Ahhhhh, the weekend of love. While Valentine’s Day is my least favorite holiday (for the sheer reason that it often gets people feeling left out), I still feel inclined to celebrate with my fellow cattlewomen!

Originally I was planning on cooking up a “V Day Filet” this week, specifically for those of us who would rather spend the evening at home, or don’t have the time to make reservations somewhere. As it turns out, I couldn’t even reserve a day to make this meal in my own home…every time I attempted we either had a heifer calving or had plans that required sack lunches. Case in point on why reservations don’t really work for us Jarvis’!

Instead, I’m going to throw it back to a few of my favorite ICW recipes, cooked by none other than the wonderful Maggie Malson. This Grilled Skirt Steak is a super easy recipe that can be paired with a variety of sides! And if your “sweetie” isn’t sweet enough, I suggest making this Rustic Shortbread Apple Pie for dessert. It’s sure to brighten the day of whoever might be the apple of your eye.

Happy Valentine’s Day weekend, from our ranch to yours!

I know this week’s Year of Beef installment was supposed to feature a Blade Roast, but in honor of Sunday’s big game I decided to switch things up a bit. I’ll be saving the roast for a later date, and turning this week’s focus on my ALL TIME favorite beef appetizer, the Steak Bruschetta! The first time I had these was last year at an Idaho Cattlewoman meeting, and I’ve been in love ever since. Megan Satterwhite (Idaho Cattlewoman President) brought these to Sun Valley, and they were a hit! So good, in fact, that a month later I made these and took them to my parent’s house on Christmas Eve!

The original recipe calls for Flank Steak, but if you notice my pictures, that’s not what I used. Unfortunately I couldn’t get one thawed out in time, so I took the liberty of heading to the meat case of our local grocery store. There wasn’t any Flank Steak available, but there was a great selection of Carne Asada. Carne Asada is a thin beef steak that’s usually cut from a flank, skirt or flap steak, which is why I felt confident in my choice. Flank steak comes from the Flank area, Skirt comes from the Plate area, and Flap comes from the Bottom Sirloin. As you can see, all of those cuts come from close to the same abdominal area, which is why they’re pretty interchangeable in this recipe.

I hope you all have a great Super Bowl Sunday, may the best team win!

Ingredients: (Hang tight on measurements, I’ll go into detail on those in just a bit!)

Flank Steak

Baguette

Onion

Blue Cheese (slices are easiest, but crumbles work just fine)

Measurements: I suggest making these based on sheet quantity. One baking sheet worth, two baking sheets worth…you get the picture! I used an 18”x13” baking sheet, and could have easily fit 25 bruschetta bites on my sheet, without being too crowded (and I had the makings for that many as well). I used 1 pound of Carne Asada, ½ of an extra-long baguette, and one entire large onion. One block of blue cheese would easily cover your bruschetta bites, and leave you with extra as well. On Christmas Eve we made one sheet worth of bruschetta (along with other appetizers) for four people, and didn’t have any leftover—so you can use that as your scale for however many you think you’ll need.

Options: The options/substitutions on this recipe are almost endless. As mentioned above, Flank Steak, Carne Asada, Skirt Steak or Flap Steak are all similar, and can be utilized in this recipe. The original recipe calls for blue cheese; however, Mr. Jarvis isn’t a very big BC fan, so instead I put Feta on his. Gorgonzola would also work, as would thinly sliced smoked Gouda. I’m an onion lover, but I know there are those out there who aren’t. Although my heart breaks at the thought of no onion, taking it away would still leave you with a flavor-full bruschetta bite (and you’ll notice I also made a row of those for Mr. J). If you’re cooking for a crowd and are unsure of their preferences, I’d go ahead and make a row of each—that way nobody gets left out!

Directions: Now, on to the fun part! First, I sliced my onions and started sautéing those up until they were tender. I also took this time to line my baking sheet with tin foil, making for easy clean up! While the onions cooking, I turned the Traeger up to high, and waited for it to heat up. My onions were done as soon as it was time to put the meat on, which worked out perfectly. While the meat cooked, I got busy slicing up my baguette into pieces approximately ½ inch thick. My favorite baguettes come from the Costco bakery, and can usually be found next to the bagels.

I cooked my meat for about 3 minutes per side. Personally, I don’t like to get my meat too done, because I know it’ll cook even more after everything is assembled and in the oven. After my meat was cooked enough to be considered as rare, I brought it inside and sliced it into 1-2” sections, or whatever size will fit nicely on your baguette.

