Stretching Your Meat Dollars

Sometimes, with something like cooking, you get ideas and see things done in many different ways, which can be very inspiring. I first learned about using meat as more of a flavor from an old cookbook called Jane Brody's Good Food Book. She was a big believer in adding whole grains to her diet to add fiber and nutrition. Fiber fills you up, takes longer to digest - which makes you feel satisfied longer.

My good friend Jeanine was making Meat Sauce for spaghetti once and I watched her add handfuls of carrot pulp from her juicer, and she has one the best sauces I've ever had. She let it cook for at least two hours before ever serving it - if we could wait that long.

This week, I bought 1.05lb of ground beef.
I browned 1/3 of that and added half of my eggplant, cubed; 1/2 an onion, diced; 1 small can of tomatoes; garlic powder and salt and pepper. I'm tossing this with some spaghetti. It's more of a stewy sauce and will still be good in a few days when the flavors have melded together over some rice for my work lunches.

I still have ground beef to use as a filling for a burrito.  A couple of burgers, mixed with an egg, some grated carrot and onion and maybe oatmeal to make a very satisfying burgers.

The thing is, is that meat is expensive and many people, including myself are not planning on becoming a vegetarian in order to eat well. I know that adding more vegetables and grains to my meals is healthy - and it can also be delicious and satisfying.
Meat just does not have to take center stage on my plate.