Category Archives: Ground Meat

Italian Hamburger Helper

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Tasty Tuesday, Veggies

About a month ago I shared a “hamburger helper” recipe I found on Robin Brookshire’s website, Mamashire. She has two versions: Italian and Taco. We love both versions. Today I’m sharing the Italian version.

Robin uses shredded cabbage in her original recipe but Michael isn’t doing well with cabbage right now, and thus he’s not wanting to eat cabbage. Also, I happen to be one of those people that does not lose weight with cabbage–seriously, I stall with it (or at least I have in the past). But the cabbage adds some good bulk and veggies, so I felt another veggie was needed. I went with ‘riced’ cauliflower.

I put the 1/4 onion and zucchini in the food processor to chop them up finely and quickly.

Then I put it in the pot and start it to cooking because we like our veggies really cooked. Once those are started cooking, add the ground meat (we use ground turkey).

(Sorry about the really bad lighting on the picture…it was either that very whited out one or a very yellowed out one.) Brown the meat. Meanwhile, I steam one to two bags of cauliflower.

Then I use a hand chopper and “rice” the cauliflower.

When the meat is browned, add the seasonings, cauliflower, and tomato sauce.

Combine, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

We really enjoy this recipe. And with just a few spices: garlic powder, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast, it’s super simple to throw together.

Pop over to Robin’s site for the full recipe.

I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we do.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Taco Hamburger Helper

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Tasty Tuesday, Veggies

Some time ago I came across this “hamburger helper” recipe on Robin Brookshire’s website Mamashire. She has two versions: Italian and Taco. We love both versions. I’m sharing the taco version today.

Her version uses shredded cabbage but Michael isn’t doing well with cabbage right now, and thus not wanting to eat cabbage. But cabbage adds some good bulk and veggies, so I felt another veggie was needed. I went with ‘riced’ cauliflower.

Start by browning ground meat. We use ground turkey because Michael cannot have beef.

Meanwhile put 1/4 of an onion and a zucchini cut into chunks in the food processor and pulse cut them to small bits but not pureed.

Add it to the meat and saute until softened. I steam a bag of cauliflower, pulse it in the food processor. Then add it with the spices, salsa, and water, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt (nonfat is good if you need to make it a bit lighter) or sour cream and more nutritional yeast, if desired.

Pop over to Robin’s site for the full recipe.

I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we do.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Instant Pot Taco Rice

Chicken, Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Tasty Tuesday, , , ,

Several months ago I was looking for recipes using my Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi. I came across this recipe from My Table of Three.

It is a very simple recipe and quite yummy. :) Also this meal feeds our family of 4 adults dinner, twice. So I make it in full and then freeze the other half. Then on the night we eat the leftovers, I thaw it and steam it.

We serve it with salad and a very small drizzle of oil (about 1/2 a teaspoon) or some canned green beans.

It’s really a simple process, add all the ingredients to the pot and pressure cook on high for 22 minutes with a quick pressure release.

Combine and cook.

Meanwhile, I put about two pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast in the food processor to grind it up and cook up.

Cook quickly in skillet, seasoned slightly.

When it is cooked and the rice is done, add it to the remainder of the dish and stir to combine.We serve with some fat free greek yogurt (and some fat free cheddar cheese, which is our own personal choice item).

Head on over to MyTableofThree for the full recipe and her notes on the recipe.

Taco Mac Salad (THM E- low fat version)

Chicken, Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Pasta, Salad, Tasty Tuesday

Taco Mac Salad is one of our favorite salads, if not meals. I have remade this as a healthy fats meal before using dreamfields pasta. But since this is a favorite meal, I looked for a way to make this without using that pasta.

The next solution I had was to use brown rice pasta or brown rice & quinoa pasta. You could use any alternative pasta like lentil, black bean, chickpea, or other such pasta. This night we used brown rice pasta from WinCo.

I took about a pounds worth of thawed boneless skinless chicken bread and put it in the food processor. I then ground it up, cooked it in a fry pan, and seasoned it with taco seasoning.

Meanwhile, I boiled the pasta and chopped up some vegetables. It’s important to measure the pasta so as not to overdo the carbs.

It is probably best to only 40g weight instead of 52-68g worth of pasta to give some space for some beans.

