ground beef

20 Recipes You Can Make with A Pound of Ground Beef (It’s What’s for Dinner)

Chances are you almost always have a pound of ground beef socked away in the freezer for a rainy day. It’s a good standby for making tacos, soups, spaghetti, burrito bowls, and more. To get more Sunday meal prep inspiration, check out this list of favorite dinners made with basic hamburger meat, because these are where beef is definitely what’s for dinner.

You know how it goes. Weekends are over in the blink of an eye and suddenly you find yourself on a Monday evening with no idea what’s for lunch or dinner in the week ahead. You check your pantry and survey your fridge for inventory, but figuring out what to cook can sometimes be just as time consuming or stressful as the cooking itself.

Fret not. You can still have Sunday Funday while doing some simple planning and cooking for the coming week so that come Monday, your future self will thank you when you already have the answer to that nagging question of, “What’s for dinner?” That’s why it’s helpful to have an arsenal of easy, organized recipes at your fingertips—recipes you can make on a Sunday to prep for the coming week.

Enter our new Sunday Meal Prep Series where we’ll be sharing 20 recipes you can plan and prep ahead of time for a head start on your week—and show Monday-Friday who’s boss.

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My Mom’s Homemade Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

This easy meat sauce takes just a few minutes of prep and then a low simmer on the stove for a deep, meaty-flavored, classic spaghetti everyone will love.

This post is brought to you by Kroger

Before I even started writing this post I was wrestling with the title.

My Sister’s Favorite Spaghetti Dinner. Because as a kid it was #1 on her request list. And to do this day, all these years later and after eating meals from all over the world, it still is.

My Mom’s Best Spaghetti Recipe Ever! Because it is. And, who doesn’t trust mom to make the best?

The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce You’ll Ever Make But Never Guess the Secret Ingredient. Intrigued????

The Dinner to Make When You Want to Perfume Your House With All the Glorious Smells and Then Feed an Army. Perhaps a little lengthy for a title, but still totally appropriate.

Spaghetti and Meat Sauce So Good You’ll Eat the Cold Leftovers Still in the Container Straight from the Fridge. Uh-oh, did I just give myself away????? Busted!

continue to the recipe… about My Mom’s Homemade Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Baked Stuffed Bell Peppers With Beef Recipe

This healthy and easy dinner idea combines ground beef, rice, and sweet and colorful red, yellow and orange bell peppers for an easy dinner any night of the week.

Until my 20’s, bell peppers and I were far, far, far from fast friends.

I viewed the crunchy, green orbital vegetables with a look of disdain whenever they appeared on pizzas or veggie platter plates and as a kid, wrinkled my nose and plotted how to ditch every single bite in a napkin when my mom served them up for dinner.

But just like taking leisurely car rides on a Sunday afternoon, reading novels with long words you finally understand but now need readers to see, and taking hot baths (give me a tub every night of the week!), eating the food you hated as a kid suddenly becomes not. that. bad. as an adult. And sometimes, even really, really good.

And whenever I can serve a meal in it’s own vessel, it’s bonus time. Enter, stuffed bell peppers.

continue to the recipe… about Baked Stuffed Bell Peppers With Beef Recipe

A Healthier Meatloaf With Tomato Glaze

This lightened up turkey and beef blended meatloaf keeps all the classic flavors intact but lightens it’s caloric load thanks to a few easy ingredient swaps no one will ever notice.

Meatloaf. Like tuna noodle casseroles and deviled eggs, meatloaf is one of life’s ultimate comfort foods that had it’s hey day in the 50’s, but since then, has become one of those dishes eaters rarely cop to craving—at least in public.

But just like most things favorited as retro, what’s old often becomes new again. Over the past few years—like many of our favorite comfort foods—meatloaf has made a comeback and can be found on even the most haute restaurant menus and is one of today’s comfort food Cinderella stories.

Only this baby isn’t going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight.continue to the recipe… about A Healthier Meatloaf With Tomato Glaze

Nacho Taco Salad & Kid-Friendly Veggie Sneak Attack Recipes

I know I’m not alone. Kids can usually count their favorite dishes on fingers one, two, three, four and five (I know, five is a thumb, not technically a finger) with moms and dads coercing, conniving and conning their kids into eating a healthier version of their faves.

