Slow Cooker Grass-Fed Meals

Slow Cooker Grass-Fed Meals for every lifestyle!

I am a firm believer in slow cooker grass-fed meals for EVERY lifestyle.

I am a mother of 2 beautiful, wild, hyper little girls. Their activities and potty schedules take up the majority of my day. When I worked full time, I envisioned my life as a stay at home mom to be full of creative projects, cooking together, and lots of naps. I chuckled to myself as I just wrote that sentence. I also had grand plans to cook or bake everything I had pinned on Pinterest...LOL!!! Lucky for me, there are ways to NOT have to spend your entire day in the kitchen with munchkins who do not want to help with a 4 hour meal prep.

I have decided that the crockpot is my best friend and I've noticed that it is very useful for pretty much every lifestyle, especially the busy one. Did you know you can cook steak in a crockpot?!? I did it for the first time a couple weeks ago as an experiment and yes, it was amazing. From steak to meatballs, from roast to chops, the slow cooker works for everything and it is so easy!

There is a noticeable difference between grass-fed and grain-fed meat though, even when slow cooking.

When I have cooked grain-fed meat in the past, it was always very bland tasting unless I added some kind of sauce. With grass-fed meat, you can forget the sauces, rubs, and seasonings you think you need to make an excellent meal! All you need is butter and maybe a little salt. The best kind of butter is also grass-fed. I recommend Kerrigold.

So go on and enjoy your jobs, families, and life without fretting over your meals! Throw that delicious grass-fed goodness in with butter in the morning and forget it until dinner!

Ingredients:

BF Farms grass-fed beef or lamb

Grass-fed butter

Salt

Preparation:

Open package of grass-fed meat and place in slow cooker.

Place grass-fed butter on top of your meat (as desired).

Add salt (as desired).

Cooking:

Set your slow cooker to it's low setting to cook your meat for 8 hours, or use it's high setting to cook your meat for 4 hours.

(Refer to your particular model's user's manual for more details on cooking times.)

www.BF-Farms.com

BF-Farms, LLC, Oklahoma's source for 100% grass-fed beef and lamb.

A Great, Grass-Fed Steak

How to Prepare a Great, Grass-Fed Steak

Did you know that what it takes to prepare a great grass-fed steak is different than any other? If you want a tender, melt in your mouth steak, thawing it out on the morning of your meal is not going to cut it. Planning and patience is key and here's why: Your grass-fed beef was not raised as a couch potato in some feedlot, but rather it was able to roam and get plenty of exercise. It is this lifestyle that produces a leaner and more healthful meat. With this leaner beef comes more toned muscle tissue with connecting fibers. These connecting fibers need to relax and soften in order for your steak to take on great, grass-fed steak status.

So, here we go. This is what we do …

 

Step 1

Take a steak out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. Leave it there for a minimum of 2 days, but not more than 4 days.

Step 2

Take the steak from the refrigerator and put it on the counter for a minimum of 2 hours. (I leave my steak on the counter all day.) Your steak will now be at room temperature and will relax.

Step 3

This is the time when you determine how relaxed your steak is. To do this, simply take your finger and press down on the steak in various places. A relaxed steak will feel soft, whereas a less relaxed steak will feel firm. Your goal is for the entire steak to feel soft. Put it on a flat surface and lightly sprinkle with salt. (I use Pink Himalayan Sea Salt.) Rub the salt into the steak. Do this to both sides. Next, use a Jaccard tenderizer to poke tiny holes into the meat. This allows the salt to be dispersed all the way through the meat, and these tiny holes will allow cooking time to be reduced by about 40%. After this step is completed, allow the steak to mellow at room temperature for a minimum of 30 minutes. 

Step 4

Prepare your grill or skillet. When using a skillet, it should be medium hot. Add a generous amount of real butter. Heat until it bubbles. Add steak and sear for approximately 1 minute on each side. Turn off heat, cover and let set for 1 more minute. Remove cover and move skillet from burner. Let your steak set for about 30 seconds. It is now ready to enjoy!

