I have two pounds of ground beef. What can I make for dinner that is different and awesome?

Tacos? Lots of lettuce, mozz cheese,whatever else you like on them

Cottage pie :-/

I was going to say tacos, too. I just bought 2 lbs of ground beef, too, for tacos.

Tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, salsa. For fat sour cream & avocado. Put all the ingredients on the table and let everyone assemble their own.

Ooooo, scooby just wrote cottage pie (AKA shepherd’s pie), that is awesome!

It’s a lot of work, but an ex-girlfriend once made ravioli from scratch. We went to go buy the raw pasta, made the cheese stuff, made shrimp and lobster, put it inside and formed the ravioli shape and boiled it. It was a masterpiece.

@jaytkay

Yeah, cottage pie is traditionally made with beef, shepherds pie with minced lamb ;-)
Not that I’m a traditionalist of course :-)

My mother-in-law made a dish the other night where she browned the hamburger meat and then made a gravy out of the drippings. While doing that, she peeled and cut up some potatoes and boiled them. Then, once the potatoes were done boiling, she added them to the hamburger/gravy mixture and let them simmer for a bit. It was delicious!

If you have kids and regular tacos are too messy break up the shells, lay the pieces on a plate and build the taco on the plate and eat it with a fork. Works good without the mess.

Well…there’s always Hamburger Helper. haha
Maybe go for the Strogonoff, or make your own.

I was going to suggest Tacos or Shephereds Cottage pie, but…it’s been done.

Or taco salad!

We had tacos yesterday, so that was my first thought. What about soup? Lots of beef and cabbage soup recipes call for ground beef. If you want to be creative, you can mix taco meat with scrambled eggs, top with salsa, and have a southwestern breakfast for dinner.
Chili is another option.
Lasagna, bbq meatballs, stuffed cabbage or peppers….

Cuban Picadillo served over rice. It’s sounds very strange to our American ears (or at least it does to mine), but the aromatic cloves and cinnamon work really well with the ground beef (I always left the olives out since I’m not a fan). I used to love to make this back when I ate meat.

Hmm, this recipe doesn’t have raisins; I’d add them in – they add a piquant sweetness alongside the salty capers.

I also liked to make Shepherd’s Pie

Stuffed cabbage rolls or stuffed Bell Peppers!

Sloppy Joes are pretty easy.

Scalloped potato and hamburger casserole with or without mushroom pieces.
Some people also add corn.

My mom makes a wicked good hamburger soup.

I know that you don’t want hamburgers. But hear me out. Make Mike fire up the BBQ to cook them. BBQ is always awesome and you push the work off to your husband.

I love Sloppy Joes, I never have them, hey..ideas, ideas! ;-D

Cheburek:
Mince or use a cheese grater to grate fresh onion
Mince fresh dill fern
salt & pepper
Roll out the Cheburek dough in circles whatever size you like to make thin turnovers to pan fry in oil. Extra points if you’ve got some goose fat to add to your oil.
Serve the turnovers with sour creme on the side.

Pelmeni:
Same beef filling as above, same dough but much smaller, about the size of tortellini though. Make a vegie or chicken stock, remove the meats, strain and boil the dumplings. Serve as a dumpling soup with the meat added in after the straining.

Oven Tacos
Lay corn tortillas flat on a foiled lined cookie sheet. Make up beef patties, cut them in half and lay a half on each tortilla in a way one side of the tortilla could fold over and make an even “shell”. Broil about 3 minutes then lay the beef side tortilla over on itself broiling until browned. The fat in the meat crisps the shells. I use 15% fatty ground beef and have hardly any fat drippings. Fast tacos, no frying and absolutely delicious if you stuff in cheese and a pureed can of Rotel diced tomatoes with chili bits.

Dino Balls
Soft/Med. boiled eggs, peeled.
Grated carrot & onion
A few tablespoons of tomato paste
Ground beef with salt & pepper
Form beef mixed with vegie mash around a whole egg and bake like regular meatballs.
Make up a vegie or beef broth soup to simmer the baked balls in for about 20 minutes before serving as a soup.

Greek pita sandwiches:

Brown the meat in its own juices and drain. Add chopped parsley, lemon juice, diced cucumbers and tomatoes and onion. Season with nutmeg, cinnamon, garlic salt and pepper. Serve in pita pockets with yogurt and tabasco sauce on top. Delicious and from a diet cook book.

(Uh-oh @Kardamom is hyerplinking again.)

Does she eat sweets? If she can tolerate them it’s easier to make her eat more of them .. all those calories really help when it come to taking weight.

Anyway with the meat you can always make roasts and serve with different things. Vegetables, rice, potatoes etc. Fast and easy.

Sloppy Joes: sautee some chopped onions in a little bit of olive oil until translucent, then add your ground beef and brown that, then throw in some chopped fresh tomatoes (or a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, like Rotel) and then add about a cup of your favorite barbecue sauce. Heat through and serve on a hamburger bun.

Burritos: like above ^^ sautee some onions, then add your ground beef to brown it, then add about a cup of some finely chopped fresh red and green bell peppers, a tiny bit of cayenne pepper, about a teaspoon of granulated garlic, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of Mexican oregeno. Heat through then put the mixture into a flour tortilla with some shredded cheese and a dollop of your favorite salsa.

