The Ground Beef Replacement(s)

There are so many concerns with ground beef, it is alarming that it is still available for purchase. E coli. runs rampant, with tens of thousands of people infected each year and over 2000 hospitalized. Recalls are abundant and we are running a dangerous gamble by continuing to purchase ground beef in restaurants and supermarkets. Ground beef isn't always just a piece of beef that has been put through a grinder, but is instead often a compilation of many pieces of beef and fatty trimmings coming from many parts of a cow and even many different slaughterhouses. Plus, the inexpensive cuts of meat they use are from parts of the cow more likely to come in contact with feces. Interestingly, there is no federal regulation that requires grinders to test their meat for pathogens. How responsible. No, instead they treat the meat with ammonia in attempts to "clean" it. yum. This saves them money- about 25%. great. Even better, the New York Times did a test which showed that safe handling of ground beef is not enough to prevent the spread of infection in your kitchen. And believe me, you can't trust the USDA to keep you safe... even after finding that companies weren't following their own safety standards following a hug outbreak of E. coli, they did not impose any fines or sanctions. They just threatened to withhold their seal of approval. Ooooook. I'm not even going to go into the way that they treat those poor cows. Now, I'm no member of PETA and my husband and entire extended family are all avid hunters, which is fine with me, but what they do to the cows is ridiculous. Look it up. Organic ground beef is, of course, a better option. Grinding your own organic beef at home is even better. But combined with the questions about the health effects of eating red meat, doesn't it seem like a good idea to find an alternative? At least some of the time? 

Say hello to ground turkey (Organic and free-range, of course. Those poultry farmers aren't much better). My husband is a carnivore at heart and I have not bought ground beef in years. We eat turkey burgers, turkey meatloaf, turkey meatballs, turkey chili, turkey meat sauce, tacos with ground turkey, etc... He loves it! So do all of his friends who I unknowingly serve ground turkey to all the time.

Health Benefits of Turkey
- 32 grams of protein in one 4oz serving.
- Source of selenium, a trace mineral which aids your thyroid, immune system, and your antioxidant defense system against cancer-friendly free radicals. 
- Source of B vitamins.
- Low in saturated fat.


Some other options to replace ground beef include ground chicken, ground venison, and soy crumbles. I prefer ground turkey to these, simply because we eat plenty of chicken, venison is better as a steak (in my opinion), and because I am not a fan of the taste of soy crumbles. Try them all and decide for yourself what you like best.