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It is no secret that four legged meats, especially beef and pork
that were fattened in feedlots, comprise one of the highest
sources of fats in the American diet. If you want to keep some
of your recipes, but lower the fat by ten to fifty percent, you
can substitute some soy foods for part. This is easiest to do
with meals which can be made from ground beef.
I have yet to find an artificial meat cutlet, molded from tofu
and / or TSP/TVP = Textured Soy/Vegetable Protein, to taste very
good. But I have learned to like tofu and tempeh for themselves.
I have made "beef stew" with tempeh replacing all the meat, and
omelets with mashed tofu instead of cheese, and served without
sausage or bacon. I also like angel hair pasta mixed with
spices, soy sauce, and an equal mixture of ground beef and tofu.
The scientific test for success was that I have eaten my
invented recipes more than once, and without any regrets.
So, what about meat loaf? It looks like a natural test case.
One should realize that fat in the starting meat will be mostly
trapped in the final dish, so start with lean ground beef. Major
groceries should have 5 to 10 percent fat ground beef. If not,
ask for some to be made from their leanest cuts. If you extend
the meat by folding in crushed crackers or bread crumbs, realize
that such will help trap fat.
Here is my experiment of a recent weekend.
First, start an oven heating to about 375 Fahrenheit, plus or
minus 25 degrees. It will be ready when the dish is.
I placed 12 ounces (a common standard package size) of extra
firm tofu (least water content) in a round ceramic baking dish,
then used a manual potato masher to reduce it to paste. I then
added 3 cups of lean ground beef, and blended thoroughly, until
the color was uniform. Along the way, I had tossed in some diced
garlic, blended green herbs, two tablespoons of real soy sauce,
and some fresh ground black pepper, but no salt. Other people
might want to include some diced green or red pepper, some
tomato sauce or fresh diced tomatoes, and similar.
By the way, I use Mori-Nu brand of tofu, because it comes in
aseptic packages which require no refrigeration.
I cut two medium potatoes length wise into quarters, then sliced
fairly thinly. I also diced up a double handful of pre peeled
baby carrots. After shaping the meat into a round loaf which did
not touch the sides of the dish, I placed potato around the
sides, then the carrots over every thing.
I topped the dish with its clear glass cover, then placed in the
oven for an hour. This made the potato and carrot slices tender
but not mushy. The resulting juices made a great gravy. After
serving, I added a small amount of "lite salt", which is a 50 -
50 blend of potassium and sodium chloride. Tasty!
Readers can vary the proportion of tofu. My meat loaf had a very
nice consistency, neither rock hard nor crumbly soft. I would
like to know if readers still got good results using more tofu.
After the left overs had spent a night in the refrigerator, I
saw no globs of congealed fat, which confirmed that the meat was
lean. Of course, the fat absorbed back into the loaf was not
visible. I reduced the saturated fats in the meal, but I did not
eliminate them.
Baking the potatoes with the meat, rather than making mashed
potatoes, meant no temptation to add butter or margarine.
** Diet with FACTS, not MYTHS. **
About the author:
Dr. Donald A. Miller is author of "Easy Health Diet"
http://easyhealthdiet.com/diet.htm, "Easy Exercise All Ages"
http://easyhealthdiet.com/eeaa.htm, and numerous free articles
on health http://easyhealthdiet.com/articles/. Seven of ten
deaths are caused by preventable diseases.
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