Tear the lettuce and chop the green pepper. I serve the diced tomatoes separately because the kids don’t like them. Drain, rinse, and heat up a can of black beans (it can be added to the meat).

Combine the drained, cooked pasta, beans, salad, and a cheese stick or two (sliced) in a salad bowl.

Serve with low fat/low carb dressing, low fat/fat free sour cream or yogurt and any other veggies you desire. I do choose to use some fat free cheddar cheese as well.

If you used a low enough carb pasta, you can probably add a tostada to it. :)

I added some nutritional yeast. :)

I hope you like it as much as we do.

Print
Taco Mac Salad (THM E- low fat version)

Ingredients

  • brown rice pasta (or other alternative pasta, such as brown rice & quinoa, black bean, chickpea, lentil, etc)
  • boneless skinless chicken breast
  • lettuce
  • green pepper
  • tomato
  • low fat mozzarella cheese stick
  • fat free yogurt or fat free/low fat sour cream
  • taco seasoning (chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper)
  • black beans, drained and rinsed
  • tostada (corn, lime treated) optional

Instructions

  1. process chicken breast into ground chicken in a food processor
  2. cook chicken and add taco seasoning
  3. boil pasta
  4. chop veggies
  5. add beans to meat
  6. add meat, beans, and drained pasta to the chopped veggies
  7. serve with toppings desired
https://lifeofjoy.me/taco-mac-salad-thm-e-low-fat-version/

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Pasta Again :) (Goulash)

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Pasta, Tasty Tuesday, ,

So at this point I guess I’ll admit that when there is a meal scheduled that we don’t feel we have the energy to make or time to make, we switch it up. And a lot of those times we end up with a pasta dish of some sort. We love pasta.

Yesterday I started painting late in the afternoon and didn’t get it finished until after five. At that point I was too hungry to wait to cook the spicy sausage and butternut squash dish, so we went for “hamburger helper” which is what we call pasta dishes. ;)

So like other pasta dishes, we diced some onion, mushroom, and bell pepper and cooked them in an oil-sprayed frying pan and added water to keep them from sticking. ;)

cooked onions and mushrooms ~ Lifeofjoy.me
We actually had diced green pepper too but I didn’t get a picture of it. :(

Meanwhile, we cook up the ground meat; we use cheap ground turkey. Brown it and then rinse it.

Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meAnd also boil the pasta. :) This time we used the brown rice macaroni noodles. I really love these! Be sure to measure out the proper serving amounts. We actually use a scale and weigh in grams to get every gram we have coming to us.

Season with salt and pepper. I also used some oregano. Oh, and a little nutritional yeast (don’t add it if you don’t want to ;) ).

When the macaroni is done, drain it and add it to the meat and cooked veggies,

along with an eight ounce can of tomato sauce.

Stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

Those in wanting a crossover, can add some cheese but it is fine without it. We add nutritional yeast and more salt individually. We also serve with a side salad.

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Pasta Again 🙂 (Goulash)

Ingredients

  • ground meat
  • ~ 1/2 onion, diced
  • ~ 1/4 bell pepper, diced
  • ~ 2-4 mushrooms, diced
  • brown rice macaroni (248 grams which is about half the bag)
  • 8 oz tomato sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • sprinkling of oregano
  • spray oil

Instructions

  1. Boil pasta and drain.
  2. Brown meat and rinse with very hot water.
  3. Spray skillet with a little oil (we use olive oil spray) and cook diced veggies until desired doneness. 🙂 Add a few splashes of water as needed to keep them from sticking to the pan as they cook.
  4. Add rinsed meat and seasonings of choice.
  5. Add drained macaroni and tomato sauce.
  6. Stir to combine.
  7. Serves 4
https://lifeofjoy.me/pasta-again-goulash/

This is an easy and tasty THM-E meal. I hope it helps you include a few more healthy carbs in your menu.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Quick and Easy Pasta Skillet

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Pasta, Tasty Tuesday, Veggies

A couple of weeks ago Tiffany and I were stumped with what to make for dinner. For whatever reason, I didn’t have anything planned for dinner that night or didn’t want to make what I had planned. This  meal is what we came up with and we absolutely loved it!!!!

