I'm putting my foot down!

[Evil Queen]

Ok, do not bash or flame me, but I have let my DS10 just eat SO un-healthy for so long and I'm putting a stop to it.

Since he doesn't normally shop with me, I am trying an experiment.

I am planning on replacing all ground hamburger meat with ground turkey meat. We DO love turkey burgers on the grill, so I am hoping I can "fool" him.

I am planning on throwing in a night of steaks, fish, chicken so he still has some normalcy in his diet, but I am not telling him all the other meals are being made with turkey.

Anyone have any good turkey recipes? He isn't into the whole turkey (like Thanksgiving). So far I have come up with:

Turkey burgers
Turkey meat loaf
Hamburger helper w/turkey (oldest son does this and it's not bad)
S.O.S.
Chili
Turkey meat balls

Thanks

 

[bridget&jimmy]

Tacos with Ground Turkey, they also have Turkey Sausage which is good.

 

[ckay87]

First of all, I'll take your SOS recipe anytime you want to share it. I love that *stuff* !!

I am forever trying to do this. My family (other than me) would live on ground beef. I can usually substitute turkey anytime without being caught. As long as it's IN something. I think I'd be "busted" if I tried straight turkey burgers on the grill or something.

How about turkey sloppy joes? I don't have a recipe - just use Manwich or something.

Remember you are the shopper, so you have the power to control what's eaten in your house. I have to constantly remind myself of that also. It's a real struggle - my DH is the worse for eating healthily. My kids are actually more open than he is. He complains to high heaven if I use wheat pasta, skim milk, etc. Usually I cave - my fault. But it's then hard for ME to eat healthily. Good luck!

 

[Evil Queen]

Tacos with Ground Turkey, they also have Turkey Sausage which is good.

ooooo, he LOVES tacos, too and sausage on the grill. We grill a lot, so I think this is good! Thanks.

 

[Jpgirl]

I was never a huge fan of ground turkey, but tried it recently and it's so much better than it was 10 years ago. I use it in my lasagna and for enchiladas and tacos. Also if you buy your own round steak and trim it and throw it through your food processor it ends up having about as much fat as the ground turkey. Just make sure you buy a lean cut and trim the fat off of it-also cook it on low b/c with very little fat in it, it tends to burn easily. Good luck with that project. We've always eaten healthy so my kids were used to eating less red meat and processed foods, BUT when they hit pre puberty nothing healthy would pass those lips! I just never bought tons of junk food and when they got old enough for a job they bought their own. Thankfully early training will pay off and my dd (21) is starting to eat healthier.

 

[PlaneJoy1]

We have done the same thing and I don't think we'll every go back to ground beef! No one can tell the difference, really!

Good luck!

 

[Magickndm]

Publix here has 96% fat free ground beef, it's all I get.
Sometimes ground turkey can be even higher in fat than lean ground beef. Just something to think about.

 

[disneysteve]

Just a couple of comments.

Make sure you are buying the 1% fat ground turkey and not the 7%.

Try to do more meatless meals. We only have meat in our house about once a week or less. One thing to try is the Morningstar Farms ground beef substitute. It is a frozen product. You can use that in place of ground beef/turkey in things like pasta sauce, chili, tacos, sloppy joes, hamburger helper, etc.

 

[Christine]

Publix here has 96% fat free ground beef, it's all I get.
Sometimes ground turkey can be even higher in fat than lean ground beef. Just something to think about.

I buy this stuff also. I've tried the turkey and it's just okay. I think the extremely lean ground beef can actually be more lean that the turkey.

 

[punkin]

I'm going in the other direction. We used to use a lot of turkey and chicken, but lately I have been doing a lot of beef because my DD7 is extremely anemic. I have her on iron supplements but my pediatrician seems to think that food sources of iron are better absorbed by the body (particularly animal sources) so we have been eating steak, burgers, and a LOT of chopped liver (it's the only way my DD will touch liver)

I'm begining to fear for my DH's cholesterol levels.

Well, at least I have absolutely NO junk food in the house (alright, there is good dark chocolate, but that's not really junk food, is it?)

 

[Bob Slydell]

Publix here has 96% fat free ground beef, it's all I get.
Sometimes ground turkey can be even higher in fat than lean ground beef. Just something to think about.

I was going to suggest the same thing. We almost always buy the 96% fat free beef for our family.

 

[shortbun]

Just a couple of comments.

Make sure you are buying the 1% fat ground turkey and not the 7%.

Try to do more meatless meals. We only have meat in our house about once a week or less. One thing to try is the Morningstar Farms ground beef substitute. It is a frozen product. You can use that in place of ground beef/turkey in things like pasta sauce, chili, tacos, sloppy joes, hamburger helper, etc.

I totally concur!!! I first made the mistake of thinking Turkey was healthier and got the high fat stuff-wrong! Our freezer is loaded with Morningstar Farms products. I use the chicken patties all the time, I make 'chicken' parmesan and 'chicken' salads with them. We add sweet onions to much of it and I add fennel seed to some of the breakfast stuff that I fry up in the skillet(tastes JUST like sausage!) When we eat meat, it's a great steak, a lean pork loin, fish or chicken. We love the Burger King veggie burgers!!!

