Grass-Fed Beef Recipes for a Healthy, Hard Body

[xjsynx]

T-Nation has an article on Grass-Fed Beef Recipes.

Grass-Fed Beef Recipes for a Healthy, Hard Body
by Josef Brandenburg


I don't know about you, but I'm not terribly interested in eating a half pound of horse flesh with cucumbers on the side every morning. This is what Christian Thibaudeau tells us he eats for breakfast, and more power to him, but seriously, sautéed slices of Seabuscuit every single day would get pretty tiresome after about the second week. Of course, that goes for just about anything.

So what do you do when you've run out of healthy food options and you're beginning to loathe your diet? Watch out, that's what. You're setting yourself up to fall way off the hard-body wagon, and once you do, it's too easy to catch the fast train going the other direction. You know the one I mean. That's right, the Man Tit Express, with non-stop service to Lardassville. So stay on the wagon, get your ass in the kitchen, and try some of these excellent beef recipes today. You really can love your food and look good naked.

Oh, and because we want to both look good naked and be healthy, the beef we're after in all these recipes is grass-fed beef. TC's written several articles about the overwhelming superiority of grass-fed beef, but let's review.


From Health Food To Poison
Real beef, that is to say grass-fed beef, is a bona fide health food. It's packed with high quality protein, omega-3s, and even conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). It's also low in the things that you need less of: saturated fat and omega-6s. And it's delicious.

The corn-fed crap they sell in the grocery store is not real beef. It's poison that looks and tastes sort of like beef. The problem is corn. And as you might suspect, the government is behind it.

Cattle are superbly adapted to thrive on high-cellulose foods like grass. That's why they're called herbivores ("grass eaters"). When you feed cattle a diet based on corn, soybeans, and other grains, they gets fat and sickly, just like people. The meat becomes loaded with pro-inflammatory omega-6s and saturated fat; the anti-inflammatory omega-3s are practically nonexistent.

In an actual free market economy, only an idiot would grow corn, because it costs about a dollar more to produce a bushel of corn than the corn is worth. And you can't eat debt. However, in our country, the government pays farmers to raise corn that the market doesn't want. These subsidies have created a vast surplus of corn, which is sold to feedlots and force-fed to obese couch-potato cows.

It takes about 16 pounds of corn and soy to make just onepound of grain-fed beef. Multiply that by the thousands of tons of grain fed beef produced annually in this country. Under normal supply and demand, corn-fed beef wouldn't exist: it's only possible (by which we mean "profitable") because of about 5 billion dollars a year in government subsidies.

Simply stated, the government uses your tax dollars to pay off farmers and cattle growers who produce inferior food that in fact poisons you. Think about that on April 15.


A Grass-Roots Revolution
Government regulation is largely responsible for the problem of corn-fed, junk-food beef, but we the people are the solution to bring back the healthy meat our ancestors ate and thrived on. We need to start a grass-roots revolution by demanding grass fed beef, and paying the extra few bucks for it.

It's still a bit of a chore to find good grass-fed beef at the local supermarket. Even Whole Foods rarely carries it, although Trader Joe's sometimes does. The best way to get it locally and reliably is at a farmer's market. Here are two great sites to find one near you: Eat Wild, and the USDA's Farmers Market Search. You can also order beef by mail at Tropical Traditions.


Bring it On!
Most of these recipes are not super-quick, but they aresuper-efficient. You only have to cook once to produce three to five delicious, healthy meals. All can be scaled up to make even more meals, or larger portions for larger guys. Always use organic ingredients whenever possible, as they're better for taste, nutrition, and the environment.

[xjsynx]

This is an easy, relatively fast recipe that will yield multiple servings of chili that are packed with omega-3s, CLA, protein, fiber, green veggies, and taste.

Ingredients

1 pound grass-fed ground beef 1080 kcal
1 packet chili spice mix (I like Wick Fowler's brand chili spice mix. All of the components are in different packets. Toss the "Masa" flour in the trash.) 120 kcal
1 can whole stewed tomatoes 140 kcal
3/4 to 1 package frozen French cut green beans 120-140 kcal
1 jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup grass-fed cheese per serving 115 kcal
2 tablespoons sour cream per serving 52 kcal

Directions

1. Turn heat to medium-high under a heavy bottomed pot. Add meat and brown.
2. Add tomatoes, and follow spice mix directions (leave out the Masa flour!). Add remaining ingredients, except cheese and sour cream.
3. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Top with cheese and sour cream and enjoy.
Nutrition

1,460 kcal for batch, 167 kcal for toppings per batch: divide it up according to your goals and needs. For example, 3 servings = 650 kcal per serving.

[xjsynx]

Potato pancakes are delicious, but like all fried starch, they're almost certainly a one-way ticket on the Man Tit Express. I missed them terribly, though, so my mother (bless her heart) came up with a low-carb version made out of zucchini. They're green, but they don't taste green. They just taste good, and they're even better with a dollop of sour cream and applesauce on top. My favorite way to eat them is on the side of a nice spice-rubbed, grass-fed steak. Mazel tov! Not that sour cream and steak on the same plate is exactly Kosher, but we'll give you a pass.

The Beef: Ingredients

4 6-oz grass-fed steaks 405 kcal

A handful of my spice rub (see my previous article for the recipe)

The Beef: Directions

1. Rub meat thoroughly.

2. Cook meat however you like it: grilled, broiled, medium, well, rare.

The Cakes: Ingredients

4 medium or 7 small zucchini 132 kcal

1 small onion 29 kcal

2 eggs (farm eggs if you've got 'em) 140 kcal

2 tablespoons olive oil 240 kcal

Salt and pepper to taste

4 tablespoons sour cream (grass fed if you can find it) 104 kcal

1 cup applesauce 100 kcal

The Cakes: Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.

2. In a food processor use grater attachment to grate all veggies, and transfer to a large bowl.

3. Beat egg, salt and pepper in a separate cup and add to bowl of veggies. Mix well. (Some zucchini are more watery than others; if you notice liquid accumulating in the bowl, pour it off.)

4. Place large spoonfuls of the mix onto olive oiled baking sheets, and flatten with spoon. Bake for 8-10 minutes per side. Cakes should stick together well. If not, add an extra egg because zucchini doesn't come in standard sizes.

Nutrition
2,365 kcal per batch of steak and zucchini latkes: divide it up according to your goals and needs. For example, 4 servings = 591 kcal per serving (including 1/4 cup apple sauce and 1 tablespoon sour cream on top of green cakes).

[ghostride]

mmmm ... that picture made me so hungry

[NateW]

I just saw a documentary called 'King Corn' its about how most of our food today in some way is related to corn. It said grain fed beef has like 9 times more saturated fat than grass fed