When Smudge was a toddler she looooved butternut squash, zucchini and even broccoli—or little trees as she called them. Cut to pre-school. Boom. It all went downhill. Any veggie put in front of her was taboo. Persona non grata. Hit the road jack and don’t come round here no more.

So when she came home from school and said she “just loves salads” I almost fell to the floor in shock. Who had stolen my child and how did this health cyborg take over her body?

The answer? Once again: school. Apparently, her 2nd grade friends have developed a far more sophisticated palette and the salad bar is a big hit with her tres-hip-gotta-be-like-them-friends. (I’m now packing salads IN HER LUNCH!)

So to satisfy her veggie craving for dinner, but not rocking the boat by proposing she dig into a big plate of brussels sprouts or spinach, we snuck in a layer of veggie goodness that even Magnum P.I. couldn’t sleuth out. We went straight to who knows best—my mother-in-law—and the secret ingredients in her taco meat recipe.

What’s her now-not-so-secret ingredients? V-8 juice and yellow corn meal. A serving of veggies in every glass—I hope there’s truth in advertising. But I do avoid V-8 Splash which is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.

Veggie adorned Nacho Taco Salads, a dish she loves assembling for herself, and being kids at heart, we love it too. Plus it is a DARN CLOSE facsimile of yo quiero Taco Bell.

What’s that Smudge? You want salsa with that too? He he he. Tthank you, we have crossed another food bridge.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

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Nacho Taco Salad

Quick fix Taco night favorite with ground beef and a tasty lettuce salad.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1/2 white onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 cup V-8 Original vegetable juice
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 garlic salt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1 can black or refried beans
16 oz. package of tortilla chips I prefer white corn chips
Condiments: shredded cheese sliced lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, jalepenos, peppers, avocado, onion, cilantro, Mexican crema, lime wedges

Instructions

In a fry pan over medium-high heat, brown ground beef and onion together until beef is browned and onion is translucent. Add spices and simmer together for another 10 minutes. Add vegetable juice and cornmeal to beef mixture and simmer for 15 minutes or until juice has cooked down and the mixture has thickened, stirring occasionally. While meat is simmering, heat beans on low in a small saucepan. To serve, layer beans, nacho meat, cheese, lettuce and other condiments over tortilla chips as desired.

And now, presenting…more ways to hoodwink your kids with a nudge to the healthier side of the table.

photo > Family Fresh Cooking

Hot dogs, skewers and corn chips? What kind of childhood dream is this? Marla has cooked up another kiddie goodie with Family Fresh Cooking‘s Grilled Hot Dog Skewers with Creamy Avocado Dip. Stick with turkey, kosher or organic beef varieties of hot dogs for the healthiest versions.

photo > One Dish Dinners

The kids are craving pizza and there’s no time to mix up a batch of dough or make a run for the store, so One Dish Dinners‘ Pizza Penne Bake keeps mom somewhat stable of mind thanks to less Erin’s one-pot-penne-and-pepperoni-pizza dish. Ahh mama mia!

photo > Un Déjeuner de Soleil

The chorus of “thank you’s” serenade Edda for a much more interesting take on the frozen-mass-produced-nuggets that kids love as mothers speculate what exactly is that mystery meat. Un Déjuner de Soleil‘s Chicken Nuggets with Tandori Mustard still has the crunch kids love (thank you corn flakes) with a sauce parents won’t mind giving a dip themselves.

photo > Eat Live Travel Write

Far from the boxed version of “yellow death”, Eat Live Travel’s Write‘s Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower sneaks in whole wheat pasta, low fat sour cream and a dose of veggies so sublimely and secretly added that they’ll never know what they aren’t missing.

The countdown is on! Maria is receiving some great holiday cookie submissions from our foodie blogger friends and can’t wait to showcase them in our upcoming Winter Issue, and we’d love to see yours. Submit your holiday cookie by September 1 and share your sweetness with the world.

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ground beef

20 Recipes You Can Make with A Pound of Ground Beef (It’s What’s for Dinner)

My Mom’s Homemade Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Baked Stuffed Bell Peppers With Beef Recipe

A Healthier Meatloaf With Tomato Glaze

Nacho Taco Salad & Kid-Friendly Veggie Sneak Attack Recipes

Nacho Taco Salad

Ingredients

Instructions

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