Welcome to the Ranch!

We have had a few cold snaps this season at Cross Creek Cattle Company.  I love to feel the crispness of the air when a cold front blows through.  I love to have an opportunity to wear a sweater.  I love to see the cows and horses act frisky.  Even our 32 year old gelding finds the energy to jump, buck, and run across the pasture.  It is a simple pleasure to see the aged act like a colt.

I love to have a fire burning in the fireplace.  It makes your home feel so cozy and warm.  With the drop in temperature, my mind begins thinking of comfort food.  Delicious and filling chili, nutritious and tasty soups, tender and flavorful roast beef with mashed potatoes make me salivate.

To make each of these dishes even healthier for you, prepare them with grass fed beef.  I have posted many recipes on this blog, like Grassfed Teriyaki Beef.  Some of our family’s standard dishes are on our main website.  They include Daddy’s Famous Chili, Stuffed Mushrooms, Crockpot Roast, and Beef Vegetable Soup. 

Today I am going to give you one more recipe.  This time for Grass Fed Taco Soup.  Use my recipe for taco seasoning in it that I posted a week or so ago.

Grass Fed Taco Soup

2 lbs grass fed beef, ground
1 small onion, chopped
1 can pinto beans with jalapenos
1 can kidney beans
1 can Ranch Style beans
1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can yellow hominy or corn
1 pkg ranch dressing mix*
taco seasoning
Water or beef broth
Sea salt and black pepper to tasteI personally try to stay away from packaged mixes since they tend to have more than just the spices.  If you don’t want to use a package of ranch dressing mix, then use this recipe as a substitute.

In a skillet, brown the grass fed beef with the chopped onion and drain.  Open the cans of beans and drain, except for the ranch-style beans.  Drain the hominy/corn.  Do NOT drain the tomatoes. 
In a large pot, combine the grass fed beef with the cans of food.  Add the spices.  Stir.  Then add enough beef broth or water to cover the other vegetables.
Let the soup simmer 30-40 minutes until all the flavors are blended.  Serve warm with crackers, corn bread, or biscuits.
You can garnish with some grated cheddar cheese and/or a dollop of sour cream.

* Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

3 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground black pepper

I hope you enjoy this recipe.  Since the cold fronts are just beginning to blow down into Texas, you have plenty of time to try all of our grass fed recipes this season.  When you want comfort food, use grass fed beef to cut down on the fat and the grease.  It also  increases the flavor in each recipe.

“Beef, it’s whats for dinner,” is a catchy slogan.  It is also how I was raised.  We did not have beef every night for supper, but we consumed it more than any other meat.  I know that some people hesitate from ordering a quarter or a half of grass fed beef from Cross Creek Cattle Company because they are not that familiar with cooking beef.  For some families cuts other than hamburger are considered a luxury.

On our website we have an entire page devoted to recipes using grass fed beef.  We have a recipe for chili, stuffed mushrooms, vegetable soup, and roast.  Today I wanted to post two more recipes.  The first one uses the round steak.

Round steaks come from the same section as the rump roasts.  They are thin cuts of meat.  You can get them tenderized or plain.   Round steaks are very versatile cuts of meat.

I use round steaks in a variety of ways.  My family eats them as fajita meat.  We use round steaks when making chicken fried steaks.  But, today I am going to use them in a wok.

Grass Fed Teriyaki Beef

1 pkg grass fed round steak
3/4 cup onion, diced
Teriyaki Sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tsp ginger, ground or freshly grated

Take your round steaks and slice into long strips about 1/2″ thick.  Mine are usually about 3-4″ long.  The meat can still be a little frozen.

In a separate bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, oil, garlic, and ginger.  This is your marinade.  Marinate the strips of beef in the mixture for a couple of hours or longer in your refrigerator.  For the last hour, set it out on your counter.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan or wok.  When the oil is hot, place only enough beef strips to cover the oil.  Do NOT put too many in at one time.  Turn once to brown the strips on both sides.  Remove onto a plate.  Repeat until all the beef is brown.  Save the marinade.

Begin to saute the onions in the wok.  Add all the beef back into the pan.  Pour the marinade over the beef and allow to cook covered on low for 8-10 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Serve over rice and with steamed vegetables.

This dish is relatively easy to make and delicious.  It is a good way to use round steak.  If you like the teriyaki flavor, you can also use it to make great hamburger patties.  If you plan ahead, you can reserve 2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce from the above recipe to make your burgers.

Grass Fed Teriyaki Burgers

1 pound grass fed ground beef
2 Tablespoons of teriyaki marinade

Combine the beef and marinade.  Divide into four equal sections.  Form into hamburger patties.  Grill to your liking.

Eating beef can be part of a healthy lifestyle if it is grass fed.  There are many health benefits to eating grass fed beef. Check out this blog for more information on the health benefits.  Begin with the article, “Heart Healthy Foods.”

I hope that your family enjoys these recipes for grass fed beef as much as mine does.