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Lentils A Guide to Adding Lentils to Ground Beef Recipes 8 simple steps to increase your nutrition and stretch your budget Step 1: Purchase Lentils Petite Crimson Lentils from Montana’s own certified organic Timeless Natural Food are ideal for adding to your ground beef dish because their skin is removed so they break down into ground beef mixtures and soups. Timeless lentils grow in the Golden Triangle where the Great Plains unfold from the Rocky Mountains. You can purchase bulk lentils from the Western Montana Grower’s Cooperative. MMFEC can help you order! 25 pounds of crimson lentils cost $37.67 in fall 2012. Step 2: Prepare the Pot & Boil Water Select a 20‐quart pot. Fill it with water: 3 gallons per 5 pounds lentils.
Place the pot on the stove and turn it on high to bring water to a boil. Step 3: Weigh Lentils Weigh lentils from bulk package into desired quantity. Making a dish that is 25% lentils is a good target. Use the attached Lentil Measurement Chart to find out how many pounds of dry lentils to cook for a final mixture that’s 75% beef and 25% lentils. 5 pounds lentils fit nicely into a 1‐gal Ziploc bag. Step 4: Rinse Lentils Place the lentils in a large colander and rinse thoroughly to wash off dry lentil dust. Step 5: Add Lentils to Boiling Water Pour rinsed lentils into boiling water. Note: You can add lentils to water that is not yet boiling, but the lentils will take longer to cook. Step 6: Cook Lentils Bring the water back to a boil and cook the lentils until they are done. This will probably take about 15‐20 minutes. Note: If you added the lentils before the water was boiling, it may take 30‐40 minutes to cook the lentils, but they will cook up just fine! The cooking lentils will be foamy........ The lentils will turn from a bright orange to a lighter orange and lose their shape as they cook. They will be a brownish orange when they are done. Step 7: Drain Lentils Pour the lentils into a colander to drain. Here’s how the lentils should look:
Step 8: Stir Lentils into Ground Beef Once the beef has been browned and the fat drained, stir in the cooked and drained lentils. Voilà! You’ve just added delicious and nutritious lentils to your meal. Petite crimson lentils have a comparable amount of protein to meat, but much less fat. They have lots of important vitamins and minerals including folate, vitamin A, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium. Crimson lentils are rich in fiber and slow‐digesting carbohydrates that will keep your students feeling full. Recipe Ideas Here are some dishes that incorporate crimson lentils well: • Sloppy Joes • Chili • Meat sauce for spaghetti or lasagna • Tacos, Nachos, Burritos with ground beef filling or topping • Beef stroganoff • Shepherd’s Pie • Baked potato ground beef topping • Soups and stews—makes a great thickener Sources 1. Timeless Natural Foods, www.timelessfood.com. 2. San Francisco Gate’s Healthy Eating Guide, “Nutritional Information for Petite Red Lentils,” http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/nutritional‐information‐petite‐red‐lentils‐1146.html. Special Thanks To Polson Food Service Director Jim Steiner and his staff! Prepared by Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center – Farm to Institution Program Lentil Measurement Chart
For a mixture that's 75% beef and 25% lentils.
If you know how many pounds of final beef/lentil product you
want, use this table to find out how many pounds of raw ground
beef and dry lentils to add.
Total # Cooked # Raw #s Lentils #s Lentils Ounces Finished #s
Beef*
Beef
Cooked
Dry
Lentils Dry
5
3.8
4.7
1.3
0.4
6.7
6
4.5
5.6
1.5
0.5
8.0
7
5.3
6.6
1.8
0.6
9.3
8
6.0
7.5
2.0
0.7
10.7
9
6.8
8.4
2.3
0.8
12.0
10
7.5
9.4
2.5
0.8
13.3
20
15 0
15.0
18 8
18.8
50
5.0
17
1.7
26 7
26.7
30
22.5
28.1
7.5
2.5
40.0
40
30.0
37.5
10.0
3.3
53.3
50
37.5
46.9
12.5
4.2
66.7
60
45.0
56.3
15.0
5.0
80.0
70
52.5
65.6
17.5
5.8
93.3
80
60.0
75.0
20.0
6.7
106.7
90
67.5
84.4
22.5
7.5
120.0
100
75.0
93.8
25.0
8.3
133.3
110
82.5 103.1
27.5
9.2
146.7
120
90.0 112.5
30.0
10.0
160.0
130
97.5 121.9
32.5
10.8
173.3
140
105.0 131.3
35.0
11.7
186.7
150
112.5 140.6
37.5
12.5
200.0
If you know how many of pounds of raw ground beef you have to start with, use this table to find out how many pounds of dry lentils
to add and the total finished weight of your lentil/beef mixture.
# Raw # Cooked #s Lentils #s Lentils Ounces Total Beef
Beef*
Cooked
Dry
Lentils Dry Finished #s
5
4
1.3
0.4
7.1
5.3
6
4.8
1.6
0.5
8.5
6.4
7
5.6
1.9
0.6
10.0
7.5
8
6.4
2.1
0.7
11.4
8.5
9
7.2
2.4
0.8
12.8
9.6
10
8
2.7
0.9
14.2
10.7
20
16
53
5.3
18
1.8
28 4
28.4
21 3
21.3
30
24
8.0
2.7
42.7
32.0
40
32
10.7
3.6
56.9
42.7
50
40
13.3
4.4
71.1
53.3
60
48
16.0
5.3
85.3
64.0
70
56
18.7
6.2
99.6
74.7
80
64
21.3
7.1
113.8
85.3
90
72
24.0
8.0
128.0
96.0
100
80
26.7
8.9
142.2
106.7
110
88
29.3
9.8
156.4
117.3
120
96
32.0
10.7
170.7
128.0
130
104
34.7
11.6
184.9
138.7
140
112
37.3
12.4
199.1
149.3
150
120
40.0
13.3
213.3
160.0
*Assumes 80/20 beef and that all fat (20% of raw weight) is drained
Key
Finished weight
Raw ingredient weight
Prepared by Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center's Farm to Institution Program