It’s very simple. Just use whatever you have on hand. We browned some ground turkey with some onions and peppers. Then we added some cut fresh tomatoes that we had on hand and needed to use. (You could use any meat of choice, including chicken breast, raw or pre-cooked.)

The night of this picture we didn’t have any peppers, so it was just onions and tomatoes.

 

While the meat and veggies were cooking, I boiled four servings of Dreamsfield Pasta. To be honest, I didn’t think that the amount stated as a serving (dry measurement) was going to be very much when cooked but went with it anyway. It was plenty!Once the veggies and meat were cooked, we added the cooked and drained pasta.

As you can see, the pasta we had this night was spaghetti. We made it with macaroni the first time and were concerned that we wouldn’t like it as much with this shape of pasta but thankfully, it was delicious as well. :)

We added extra virgin olive oil before eating. Yum!

The first time we made it we added a garnish amount of cheese but to be honest it wasn’t needed.

Print
Quick and Easy Pasta Skillet

Ingredients

  • 1 pound meat of choosing (I used ground turkey)
  • Veggies of choice: I used
  • Onion
  • Pepper
  • Grape Tomatoes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Extra virgin olive oil or whatever you choose
  • Dreamfield Pasta
  • Any herbs desired (we sprinkled with a bit of basil)

Instructions

  1. Prepare pasta as directed and drain
  2. Cook the meat and veggies with salt and pepper
  3. Add drained pasta, add any herbs desired, and combine.
  4. Drizzle with oil of choice.
https://lifeofjoy.me/quick-and-easy-pasta-skillet/

I hope this simple meal is as helpful to you as it is to us. :)

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Low Carb Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Taco Mac Salad Low Carb Version

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Pasta, Salad, Tasty Tuesday, ,

We have really missed this meal since going keto, low carb, and THM but last night I Trim Healthy Mama-fied it. :) I made it as an “s” meal, which is a healthy fats, low carb meal, because I wanted me some cheese. :) If you are not on a low carb or low fat diet, you can find the original recipe here.

Here are the changes I made:

  • used Dreamfields pasta
  • eliminated the tortilla chips but did have pork rinds on the table for any that wanted them
  • added some finely chopped mushrooms to the meat to boost the health benefits
  • Michael and I used the FP 1000 Island dressing instead of catalina or ranch

Start by boiling water for your pasta.

Low carb pasta ~ lifeofjoy.meChop up your lettuce and place it in the bowl.

Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meShred or cube the cheese. Unfortunately we used our cheddar cheese because I forgot and used it earlier in the week, so we had to use mozzarella. :(

Cubed Mozzarella ~ Lifeofjoy.meTiff added some diced red pepper. It wasn’t enough but it was what we had.

salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meBrown the ground meat; we used ground turkey.

browning ground meat ~ Lifeofjoy.meQuickly chop mushrooms in a food processor.

chopped mushrooms ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen most of the liquid is evaporated, season it however you like your taco meat seasoned. I used these with salt and pepper.

taco seasonings ~ Lifeofjoy.meVery light on the cumin, oregano, and garlic powder. Heavier on the paprika, onion powder, salt, and pepper. And a bit heavier with the chili powder, unless you don’t prefer it. ;)

When the pasta is done, drain and rinse with cool water. Then combine with the lettuce and meat.

Serving Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meSometimes we keep the cheese cubes out for each to include themselves as sometimes they sink to the bottom of the bowl and they are not evenly distributed through the salad. ;) The kids don’t prefer the tomatoes either.

Taco mac salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meThen I add my dressing.

Dressing on Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meYUM!!!