Macaroni and Cheese Casserole with Ground Beef (kind of like a better and homemade version of Hamburger Helper).

Albondigas Soup (traditional Mexican meatball soup)

Ground Beef Wontons

Empanadas (Argentinian stuffed turnovers)

Chili

Ground Beef Enchiladas with Mole Sauce

Beef Mushroom Casserole

Ground Beef Stuffed Mushrooms

Borscht (Russian Beet Soup with Ground Beef)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Cheeseburger soup is fantastic. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I bet it would be even better with some cheddar instead of just Velveeta. They say it doesn’t freeze well, but I didn’t have any problem freezing it.

I usually make some artisan bread to go with soup, but if you want a quick and easy (and delicious) bread, you can make Persian bread.

Betty Crocker used to have a pretty good cheeseburger pie recipe.

I love my hamburger storganoff:
Ground beef
3–4 cloves garlic, minced
½ large onion, diced
½ pound of mushrooms sliced (I use crimini)
flour
salt
pepper
paprika
half and half (or whole milk)
sour cream
Pasta (I like elbows, rotini or egg noddles)

Brown ground beef with onion and drain. Add mushrooms and saute. At the last minute, add the garlic and just stir as it cooks briefly. Salt and pepper mixture to taste. Add 3–4 Tbsps. flour and cook until floury taste is gone (a few minutes).

Add half and half or milk and stir, cooking until thickened. Add paprika. and stir in.

Simmer a few minutes to let flavors blend. Just before serving add ½ c. of sour cream and just heat through (don’t boil). Stir in pasta until well coated.

Ground beef is what we call mince so I would recommend a plate of good old mince and tatties, that is boiled potatoes and mince made with added Bisto sauce. Best with a vegetable such as peas or carrots.

Dog chow!!

Belgian Stew cooked in Leffe Brune. (admitedly you’d normally use chunkier bits of beef but it still works with mince)

Make the meatball deathstar

@Michael_Huntington , Looks delicious :-/ Lol…....

I second the cottage pie.

Thank you all so much!!!

I decided to follow @Seaofclouds this time because I had all the ingredients- but I copied down ALL the other recipes and ideas! I am set for a few weeks!

THANKS!!!

@Michael_Huntington HA HA HA! Oh if I could only get my mom to eat that! The entire daily struggle to eat enough would be done in ONE meal!

@Dog Can you tell us a little more about your mom’s situation and why she needs to gain weight? My Dad had heart surgery about a year and a half ago, and the meds he is/was on made him lose his appetite, so for us, it is also a struggle to get him to eat. He’s lost tons of weight.

One thing he seems to like, though, is Target’s own brand of the nutritional supplement that is similar to Ensure (he didn’t like the taste of Ensure). I tasted it and it was really good. He gets the chocolate malt flavor, but they also have dark chocolate, vanilla and I think strawberry. So he will drink one of those bottles along with a tiny sandwich or some crackers and peanut butter.

What is she supposed to be eating and what are some of the things that she refuses to eat? We can probably all come up with some ideas.

My Mom also makes smoothies for my Dad. Sometimes with orange juice, a banana, some strawberries or blueberries and maybe some yogurt.

He will also eat pudding and crackers with peanut butter, plus ice cream and frozen yogurt, and yes hamburgers and my homemade macaroni and cheese (into which I add sauteed mushrooms to give it more nutrition and a fantastic flavor). And he will occasionally eat pizza with mushrooms and he loves that rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, I’ll make chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches with chicken, chicken salad, and chicken sandwiches with barbecue sauce. My Mom also makes him a taco salad type of thing with a crispy flour tortilla (which she heats up on a cookie sheet) layered with some refried beans, some shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, some of the rotisserie chicken and a little bit of salsa. Other things he will eat include avocados, either straight out of the skin or made into guacamole, mashed potatoes with gravy, roasted turkey and Swiss, cheddar and Jack cheese. Oh yeah, and pancakes, French toast and waffles. And pumpkin bread and banana bread. And peanuts, almonds and walnuts.

I found out that it was easier to convince him to eat something when I put a chart on the refrigerator. Because he should eat 4 to 6 small meals per day. So I made up a chart that had 6 slots for each day for an entire month. He was required by me to write down in the slots exactly what he ate for each of those meals. It made it easier for me to monitor what he was eating, and if he got grouchy about it, you could point out to him that he hadn’t eaten anything all day long and you could remind him that the doctor said he had to eat, or else they would have to feed him in the hospital intravenously (not exactly a fun thing to look forward to). And it got him in the habit of eating, even if he wasn’t hungry.

Hi @Kardamom,

Wow- we are in a similar boat. And I may just take your idea if my mom is well enough to go home so I can be sure she is eating enough. She has stage 4 mesothelioma. She is not in any pain, and went through chemo. She is not a candidate for more treatment but is doing very well- even off oxygen.