OP- I applaud your decision to get healthier food in your child. He will thank you for it later. My son loves to snak on edamame in the shell. I blanch them and toss them in a paper bag with just a little salt or seasoning. The beans pop out of the shell and into your mouth. All the kids we've served them to loved them! I also tossed aside my 'one sport at a time' rule and have more excersize incorporated into our lives. It's really important. I'm a couch potato but we're tuning up the bikes for summer!
Saves that expensive gas and our hearts too! Good luck!

 

[disneysteve]

Our freezer is loaded with Morningstar Farms products. I use the chicken patties all the time, I make 'chicken' parmesan and 'chicken' salads with them.

Have you tried their Italian Marinara chicken? It is great. And I will sometimes melt a little cheese on top to make it "parmesan."

 

[Evil Queen]

Ok, thank goodness, it was the only thing in the garbage. I just dug the turkey packaging back out of the trash (at least it wasn't like scene from Parenthood, when they are looking for the retainer in the rest. garbage cans- ).

I couldn't find the fat/lean %, but will look out for that. I am not doing the bi-weekly shopping until tomorrow. I am still working on the menu planning, but it did say 10% Iron. Those are all listed by "their" serving sizes, right?

For the poster who the anemic child, I battled that with oldest son. He was on liquid iron as a toddler, horrible. I use to have to sit on him to make sure his teeth were still getting brushed probably, but his teeth still were badly effected by the liquid iron. Once he fell, and one of his broken teeth cut a big enough hole through his lip, it was a trip to the Dr. And since he he was so young, I couldn't afford to cap them, because the dentist say it really was a waste of money. We did it once and the two teeth we had capped feel off.

Luckily for me he loves liver. I've heard that cooking in an iron skillet gives a bit of iron, but not sure if that's an old wives tale or not. And don't know how much iron it would really add, if it does at all. We use iron skillets, but because I like cooking in those better than most pots and pans. Plus, you can use them on the grill and it doesn't damage them.

 

[SeeDisney]

Also try vegan burgers. Can't recall the particular name of ours but it's so very very good.

 

[Nancy]

I tried to go the ground turkey route and you know who couldn't eat it? ME!

I couldn't get past the color of it compared to ground beef, so even if I out it in sauce or on tacos I could still "see" the coloring and I couldn't get it past my mouth! Everyone else had no problems with it. I now buy the 98% fat free ground beef. It costs more, but to go leaner, I am willing to pay the price.

As for junk food, we have always had chips, cookies, pop, etc in the house...my DH loves his junk food, but my kids hardly ever touch it. They might eat a few cookies, but none of them really drink fizzy drinks or eat chips. Luckily they don't do what there Dad does!

I do try to cook healthier. I'm heading back to Weight Watchers and this time instead of cooking for just me, I'll be making the whole family eat the same thing as me. No more cooking 2 meals for dinner. If they don't like that then they can all make their own dinners.

 

[mrsltg]

I applaud your efforts! The big thing to watch out for is sugar. Anything prepared (basically, the middle aisles of the grocery store) is *most likely* high in sugar and salt. My whole family has become healthier (dh has the blood numbers to prove it!) by me making things from scratch and controling ingredients. We eat red meat as well as other meats like sausage, pork chops, chicken, turkey, etc, but avoid the prepared junk that's just empty calories. I use lean ground beef and add extra virgin olive oil to it if I'm going to grill so it doesn't get so dry. It's really made a great difference. Good luck!

 

[Christine]

I agree with mrstlg--try to stay away from the processed stuff.

For instance, in looking at your meal plan, I would ditch the Hamburger Helper..period. Even with lean turkey. That stuff is processed, processed, processed. Nothing good in it for you.

You need to think about the whole meal and keep things simple.

Try buying a lean cut of beef. I by a top sirloin steak often and marinate it and grill it quickly. We have thin slices of it that can either be eaten just like that, or put in a tortilla for a fajita, or served over a salad. If we are just eating the meat, I will often have a baked potato (they are good for you, just keep the cheese and bacon off of it) and a side of broccoli or zucchini.

I rarely ever prepare anything from a box. It just doesn't taste good and the sodium and additives are scary.

 

[cats mom]

Boca burgers are another option. My kids love them.

Of course my little guy is not crazy about the sprouted grain buns I get. But I don't know how much sense it makes to serve the boca burger on a junky white empty carb bun.

I have to admit I have not tried it myself yet, but I have a friend who swears by ostrich meat. She says it tastes a lot like beef but it's incredibly lean and low in saturated fat. ie: some brands contain less than 2 grams of SF per serving.

 

[grlpwrd]

This post reminds me of the show last night, Honey We're Killing the Kids. There was a family with 3 kids that revamped their eating, exercise, and lifestyle habits and are doing better.

If we do eat meat I usually use ground turkey breast which costs a bit more or vegetarian substitutes (like Morningstar, Boca Burger, TVP, or dehydrated TVP foods that look and taste like the real thing from www.dixiediner.com ) which may be too drastic for some yet could be gradually incorporated.

GL!