All things family
Happy, healthy families
Recipes, parties and meals
Savvy money solutions
Making Learning Fun
Solutions for your home
Cakes, parties & more
Good stuff for everyone
Eco-friendly choices
EatSavvy Blog
Posts tagged under Beef. Show all posts.
Scanning the meat section of my local grocery store for inspiration, I settled on what was on sale—ground beef. My kids love spaghetti and meatballs, so what better meal for dinner tonight. After some deliberation, I took that idea one step further and decided to make meatball subs—they like those too! I picked up three packages of ground meat—beef, pork, and chicken, a can of tomato sauce, and a few whole wheat sub buns. The meatball recipe I use is pretty simple and my kids love it. If I were making meatballs for adult guests I would add a little heat. Making meatballs is not only a good cooking lesson, but also a great after school activity. Much like playdough, my two love to get their hands in there and mess around.
Meatball Subs
Serves 6
You’ll Need
½ lb ground beef
½ lb ground pork
½ lb ground chicken/turkey
2 eggs
½ cup bread crumbs (homemade if you have them)
¼ cup parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
¼ cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup cooking oil (Grapeseed oil is great for cooking at high heat)
6 sub/sausage buns, warmed
1 cup tomato sauce, heated
½ cup grated cheese
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients, using a fork or your hands to mix well.
- Using your hands, form small, medium or large size meatballs.
- Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in large skillet.
- Cook meatballs in batches, turning to cook on all sides.
- As they are ready, remove meatballs from skillet, place in oven-safe dish and transfer to the oven.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove meatballs from the oven, place in buns, and spoon tomato sauce over top.
- Sprinkle the top of the meatball sub with grated cheese and serve.
- Store leftover cooked meatballs into a container or resealable bag and throw them in the freezer. Meatballs are great for a snack, with pasta, or as a quick appetizer.
What are you having for dinner tonight?
One of my family’s favourite types of cuisine is Mexican—tacos, nachos, burritos, enchiladas…who’s kidding who? Anything smothered in melted cheese gets a thumbs-up in our house. We try to mix up the menu as much as possible, but one dish I keep getting requests for is what I call Beef Taco Casserole. It’s simple, delicious and nutritious—packed with vegetables, protein, calcium and fibre.
For busy weeknights, this dish can be made ahead of time (up to the step of spooning into the casserole dish), covered and refrigerated. When you are ready to cook it, top with sour cream, cheese and chips and then cook, covered, for 20 minutes, uncover and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.
Mix up your weekly meal plan by adding this wonderful Mexican-inspired dish to your repertoire.
Beef Taco Casserole
Serves 8
You’ll Need
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1½ lbs lean ground beef
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup frozen or canned corn
- ½ cup water
- 1 package taco seasoning
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup low-fat sour cream
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 cups nacho chips, crushed (or taco shells)
- 3 cups lettuce, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 avocado, chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup salsa
- Fresh hot chiles, diced (optional)
Prep and Cook
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet and sauté onion and ground beef until meat is cooked and slightly browned.
- Drain any excess oil from the skillet.
- Stir in canned beans, corn, water, taco seasoning and rice.
- Cook and stir until heated through.
- Spoon mixture into a greased 13” x 9”, oven-safe casserole dish.
- Top with sour cream, cheese and nacho chips and bake, uncovered, for approximately 30 minutes or until heated through.
- Serve immediately.
- Leave the lettuce, tomato, avocado, cilantro and salsa out on the table for your family build their own tacos.
What’s for dinner at your house?
I hope you’ve had a chance to review (and try) some of the delicious recipes in this month’s EatSavvy. The featured ingredient this month—beef—is one of my family’s favourite foods, so they enjoyed testing all the recipes.
Beef is a great ingredient when you’re looking for ways to ensure that protein makes its way onto your dinner table and into your kids’ mouths, and this month’s recipes are easy and delicious!
I particularly like the Short-Cut Beef Lasagna. Skipping the layering steps saves me time, making it possible for us to enjoy the flavours of lasagna on a weeknight. My kids went crazy for the Beef Pies with Cauli-mash Topping. The hearty beef and tomato sauce filling is delicious and they love eating out of individual dishes.
Bring the barbeque out from hibernation and throw on a couple of strip loins for juicy Steak Fajitas. And, if you are looking for a new recipe for Easy Entertaining, but don’t want to spend the day in the kitchen, give Beef Wellington a try. Don’t let the puff pastry intimidate you—it’s easy as 1-2-3.
We hope you’ll give these recipes a try and let us know what you think.
Photo courtesy of Holly Sisson Photography.
Now that grilling season is officially upon us, it’s important to know how to cook our meats properly. Did you know that almost all barbecued meat is overcooked? It’s true, since people are more and more cautious about under-cooking their proteins these days.
To aid with cooking meat to the proper temperature, I like to recommend a meat thermometre for anyone who isn’t a trained chef. I keep one at the ready, and when in doubt use it to keep my meat from getting overcooked when it’s on the grill.
Good to Know: Remember that meat will continue to cook when you remove it from the grill; so pull it off a few degrees before your desired temperature.
Here are some tips to start:
- For beef, medium rare meat is cooked to 140°C, medium to 155°C and medium-well to 155 to 165°C. If you happen to like well-done beef, keep it on the grill until it registers at least 165°C on your thermometre.
- All poultry should be cooked to a minimum of 165°C and you always want to see the juices running clear. If that doesn’t happen, throw it back over the coals for a few extra minutes.
- Pork cooking temperatures vary depending on the cut, but chops, ribs, shoulders and sausages are cooked to around 160°C with no pink in the centre.
- Most fish is grilled for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until it is opaque and flaky. If you use a thermometre on your fish, it should be cooked to approximately 145°C.
When we grill meat we always cook at least double what we need. Leftovers can be fashioned into no-cook salads and sandwiches on the days that it’s too hot to turn on the stove or the barbeque.
Leftover ribs and chicken wings are always popular lunch options in my house.
How do you know when your meat is done? Do you use a thermometre, the touch technique or just hope for the best?
Topics
Explore More Savvy
SavvyMom is the registered trademark of SavvyMom Media Inc.