The chemo took away all appetite. She is 5’5” and weighs 93 pounds. (Up from the 87 pounds that she was at before I took her home to live with me.) As you have noted, each day is a struggle. I am now having on-and-off luck using Marinol- the synthetic “pot” that only gives the food cravings.

The only way I have been able to get her to eat is “Snackies”- I put a tiny dish with about 4–5 bites of something, grapes, nuts, crackers, every half hour or hour. I find this does not intimidate her and she is more likely to eat. But still- every big meal she barely eats so I HAVE to be sure it has solid calories in it. She absolutely refuses to drink any kind of protein drink. She is very picky. In fact, her picky landed her in the hospital TWICE for IV feeding! She swears she will never go back to the hospital again, so once in a while I threaten her with that.

I am sorry you are dealing with this too- but I am so glad you wrote about it. It really helps hearing about your story too.

@Dog OK, this gives us some better perspective about your Mom. I’m so sorry that she is having to go through this. And it can range from mildly irritating to scary as hell for you.

The drink from Target is so yummy that she’ll probably like it. Buy them, and simply pour them into a nice glass with a straw and tell her that it’s chocolate milk or a shake or whatever, because it’s so tasty that it doesn’t have any weird off taste. But the Target brand (ask them at the pharmacy what it’s calle, because they have a brand name for some of their own products that does not say Target, it’s kind of like with their Archer Farms food products, which are specific to Target, I just can’t think of the name, and I’m not at home right now).

One of my friend’s mother, who passed away about 5 years ago, was in a similar boat. She had lung cancer and lost her appetite. For some reason she craved lemon jello. I looked high and low for lemon jello, but couldn’t find any. I think it is a flavor that was common in the 60’s and 70’s but then they stopped making it. But she did actually eat a little bit of lemon sorbe.

Do you think your mom would eat pudding or Jello or sorbet or sherbet or ice cream or frozen yogurt? There’s lots of different ice cream goodies (some healthier than others) like fudgescicles and ice cream sandwiches (which my Dad will eat).

Bread and butter, or bread with peanut butter is also a good choice. He loves quickbreads like Pumpkin Bread and Banana Bread. These are also good, because you can slice off a few pieces, then freeze the rest of it. Dad loves this slathered with butter or Smart Balance. He will also eat chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies (with dried cranberries and chocolate chips) like These

And now that I think about it (his appetite is a little better after they took him off Coumadin about 6 months ago) he’ll eat apple and orange slices, bananas if they’re sliced into his cereal, and dried apricots and dried cranberries.

He’ll also eat tuna salad and deviled eggs.

So your best bet is to make yourself a reminder list of all the things she can/will eat and then simply give her a little bit of this and that on a plate, but make sure that she eats lots of mini-meals. It will help you, to make a chart so that you can actually see and remember what she ate and how much. I tried to mix it up a lot with my Dad, but he would actually prefer to eat the exact same thing every single day (this sounds awful, but fixes himself a sandwich with cheese, mayonaise, and peanut butter) then he has some sliced tomatoes and some avocado. He would eat that every single day if we let him.

Become one with the prep and freeze method. Because your Mom won’t eat a lot of anything, you’ll end up with leftovers. But the quick breads, the pudding and Jello and rotisserie chicken and macaroni and cheese will become your friends.

Sample menu for one day:

First Meal Small bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and maybe some dried cranberries, with a tiny glass of milk.

Second Meal 3 cubes of cheese with a few slices of apple or pear.

Third Meal ¼ or ⅓ of a peanut butter sandwich, ½ of a glass of Target’s drink, and a spoonful of cottage cheese.

Fourth Meal Small plate of Chicken Salad, half of a hard boiled egg or deviled egg, other half of glass of Target’s drink

Fifth Meal A small glass of a smoothie blended with plain or vanilla yogurt, sliced strawberries and a banana, with 1 or 2 Triscuits or a Wheat Thins crackers spread with butter, peanut butter or almond butter

Sixth Meal 2 Oatmeal Cookies (from recipe above with cranberries and chocolate chips) and a small glass of milk.

ALTERNATE MENU

First Meal A single pancake with butter, maple syrup and a sprinkle of chopped nuts, small glass of milk.

Second Meal A container of pudding (tapioca, rice, vanilla, chocolate) and 3 pieces of walnuts.

Third Meal A small piece of a quesadilla made with a flour tortilla and some melted cheese and maybe a few cubes of avocado, a very small bowl of refried beans with melted cheese, ½ glass of Target drink.

Fourth Meal ⅓ of a sandwich on a burger bun with rotisserie chicken mixed with barbecue sauce, a small portion of potato or macaroni salad or coleslaw, a few slices of orange or a chunk of fresh pineapple.

Fifth Meal Slice of pumpkin bread with butter or Smart Balance or cream cheese, 5 pistachios, ½ glass Target drink.

Sixth Meal A few crackers with sliced swiss, cheddar or jack cheese, 3 olives or a tiny bit of a pickle.

You want to make sure that she eats often, gets enough fat and protein, varied tastes and textures, and it needs to be healthy and not junky.

My dad can’t do dairy anymore, he likes to use the nondairy creamers for his cereal. The stuff in the dairy section, not the powdered stuff.