Fresh on the heels of my meatless meals carnival (have a great vegetarian dish on your blog? Link it up here!), I thought I’d pass on another trick for converting other dishes. These work especially well for casserole or one-pot type meals.
Substitute legumes and beans for meat.
Lentils and rice make a great substitute for ground beef. (1 c. lentils, 1 c. rice, 4 c. water. Cook just like rice.) They are especially good in meals with lots of flavor – chili, sloppy joes, and my favorite, enchiladas.
White beans (navy or Great Northern) often shine in chicken recipes. Try black beans or red kidneys as a stand in for beef.
The dish won’t taste the same – but it will probably still taste good!
Another trick? A little balsamic vinegar really finishes off lentils and makes them shine!
More beany goodness, just in time for Lent! How to prepare dried beans, how to turn them into convenience food, and how I store all those bags o’ beans!
For more Works for Me Wednesday tips and tricks, check out We Are THAT Family!
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Oh wow, you have some great bean tips there! I’m adding you to my feed reader to see what else you come up with! We eat a lot of beans!
Wow, what a great idea!
I should totally put this into practice with my menu planning. Kinda makes me laugh though because I was just reading an article about wine earlier today and they said the same thing…white wines for chicken dishes and red wines for beef dishes. LOL
Thanks for sharing!