn which was likely raised in China which means it's extremely UNlikely the corn was actually organically grown. Same with any organic meat in the grocery store. Don't get me started on the "free-range" label you see on grocery store chicken and eggs. Trust me.... it doesn't mean what you think. That's a post for another day.
Ok, sorry, off my soap box and back to ground beef.
Each steer only has so many steaks, which is unfortunate because steak is amazing and my child would definitely eat it every night for dinner. We will usually get some roasts (unless the butcher misreads our cut instructions and grinds them all into burger.... yes, this happened and I'm still sad), there are a few specialty cuts we can do, but the majority of the meat that comes back to us is ground beef. Eating locally, seasonally and being sure to utilize all parts of the animal means we embrace the beauty of ground beef and use it often!
Which is actually pretty easy. Along with chicken breast, it's one of my top go-to's when I have no dinner plan. So many meals start with ground beef, diced onion, bell pepper and garlic in a cast iron skillet. Start there and build your meal with what you have on hand!
Check out an earlier blog post on Ground Beef Cabbage Skillet which would be perfect to make right now since you can get all the veggies at the Farmers Market in season.
Here's a list of go-to meals I make throughout the year using ground beef. There are so many uses for ground beef besides making burgers! Again, these are not fancy meals (that's not my style at this stage of life) but they are quick, easy and toddler approved.
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Skillet Lasagna
Tacos with Homemade Seasoning - we love to really load up tacos with black beans, sautéed onions and peppers, fresh tomatoes, cilantro, corn, avocados.
Quesadillas - perfect for using up leftover taco meat!
Korean Beef with Rice and Broccoli
Spanish Rice
Meatloaf with Hidden Veggies - make extras and freeze before baking for an easy meal another night!
Ground Beef Stroganoff
Shepherds Pie
Chili Soup - freeze after cooking and heat up when you need an extra quick dinner!
Stuffed Peppers
I didn't try to write out recipes for all of these in this blog post... I thought that might get a bit too long winded. My recommendation would be to do a quick Google or Pinterest search if one of these recipes inspires you (that's my usual place for finding new recipes!) If you have any trouble let me know and I would be happy to talk you through my mostly made up from memory ways of making each of these dishes!
If you have a favorite ground beef recipe please share! Let's make dinner time easier for us all!
Dana
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