But most people wouldn’t necessarily think of spaghetti as healthy, but that’s probably because they haven’t tried this Beef and Lentil Spaghetti.

In my efforts to cut costs and save money, I have discovered red lentils. I never really ate them growing up, but now they are a staple in our kitchen. By adding them to our ground beef, we can at least double or triple the “meat” portion of our meals. While lentils don’t work in every ground beef dish, I have found two or three meals into which they are very easy to incorporate.

Spaghetti is one of them.

Let me share it with you!

Makes 4 servings.

What you’ll need:

• Ground Beef. I buy the frozen 3 lb bags and usually use 1 lb per meal.
• Dry Red Lentils
• Tomato Paste
• This recipe will use about 1 and 1/4 cup.
• Salt. Salt makes everything better.
• Water
• Cooked Spaghetti or spaghetini noodles
• Coconut oil
• Onion
• Fresh Basil and Oregano

Directions:

• In a large pot, saute one diced onion in some coconut oil. This is a great start to most meals, as it develops a terrific flavor base. Keep the heat fairly low so as not to overbrown the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent.
• To the onion, add 1 lb of thawed ground beef and cook until brown.
• While the beef is cooking, combine 1 cup red lentils with 2 cups water in a saucepan. Cover, and turn on high. You will need to watch that the water doesn’t boil over. Once it begins boiling, turn down heat, remove lid and stir occasionally. Let simmer until all the water evaporates and you’re left with a creamy lentil mixture.
• Once the beef is browned and fully cooked, add fresh basil, oregano and 1 TBSP salt.
• Once the lentils are done, add them to the cooked beef and stir to combine. 
• Remove from heat and stir in 1 ¼ cup of tomato paste.
• Serve on top of noodles. Add hot sauce if you like!