Print
Taco Mac Salad Low Carb Version

Ingredients

  • 1 box Dreamfields rotini, cooked, drained, and rinsed
  • 1/2-1 cup diced green pepper
  • head of lettuce, broken into bite-size pieces
  • 8 oz. cheese, shredded (We've used cheddar, colby-jack, and pepper jack cheeses.)
  • 1 pound ground meat
  • 8 ounces of chopped mushrooms (for added health benefits)
  • 1 packet taco seasoning (or onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, oregano, and chili powder)
  • other items as desired: tomato, onion or green pepper, avocado, et cetera
  • dressing of your choosing

Instructions

  1. Brown the ground meat.
  2. Add chopped mushrooms.
  3. Add seasonings of choice.
  4. Combine all ingredients and serve with dressing of choice.
https://lifeofjoy.me/taco-mac-salad-low-carb-version/

Hope you like it as much as we did last night. :)

Michele ºÜº

Taco Bites ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Taco Bites

Ground Meat, Tasty Tuesday, , , ,

I really missed making my taco bites last year, since we were low carb and couldn’t have the wonton wrappers that I had used to make them before in this recipe. So this year I decided to look for some low carb ones. I figured as a worst case scenario, I’d use low carb whole wheat tortillas.

I was thrilled to find this recipe. It is really quite simple. Unfortunately I forgot to take two of the pictures but I think you can get the idea. ;)

Start by placing about a tablespoon of cheese in a flattened pile on a silpat on a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan. I fit 12 piles on my large tray. Leave about 2 inches between piles. (So sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step. :( )

Brown your meat. We used ground turkey. Drain well and season as you like for tacos. (The other step I forgot to take a picture of. :( )

You bake the cheese on 350º for about 5-7 minutes. You want the edges to be slightly browned and the center melted. Let them cool for about a minute, so you can handle them without burning yourself. The arrange them into mini muffin pans.

mini Taco "shells" ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Add the seasoned cooked ground meat.

undressed taco bites ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Add toppings of choice. No more cheese is needed but some avocado, tomato, lettuce, and/or sour cream are good options.

Taco bite with avocado, tomato, and lettuce ~ Lifeofjoy.me

These were super simple and good. Makes sure your meat is not wet or it will seep out the cracks and holes of the cheese. We didn’t eat ours right away and they were a tad bit cold. I’ll wait to fix them until the last thing next time so they are hotter.

Hope you enjoy them. Go here to homemadeinterest.com for the full recipe.

I hope you have a great New Year’s Day. We are having a nice, laid back day full of rest, relaxation, and gaming (probably individually on different electronic devices as we played board games together last night).

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

THM Sausage Sandwich ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Sausage Sandwich (low carb version)

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Sausage, Tasty Tuesday
All the cheesy deliciousness of the full carb version sandwich. :)

One meal I really enjoyed before Trim Healthy Mama and keto was Sausage Sandwich which is a creamy, cheesy sausage meat filling on sub roll.

The picture I have here is not a very good one so I will try to get another next time I make this and upload it. ;)

I used turkey sausage this time but you can use any kind of bulk sausage you like. I’ve done it with both pork and turkey.

Start by browning the sausage.

Brown sausage ~ Lifeofjoy.meI cook my veggies in a separate pan because of picky eaters. ;) So I just used 1/2 and onion, about 1/3 green bell pepper, and about 4 ounces of mushrooms, all diced. I cook them with a little bit of coconut oil.

Cooked veggies ~ LIfeofjoy.meI started with the onions and mushrooms and had completely forgotten the green bell peppers, so I just pushed them to the side and added the peppers in. Saute until desired doneness.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get pictures after this point. :(  But when the sausage is browned, add the cream cheese and spices. I add onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to season the meat up for those picky eaters. ;) Also add in the Parmesan cheese.

I decided to use THM 15 minute focaccia bread in my largest glass baking dish. Next time I’ll make it in a cookie sheet, making it thinner.

Spread the meat mixture on top of the bread. Then top with cheese; I used mild cheddar this time but have used colby jack or mozzarella cheeses before enjoyably.

Put in the oven and melt the cheese. I prefer this as an open-face sandwich but you could just put the sausage filling on half of the bread and put the other half of the bread on top. :)

Print
Sausage Sandwich (low carb version)

Ingredients

  • 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
  • 1 medium onion, chopped Or some onion powder
  • ½ cup chopped green pepper
  • 1 clove garlic, minced or some garlic powder
  • 8 oz. package cream cheese (neufchatel works great)
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh mushrooms
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • ¼ cup water
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 batch of low carb bread (I used THM 15 minute focaccia bread)
  • 6 oz. shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Instructions

