Alternative options to beef

[Laura]

With all of the great new recipes I've found on WW's I found something rather peculiar. At least to me anyway!
Chicken and fish are the two main types of protein they suggest. However, a lot of recipes call for ground turkey breast or chicken instead of ground beef! When I first saw that I was like What? They make that?! I guess I never browsed the meat sections in the stores long enough to see the small portion where they sell this stuff.

Anyway, I came across a Turkey Meat Loaf Recipe that sounded really good. I made it, tried it, and I was right. It was REALLY good! I always loved when my Mom made it for me when I was little so I was skeptical at first only to realize that it doesn't taste too much different than beef. I guess my main point is that I thought I couldn't live without ground beef but I actually can! There are other alternatives out there I had no idea about.

[Colleen]

Yeah, I have used ground turkey for ages. It kind of annoys my husband, but I am doing the cooking! ;)

I use ground turkey in place of beef in pretty much every dish. I will make shredded chicken tacos quite a bit too. YUM!

[nutsaboutgabe]

I barely make anything with beef. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE chicken sausages (Al Fresco ones to be exact). We also eat Jenny-O Turkey burgers and I use ground chicken breast often when the recipe calls for beef. Just watch the packaging because ground turkey and ground chicken can have just as much fat as some beefs if it's not the breast of the turkey and chicken.

[kl.winters]

We've been eating ground turkey for years so I almost never by ground beef. You just have to make sure when you purchase that you read the label because even though its ground turkey, it can have a lot of fat added so make sure you are looking for and buying the lean ground turkey. Our local meat market makes their own chicken and turkey brats and they are to die for. We love them in the summer on the grill. Oh gosh, now I'm hungry. Once I made the switch to lean ground turkey or chicken, I couldn't go back to ground beef because I was grossed out by all the fat that I found in the pan after browning. Yuck!

Anybody like veggie burgers? Or has had a really good veggie burger. I've never found one that I liked.

[nutsaboutgabe]

Kathy, my favorite "veggie" burgers are the Morning Star ones. The Chik Patties are yummy too. They are NOT chicken, but who can tell!?

We've been eating ground turkey for years so I almost never by ground beef. You just have to make sure when you purchase that you read the label because even though its ground turkey, it can have a lot of fat added so make sure you are looking for and buying the lean ground turkey. Our local meat market makes their own chicken and turkey brats and they are to die for. We love them in the summer on the grill. Oh gosh, now I'm hungry. Once I made the switch to lean ground turkey or chicken, I couldn't go back to ground beef because I was grossed out by all the fat that I found in the pan after browning. Yuck!

Anybody like veggie burgers? Or has had a really good veggie burger. I've never found one that I liked.

[charmedeebob]

I use ground turkey or chicken all the time now. I can't really tell the difference! Kathy my stepdad likes the Morningstar brand too, he can't eat many meats at all.

[prettyingreen]

i switched to ground turkey last year trying to get my DH healthier, so the kids have kinda grown up on it, Gage wont eat ground beef, he prefers ground turkey. and when DH first tried it i didnt tell what i used he thought it was sausage lol so it works for him

[kl.winters]

Morningstar that's a brand I'm familiar with so I'll give them a try. Thanks Barb and Char.

[StarWarsFans]

The last time I tried ground turkey it was AWFUL. I'm guessing I just bought a bad batch, but it was really, really bad. So I need to get brave and give it another try. I know it's much better for my family.

[charmedeebob]

Yuk Tricia! I can tell you one funny story about ground turkey one time I was making spaghetti sauce in the crock pot and I thought well the turkey is 99% fat free so I don't need to brown it first to drain off the fat, I'll just throw it in. Well let me tell you that is NOT the way to do it lol. It was a huge pot of inedible pink goo!! No matter what I did, the taste and texture were horrid lol! So now I make sure to brown it first!!