Please note: This amount of cook-time is for a medium rare steak. Remember that each stove or grill is different. Have patience with the cooking time. You will quickly learn what is best for your appliance.

If you prefer to flavor your steak add this flavoring with the salt and then use the Jaccard tenderizer. Just remember that grass-fed beef has its own natural flavor so don’t think you have to add a flavor enhancer like you would grain-fed beef.

If you don’t have a Jaccard tenderizer, these can be purchased at Academy Sports for around $20.

www.BF-Farms.com

BF-Farms, LLC, Oklahoma's source for 100% grass-fed beef and lamb.

Diana's Meatloaf

Diana's Meatloaf is the best!

If you're hungry for a great meatloaf, give Diana's Meatloaf a try. I think you'll agree, it's the best!!

Ingredients:

2 lbs grass fed ground beef (BF Farms' ground beef, of course)
2 eggs beaten
½ cup panko bread crumbs
3-4 tbsp. of olive oil
Fresh oregano, thyme, & rosemary chopped
A pinched of crushed dried fennel seeds
(You can forgo the fresh herbs and fennel seed and simply use a tablespoon of dried Herb de Provence.  I have done both.)
Salt and pepper to taste…but you want more than a pinch.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands to ensure you aren’t over mixing it.

I use a glass loaf pan.  If you are using metal, I suggest a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the loaf pan. 

Place mixed ingredients in the loaf pan….drizzle olive oil over the top of the loaf and a pinch or two of kosher salt.

Bake for 30-40 minutes.  In my oven 30 minutes just about does it.  Of course it will continue to cook for a few minutes as it rests on the counter. 

While the meatloaf is baking, I like to make a little balsamic “sauce” to go over the meatloaf when served.  Put ¾ cup of good, well-aged balsamic vinegar (I use Teaoli’s traditional) and two cloves of garlic (cut in half) in a small pan, over low to medium low heat, and heat while the meatloaf bakes.  I don’t want to say cook…because you really just are infusing the garlic with the balsamic, not making a reduction, so you don’t want it to simmer. I serve this over each slice of meatloaf once I have plated it. 

This meatloaf is a family favorite.  It’s also very good when I mix 1 lb. of BF Farms ground lamb with 1 lb. of their ground beef.

Diana, thanks for sharing your family recipe!

www.BF-Farms.com

BF-Farms, LLC, your Oklahoma source for 100% grass-fed beef and lamb.

GMOs

Have GMOs, Genetically Modified Organisms, Overtaken our Food Supply?

In many cases, GMOs have taken over our food supply. Unless a product is identified as “GMO Free” or is labeled Organic, there is a good chance it contains GMO ingredients. Some states have tried passing laws requiring food companies to identify products with GMOs, but that has been axed by a new federal law. This new law forbids states from passing laws requiring food companies to identify products containing GMOs.

Our position at BF Farms is very simple: We do NOT recommend the consumption of any foods containing ingredients derived from GMOs; however, we recommend that you do your own research and make this call for you and your family.

To get a feeling of how GMOs have taken over our food supply, let’s concentrate on just two products – corn and alfalfa. (There are many more!)

Corn is by far the most pervasive in our food supply as this GMO food is found in most processed foods such as; corn oil, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, modified corn starch, etc. But it doesn’t stop here! GMO corn is the number one ingredient used to feed cattle in our feedlots. The use of GMO feed, along with the use of antibiotics and steroids, is the #1 reason for the demand of grass-fed meats.

Alfalfa is a relative newcomer to the GMO parade. How does alfalfa get into our food supply? It is fed to cattle, and just like corn, we get the results of GMOs when we eat the meat.

The biggest users of alfalfa are dairies. Think about it, GMOs have now found their way into our milk supply along with other dairy products such as cheese, butter, cream, sour cream, etc. Dairies also feed corn, so these cows are getting a double whammy when it comes to GMOs – and so are we!

We encourage you to do your own research regarding GMOs, and we also want you to know that BF Farms’ cattle and sheep will never get any GMO products. We are GMO free!

BF-Farms, LLC

Oklahoma's #1 source for 100% grass-fed beef and lamb.

www.BF-Farms.com