  1. Brown the sausage and drain the fat.
  2. Either saute the onions, peppers, and mushrooms in with the sausage or in a separate pan.
  3. If not using the veggies or sauteing separately, add about 4 or 5 shakes of onion powder, about 2 or 3 shakes of garlic powder, and oregano to the meat and stir.
  4. Now add in the cream cheese and shredded Parmesan cheese, melt and stir until combined.
  5. Then place 1/2 of your bread on the foil lined baking sheet.If you prefer your crust crisper, just put it on the cookie sheet.
  6. Sprinkle half the shredded cheese across the bread.
  7. Spread the cheesy meat filling on top of the cheese across the bottom of the loaf.
  8. Place the rest of the cheese on top of the sausage mixture.
  9. Place the remaining half of the focaccia on top of the meat and cheese.
  10. If using foil, wrap the foil up over the sandwich.
  11. Place in the oven.
  12. Bake on 375º for about 15 minutes to melt the cheese.

https://lifeofjoy.me/sausage-sandwich-low-carb-version/

I hope you enjoy this recipe makeover.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº

Pizza Skillet ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pizza Skillet

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Tasty Tuesday
The best part of pizza is the cheesy toppings and are very low carb. :)

I love pizza! No seriously! Life without pizza is not an option, so every diet/lifestyle change I have been on, I have found a way to get the yumminess of pizza legally for that way of eat. Some of them were more of a stretch than others, like the time we used Corn Thins as the crust and spread on tomato paste and added toppings or the time we used chicken breast for the crust.

Well, I’ve been at this for so long that I don’t always have to have the crust. Sometimes I just want the toppings. I made this recipe the other day because it is too hot to use the oven to make pizza right now.

This meal is all about the toppings you like most. I used 1/2 pound of ground turkey, 1/2 pound of ground chicken, some turkey pepperoni, and some turkey bacon. (I use turkey products because Michael cannot have the beef or pork right now.)

Cooking ground meat ~ Lifeofjoy.me

I gave the ground meats a head start, then added the turkey bacon, broke it all up and combined well.

Then added the turkey pepperoni slices. Some times I cut them into quarters but I wanted to bite down into whole pieces this night.

Add pepperoni to other meats ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Once it’s all browned up and the juices cook off, add in some tomato paste, water, baking soda, and oregano.

Add Tomato Paste to meats ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pizza toppings and sauce ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Add herbs to pizza toppings ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Stir to combine.

I like some green pepper and mushrooms on my pizza but my kids don’t prefer it. So I cook it separately. :) Cut the veggies how you like them; we like ours diced.

Diced pizzza veggies ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Then either add them in with the meats as you brown them or in a separate pan to saute. I like mine caramelized.

Veggies cooked ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Add cheese to the top of the meats and let it melt.

pizza toppings ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pizza Skillet ~ Lifeofjoy.me

It is ready to eat when the cheese is melted nicely.

Pizza Skillet ~ Lifeofjoy.me

It kind of looks like my lasagna. ;) Oh, I’m looking forward to creating that one.

I serve it with the veggies on top and with a side salad.

Pizza Skillet ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pizza Skillet and Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.me

If you miss the crust, you can serve it on a piece of low carb bread. I’ll adjust the recipe to incorporate that in a future post.

Print
Pizza Skillet

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound ground meat (I used turkey)
  • 1/2 pound sausage (I used chicken sausage)
  • several slices of turkey bacon (I guess you could use regular bacon)
  • most of a 5 ounce package of pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni)
  • 3 ounces tomato paste
  • 6 ounces water
  • sprinkle of baking soda (about 1/8 teaspoon)
  • dusting of oregano (about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon)
  • veggies of your choosing
  • 8 ounces cheese, shredded (I used colby jack)

Instructions

  1. Brown the ground meats in a skillet over medium high heat.
  2. Add bacon and break up the meats.
  3. When nearly cooked through add pepperoni.
  4. Either add veggies cut as desired to the meat or saute in another pan.
  5. When juices have nearly evaporated, add the tomato paste, water, baking soda, and oregano.
  6. Combine well. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
  7. Reduce heat to Medium Low, cover.
  8. Serve when cheese is nicely melted.
  9. (Add veggies if you cooked them separately.)

https://lifeofjoy.me/pizza-skillet/

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº