Meat Me for the Perfect Valentine's Day Gift

Let's Pork. 

I saw these meat cookies on Pinterest and had to share. Who wouldn't love these Valentine's Day Cookies. Jenny Dewey you might even have to have these at your wedding!

For $38.00 you can get six of these cookies delivered to your carnivore friends. 

And check out all the other beautiful cookie packages from Whipped Bakeshop. 

You have read this article etsy / gifts / meat with the title meat. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2013/02/meat-me-for-perfect-valentine-day-gift.html. Thanks!

Hunk of Meat Monday: Shrimp, Feta, Tomato Pasta

Absolutely delicious

Yes, the picture is a little
out of focus, but it is delicious

Tonight I pulled an old recipe out of my book. I found this Real Simple Roasted Tomatoes With Shrimp and Feta recipe last year when I first got on Pinterest, and it became a weekly staple of mine last summer. I was on the road all of last week, and ate way too many fast food meals. As soon as I got home I knew I wanted to cook, and I knew it wanted to be really good.

Real Simple Recipe with my modifications:

You'll need -
5 large tomatoes, cut into chunks. I love using Roma tomatoes
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
kosher salt and pepper - I use the regular stuff
1 1/2 pounds of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined - I buy the already cooked stuff. If I use a pound we usually have enough for supper for two and lunch leftovers
2 tablespoons of lemon juice - I have forgotten this before and it still turns out great!
1 cup of Feta cheese
Oregano

Spaghetti or Crusty bread

For our wedding we got a Pampered Chef dutch over, which was perfect for cooking this meal in. However, any baking dish will work.

1. Preheat over to 450 degrees F.
2. Place tomatoes, olive oil and garlic in baking dish.
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, stir and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove baking dish and add shrimp and lemon juice. I also sprinkle in some oregano. Sprinkle the Feta on top.
5. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
6. Serve over crusty bread or spaghetti

Make sure you tune in later this week because I am going to share an awesome common Canadian square recipe and don't forget to visit Beyer Beware for more Hunk of Meat Monday recipes.

You have read this article food / meat / recipe with the title meat. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2012/05/hunk-of-meat-monday-shrimp-feta-tomato.html. Thanks!

Hunk of Meat Monday: Honey Garlic Pork Loin

Get in my belly. 

We are definitely a beef, bacon and shrimp kind of household. However, you have to spice it up every now and then. So last week I brought home a pork loin, and decided to modify a Pinterest Recipe I found. I love this recipe because it only requires 4 ingredients! Booyah.

Ingredients:

1 pork loin - I sliced the loin into 1 inch medallions (this gave me six medallions)
1/4 cup honey
3 tbsp soy sauce - I use the reduce sodium
6 cloves of garlic minced

In a glass baking pan whisk together the honey, soy sauce and garlic. Coat pork loin medallions in mixture. I let my loins marinate for 6 hours, but I am pretty sure you could start cooking them right away.

Preheat oven to 375, and bake for 40 minutes, turning once. Once summer hits, I am also going to try these on the grill. Be sure that your pork reaches an internal temperature of 145 F. (The Boy says he'll never have to worry about me feeding him raw meat, because I'm in love with the meat thermometer!)

Once your meat has finished cooking, let is rest for a few minutes before plating. Letting meat rest is important. Why? Because if you attack the meat with you knife all the juices end up on the cutting board or your plate instead of your mouth!

I served the pork loin over Uncle Ben's rice, which my good friend informed me is rice grown in Arkansas or Mississippi. She said if you are looking for other U.S. brands of rice choose Minute Rice or Mahtma, which are Texas/Louisiana and Arkansas grown. #thankafarmer Happy cooking!

You have read this article meat / recipe with the title meat. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2012/03/hunk-of-meat-monday-honey-garlic-pork.html. Thanks!

Hunk of Meat Mondays: Crockpot Macaroni and Bacon

A pound of bacon

Yum bacon! 

Yesterday, was a busy day of clipping our bull calf Forest, house cleaning and painting furniture, so what better way to spare of time than a crockpot meal. I have been eyeing all kinds of macaroni and cheese recipes on Pinterest, and decided to combine a few for my own. 

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups milk - I used 2% milk

One 12 oz can of no fat evaporated milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled to room temp

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups (12 oz) shredded cheese Italian blend

1/2 pound elbow macaroni or mini penne tubes, par cooked and drained (this means cook them for about five minutes until tender but not completely cooked)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Oregano to taste

1 pound of bacon

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. By using a crock pot liner you won't have to worry about any clean up afterwards or you can spray the crock pot with cooking oil. Combine milk, evaporated milk, eggs, butter, and salt in crock pot and whisk until until smooth.

2. Add the shredded Italian cheese, bacon and macaroni, sprinkle with black pepper and oregano. Stir until macaroni is evenly coated.

3. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes.

4. After 30 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cook for another two hours. You might not need quite that much time, you'll be able to tell when the pasta is all cooked.

Excuse my iPhone photography skills, but that is a pot full of deliciousness!

For other Hunk of Meat Monday recipes check out the Beyer Beware and Pinke Post blogs.

