Shout out to Smithfield/Farmland!

Yes, I know! I haven't posted a blog in about four months.  Quite simple really - combine working adult, college student, college finals, two out of state trips, not being assigned any campaigns recently and moving...I'm sure you can understand why there have been no posts lately.

NOTE: If my blog posts seem to go back in time, there is a strong chance of this occurring only b/c I have SO much AMAZING news to share!!!!

Gourmet off the grill!!!

Please accept my apologies about my delay between posts.  Between work, college, college assignments and other personal issues I fell behind - oops! 
SOOOOOO who loves food?!  Raises hand!  I live in a state where the summers can be hot, and this is a time when the grill becomes essential to cooking!

Beautiful bison

Most people have heard of the phrase "Pork, the other white meat."  However, I'm not cooking with Pork today.  I'm cooking with Bison!  Meet the better red meat!
Have you ever had beef bison! Of course you have (unless you're a vegetarian). This month I was able to work with the The Bison Council, and if you've never had bison you're missing out on some yummy goodness!!  Often called Buffalo, Bison is the same.   

The folks at High Plains Bison shipped a package of their Bison top sirloin steaks to me, and the folks at Allrecipes.com requested that I make the Caprese Bison Sirloin Steak with Bow tie pasta using my bison.  At that point it was game on!
In making the suggested recipe I cheated.  Did I just say that?  Yes I did.  I didn't want so much pesto in my pasta so I reduced the amount to 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of pesto.  It was MORE than enough.   Once my pasta was cooked, I allowed it to cool slightly and then mixed in my pesto.  I placed the bowl in the fridge to chill, while I did some research on bison.
In cooking with Bison you have to be aware of one extremely important factor. 
It is a lean meat!  For every 100 grams of Bison there is 1.35 grams of fat (contrast that with Beef which has 11.1 grams of fat per 100 grams)
What does this mean for the carnivore meat lover?   It means that it has a totally different preparation method!  It will take 1/3 LESS time, and 1/3 less heat.    The bonus:  You can now have your steak and eat healthier!  Remember how I said I cheated in making the suggested recipe?  I chose to marinate my bison steaks, in typical fashion. If you want the marinade recipe, click here.  After I allowed my bison to marinate and get happy, I cranked up the grill. 

In knowing that these steaks cook faster, and use less heat I made sure to keep an eye on them.  I'm typically a well done kinda gal, but for the bison I made an exception and cooked them to medium rare, meaning the internal temperature was about 110°-115°.   Don't the steaks look mouthwatering!

After letting my steaks rest for the nominal time, I then proceeded to slice them. One slightly important note to make.  This recipe calls for fresh mozzarella, so please don't use the brick stuff, use the fresh stuff.  Back to the center of attraction: Voila!  Bison Caprese Farfalle salad - it's the same recipe, just renamed *grins* doesn't it look yum!  The bison council twitter group thought so!!!

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Let's go Greek!

I am a carnivore beef lover!  I recently was selected to participate in a Beef. It's What's For Dinner. Campaign hosted by Allrecipes.com, and sponsored by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Crank up the heat!

Summer is the perfect time for grilling, and nothing beats a crisp, refreshing salad on a hot day!

Burgers w/ zesty appeal

Often when it's summertime I have no desire to heat up my house to cook. Instead I turn to my grill and contribute to global warming (haha!)

I've always been one to push the edge w/ what I create and my triple citrus BBQ burgers are no exception!
Ingredients: Beef, barbeque sauce, jerk seasoning, garlic salt, pepperjack cheese...looks good so far right???

Ohhh wait I forgot!  You'll also need the zest and fresh squeezed juice from an orange, lime, and lemon! Say WHAT?!  That's right...this burger boasts a citrusy trio that gives it an amazing pop of flavour!
This burger is one you'll absolutely want to add to your grilling repertoire!  It has a mild kick and bright citrus flavour, but one that is not overwhelming!  To give a nice balance I used Sweet Baby Rays Hickory Brown Sugar BBQ sauce.

This is MY version of Floribbean food!

Taste the flavour!

When I think of summer time food I automatically think of grilling, and kicking back with a refreshing glass of lemonade. 

 Mango spiced steak skewers  were a fabulous find, paired with Lemon Thyme rice, and steamed veggies were truly representative of a great summer time meal!  The best part - you can have dinner finished in under 30 minutes!!!

To complete the meal I served a lemonade made with Meyer lemons, and of course dinner wouldn't be complete without a slice of lemon pie!  

Bring on the grill!

May has got to be one of my favourite months - if for any other reason than it's usually the PERFECT weather for grilling out!

One of my activities for the month of May was to use a recipe from the Memorial day collection at Allrecipes.com.  I've always been one to push the edge w/ my cooking, so when I saw the recipe for the Crunchy coconut and lime burgers I knew I had to try it!

First thing I knew was that I would NOT add the salt as the soy sauce is MORE than salty enough.  Next I left out the egg.  I didn't see the purpose in adding the egg.  I was in shock with the amount of mayonnaise the recipe called for and I dropped it to a max of 2 Tbsp per burger.   Next up...taste test!

These were given great reviews by my friends at the gun range!  Perfectly seasoned, flavourful, and the carmelised coconut was a perfect touch!  Absolutely a burger made for the grill! 

A girl and a grill

Lately I've been having a love affair w/ my gas grill - today was no exception

I decided to try a new recipe for Grilled Chicken with Mango-Riesling Marinade and then I used my own recipe for Pesto Pasta Caprese Salad, and Steamed Broccoli.

First up, I tried this recipe b/c I had the ingredients on hand.  The marinade was a snap to make.  My issue...it didn't really pack the flavour I would have expected it to.  The chicken was definately moist, but just lacked the flavour.  Sometimes I'll play around w/ recipes, but this wasn't one of those times - it should have been. I found that it was similar to Edens nectar bourbon chicken but subtly different. Were I to pick either to repeat, it would be the latter mentioned.

Pesto Pasta Caprese Salad.  I can't say how I came up w/ this, other than I love tomato caprese salad, and I figured why not turn it into a pasta salad - works..right?!  It's a snap to put together also - that's a good thing!

1 1/2 cups uncooked quick cook rotini pasta *

3-4 Tbsp prepared pesto

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half 

1/2 cup pearl mozzarella *

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp salt (adjust to taste)

1/4 tsp granulated garlic

2-3 leaves fresh basil

Boil pasta per the manufacturer directions. Once cooked, drain.
Add olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and pesto to a medium bowl, stir to combine. Add drained pasta and toss to coat. Slice tomatoes lengthwise. Add the pearl mozzarella, and sliced tomatoes to the pasta. Toss to combine.
Take fresh basil, roll and chiffonade basil w/ a pair of kitchen shears, add to the pasta salad.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

*Do NOT use brick mozzarella. Pearl Mozzarella is a fresh mozzarella. If you can't find the pearl mozzarella, use the cieglini and cut it in half. Regular rotini pasta can be used but the cooking time will be different

Broccoli - what can be said about it -I simply steamed it and seasoned it w/ some granulated garlic and a little bit of butter & lemon pepper...sure not everyone is crazy about the stuff, but it's healthy.