Hamburger Extender

Now I could tell you that this recipe will help save you money. And maybe it does, I haven't priced it out. But my guess is it comes out pretty close.
We like meat in our house. I admit it. We will never be vegetarians. I just start twitching if I think about never having bacon or ham again. But one thing we agree on. We don't need to use as much meat as we do. So I was pretty excited when someone pointed me to the ground beef alternative at Veggie Converter. I've done a few tweaks to make it more what we want.
Anyways now anything that we use ground beef for we use half ground beef and half of this rice/lentil mix. We have even successfully made hamburgers with it. We have changing to buying 80% beef, because this mix does not have much fat, and so if you don't have a higher fat content hamburger you have to add oil of have it stick completely to the pan. So without further ado...

Rice/Lentil ground Beef Extender

• 2 cups Brown rice
• 2 cups Green lentils
• Water
• 4 tablespoons Montreal steak seasoning
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup dehydrated mashed potatoes
• 1 cup rolled oats

Directions:
Boil rice, lentils and steak seasoning in water until slightly soft . Drain any excess water, if necessary. Combine with remaining ingredients. And you're done.


This makes a whole lot. I store it in quart bags in my freezer. then when I make dinner I grab a bag of ground beef and a bag of this mix.


Does it taste the same as just plain ground beef? No. Does it still taste pretty darn good? Yes.


Enjoy!

Technique notes for next attempt:
8 cups water.
Start the rice first and half cook it. Then add the lentils. Slightly overcook. Proceed as normal.