You have read this article meat / recipe with the title meat. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2011/12/hunk-of-meat-mondays-crockpot-macaroni.html. Thanks!

Meatless Mondays a farmers perspective

Have you heard of it? 

More and more you may have heard of this thing called Meatless Monday - a great way to save the planet, improve your health, improve animal agriculture - I say rubbish. However, there will always be people out there that disagree with me. Like Grant Butler, from the Oregonian. He writes,

Last month, the health and environment advocates at the Environmental Working Group came out with their "Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Health." The guide is designed to help consumers understand how food choices affect both their environmental footprint and their health, and ranks the carbon footprint of protein sources, factoring in every stage of food production, processing, consumption and waste disposal.  

The three protein sources with the biggest carbon footprint were lamb, beef and cheese, which require the most greenhouse gas emissions to produce. Among the greenest choices were lentils and beans. 

Butler is a big fan of meatless meals. Let's take a further looks at the "Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Health," that he quotes. I am not sure how they developed their numbers, listing beef as one of the worst things you can keep due to it's high impact on the environment as Dr. Frank Mitloehner, Associate Professor was interviewed for the USA Today story on the Meat Eater's Guide, and put this report into perspective, saying that "scientific lifecycle assessments of meat production haven't been conducted." If the research hasn't been conducted where does the numbers come from? 


He goes on to say that according to the Environmental Protection Agency, only 3.4 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are the result of animal agriculture and "by changing the focus to eating habits, people think it doesn't matter whether they drive a Hummer or a Prius, it's whether they eat a burger or not." 

One of the Boy's Hereford Steers that
we will be eating this fall. We hope one
 day to sell freezer beef to consumers.

And what is my response to eating beef? Well beef is environmentally and nutritionally friendly. Raising a serving of beef today uses 30 percent less land, 20 percent less feedstuffs and 14 percent less water than it did when we were raising beef in 1977. In each serving of that beef you are giving to you family you are getting 10 essential nutrients including protein, iron, zinc and B vitamins. Beef is like Mother Nature's vitamin. 


I am going to make sure those light switches are turned off at home and we use a programable thermostat in the house to control the temperature to help be more environmentally I will not be participating in Meatless Mondays.


For another great blog on Meatless Monday's and how the numbers add up visit Bovidiva's blog Meatless Mondays don't amount to a hill of beans or do they?


I also like this fact sheet comparing the Environmental Impact of the U.S. Beef Industry in 1977 to 2007.


And for some great recipes check out my Hunk of Meat Monday recipe or visit Beyer Beware and check out tons of her Hunk of Meat Mondays.

You have read this article agriculture advocacy / beef / diet / meat with the title meat. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2011/08/meatless-mondays-farmers-perspective.html. Thanks!

How to package beef

Clever marketing, clever design

Source: lovelypackage.com via Crystal on Pinterest

I love this unique packing from Swiss food retailer Migros. Made me smile, hope you smile too.

You have read this article beef / marketing / meat / Pinterest with the title meat. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-package-beef.html. Thanks!

The Meat Gingerbread House

Meatrry Christmas

If you love meat you are going to love this Gingerbread House. The boys of Epic Meal Time have came up with the ultimate meat lovers gingerbread house. Steak and sausage was used as the brick and mortar for the house, mashed potatoes as snow, and ribs for the fence. And don't forget about the the candied bacon. I think a slice of their candied bacon would suit me just fine right about now!

Watch their video below to see how this masterpiece was created.

Yes, that is a ham door.

You have read this article beef / food / meat / video with the title meat. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2010/12/the-meat-gingerbread-house.html. Thanks!

Purchasing your meat

A trip to the grocery store. 

I am really lucky. I grew up on a cattle farm and that meant that although we went to the grocery store to buy produce, eggs, butter and bread, we always had lots of home raised beef in our freezer. In my opinion there is a really awesome taste to home-raised beef, probably because our beef was marbled (those tiny white flecks in the meat that give it extra flavor) a lot more than what you could buy in the grocery store.

Another, benefit is you didn't really think about how much beef cost when all you had to do was grab a pack of hamburger from the freezer. I was shocked again the other week when I went to go pick up a ham for my cream of potato soup. A small, little, tiny (getting the point it wasn't big) ham was $20. Um no thanks. I instead went with a ham steak to satisfy my recipe needs.

So what are people supposed to do?

One option is check with your local 4-H club to see when their achievement or sale day is. These are usually in the spring through the summer. My old 4-H club worked on partnering up 2-4 people to buy one animal since most couldn't fit a whole animal in their freezers. Also, 4-Her's and their leaders have a grasp of what a quality animal should look like and how much finish (fat cover) should be on the animal. That way you'll know you'll be getting something tasty. Plus, you'll be supporting an awesome youth program.

Through one of my Twitter friends I also came across this site, GroupMeat. Wouldn't it be great if you could visit a site like this and purchase you pork, beef, chicken or lamb directly from the farmer in packages.

I know there are numerous way to purchase your protein, what are some of the ways your family does it? And if there is ever anyone out there that needs to purchase some beef let me know. I might have a farmer friend in your area that could help you out.

You have read this article 4-H / agriculture advocacy / beef / meat with the title meat. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2010/12/purchasing-your-meat.html. Thanks!