Vegetarian Hamburger Substitute

Wether you are a vegetarian, or just enjoy some meatless meals, here is a recipe you might enjoy!  It uses whole grain foods, and is so much healthier than real ground beef.

If you are used to buying the vege meat that looks like ground beef, here is a substitute for you to try.  I will use it the same as hamburger and possible even mixing it with hamburger to make my real meat stretch.

You will only need 6 ingredients. 

What you need:

2 Cups brown rice

2 Cups lentils

2 Tbsp. steak seasoning (I used Montreal Steak)

1/4 Cup olive oil

1/2 Cup vital wheat gluten*

1 Cup rolled oats

What to do:

In a large pot, add 8 Cups of water and your rice, lentils and steak seasoning.

Cook until these are soft.  I let mine come to a boil, then covered and simmered for over an hour.  Make sure the rice is done, the lentils will be done before the rice.

Add the oil, wheat gluten and rolled oats.  I found it easier to mix these in a very large bowl.

Mix well.

  Pour into 2 - 13x9" pans. 

Bake at 300* for an hour.  You want the mixture to be more dry than wet.  Think "crumbles".  After I cooked mine for an hour, I turned my oven down to 225* and left them in there for another hour.  Keep checking and stirring mixture to evenly cook and "dehydrate" it.

Now, knowing that 1 pound of cooked ground hamburger usually gives me about 2 Cups, I measured out my cooled "meat" into 2 Cup portions and put into freezer bags.

As I make up some recipes using this beef substitute, I'll show you and give you the recipes!  Let me know if you try this out and what recipes you used it in!

  

*I get my vital wheat gluten at my local Amish store, they carry many bulk items and I always buy from them!  You can also find this at a health food store, whole food store or online.