Meals that are light on the meat....

[Calliope84]

So, we aren't exactly into Weston Price / Traditional Foods and we aren't Vegan so I'll just post here. We can't have dairy and soy which rules out quite a lot of things. 

Here is what we've got:

-TONS of rice and a rice cooker (stainless steel, teflon free!) plus oatmeal for cereal.

-A bi-weekly delivery of seasonal organic vegetables, 15 lbs.

-Meat from a local farm (free-range, farm based on Polyface model ) Some pork, beef, chicken. Must be eaten only a few times a week since $$.

-Eggs, hopefully from that farm but we won't have them all the time

-Earth balance (soy free) - not as good as butter

-White and whole grain spelt bread from whole foods (I want to make my own bread but all the bread makers out there have Teflon and I hate kneading it and everything.)

-Coconut Milk or Rice Milk

-Chicken stock made from the chickens we eat. Used in every rice recipe usually.

Condiments:

All the herbs and spices, maple syrup, molasses, organic sugar, cocoa powder, honey, etc.

I can't figure out how to make filling meals without a lot of meat! We aren't following a vegetarian or vegan diet and can't have soy so it rules out a lot of those recipes. A lot of recipes call for gross amounts of meat that no one would be able to afford to eat if it weren't for factory farming. It is like a whole bunch of chicken legs plus some mashed potatoes or something. I am trying to eat mashed potatoes with a side of meat. I don't even know how I could make a potato taste great without cheese and sour cream lol.

So does anyone have good websites, books, and recipes they would recommend? 

[BetsyS]

You know, I've been dairy free for the last 6 months (a nursing baby that can't tolerate it), and I'm finding it a lot harder to be low-meat with that restriction.  I'm not sure what it is, but it's definitely harder. 

That said, some of our favorite low-meat meals:

fried rice with chicken or pork

red beans and rice with andouille (I usually do a lb of beans to 1/2 lb of sausage)

fajitas.  If you use skirt steak and cut it thin, it's surprising how little meat these need.

Thai curry

stir fry over rice (with a soy sauce, vinegar, little brown sugar, hot sauce sauce)

any soup.  Tortilla soup, Italian wedding soup, chicken noodle soup, chicken and rice soup, vegetable soup (with ground beef or nothing or a ham bone).

pintos, cooked with a ham bone, served with cornbread

pintos over rice, served with salsa and chips.  No meat.

regular American tacos.  I make these with lentils/rice as often as meat, but my MIL always made meat, then mixed it into the refried beans (about 1/2 lb meat to 4 cups beans) to stretch it.  Either one is good.

spaghetti

frittatas.  Without cheese, I have to put a lot of green veggies in these to make them good, but I do like them, even cheese-less

this Spanish rice skillet meal I make.  Ground beef, rice, tomato sauce/juice, spinach or other greens, whatever other veggies you have, all cooked together.

Jambalaya

Gumbo

I make very few meals that are a hunk of meat, starch, green veggie, salad, and bread, like I grew up with.  There are a few, but not many.  I enjoy my subscription to Everyday Food.  I think it has simple, in season recipes, and I appreciate that.  I also have lots of cookbooks that I like to look through.  Sometimes, if I'm in a low spot with the dairy free, I'll find vegan recipes and add a little meat.