The assembly for these bites is unbelievably easy!

Step 1) Grab a slice of baguette;

Step 2) Grab a slice of meat, and add that to your baguette slice;

Step 3) Top steak with cheese;

Step 4) Add onion, and set the bite on your baking sheet!

These go in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. (If you’re going to use Feta, be aware that it’s not going to melt like blue cheese does…so 10 minutes should work just fine.) This recipe is perfect if you like making stuff ahead of time (or the night before), that way all you have to do is assemble the parts and throw your pan(s) into the oven. I hope you enjoy!

And now for a little extra fun…the winners of our “Make Mine Beef” giveaway are:You can send us an email (info(at)idahocattlewomen(dot)org) to claim your prize!

Hey there, and welcome to the third installment of our Year of Beef series!

I was planning on making this chili for lunch, but that didn’t end up happening how I had envisioned it. After breakfast I went up to the ranch to finish our year-end books, thinking it wouldn’t take long and I’d be home in time to throw everything in the Crockpot for a couple of hours. But books turned into hauling off dead limbs, and dead limbs turned into calving out a heifer. Justin and I ended up getting home at 11:55, which left me with just enough time to throw some things in the microwave before Noon. 

Right after lunch I started working on this chili. It didn’t take me too long to throw it all together, and get back to doing things on the ranch!

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. ground hamburger (browned and drained)

1 can Kidney Beans

1 can Pinto Beans

1 can Black Beans

1 can Great Northern Beans

1 can corn

1 small/medium yellow onion (chopped)

1 small/medium red onion (chopped)

¼ cup barbecue sauce

¼ cup Frank’s Buffalo sauce

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

Pepper, Cumin, and Chili Powder to taste

Beef Broth (optional)

First, I went through the process of browning my hamburger. We had our butcher grind everything pretty lean, which made for very little fat to drain off. I’m a big time proponent of lean beef—nothing can compare to its protein-packed flavor!

While the hamburger was browning, I dumped all four cans of beans into a strainer, draining and rinsing them prior to putting them into the slow cooker.

I also chopped up both onions, and added them in; along with the barbeque sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and Frank’s Buffalo Sauce. After the hamburger was browned (about 7-10 minutes), I added it to the pot, closed the lid, and set it to cook on low for 3 hours. Whenever I’d get a chance to come inside I’d open the lid and stir things around, just to make sure everything got mixed in.

Here’s my reasoning as to why I consider the beef broth to be optional. Personally, I prefer my chili to be thick and hearty. As the combination of beef, beans, corn and sauce cooks, you’ll notice that a good amount of liquid starts to make itself known (as you can see in the picture below). After it’s stirred in, the mixture creates the perfect blend of chili—not too thick, but not too runny. That being said, there are people who prefer chili to be more in the form of a soup. If you’re one of those individuals, I suggest adding in one can of beef broth, to give the mixture a little bit of added moisture as it cooks.

It was a beautiful day, so while this was cooking I went up and helped the guys with our afternoon feeding. Because of that, I didn’t get a chance to make cornbread like I promised—but I’ll be sure to add it to another recipe down the road. My cornbread probably wouldn’t have had a very big dent in it, because there was a good 15 minutes where Justin and I dipped our chili straight out of the Crock-Pot with some tortilla chips. Not sanitary, I know.

When it was actually time for dinner, I threw my scoop of chili in with a little fat free cheddar cheese and some of my favorite Quest-brand barbecue chips, to give it a little extra flavor. For all you little health nuts out there (myself included)…this recipe is the perfect blend of fat, carbohydrates, and protein; making it a balanced meal that’ll not only fuel your body, but keep you full for a long period of time.

Next week I’m cooking up a Blade Roast—so if you’ve got any delicious recipes, be sure to send them our way! And if you haven’t heard, we’re giving away two of these fun “Make Mine Beef” caps, so don’t forget to subscribe to our posts for a chance to win!

Hey folks! Can you believe this is our last full week of January?! That first month of the year always seems to go by fast! As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve got lots of fun stuff planned this year, and we don’t want you to miss out! The easiest way to keep up-to-date on what we’re doing is to subscribe to our blog, where you’ll have new ICW posts sent straight to your Inbox! And as a bonus, we’re giving away one of these super cool “Make Mine Beef” caps, to two lucky blog subscribers!

One of our favorite California cattlewomen, Brooke (who blogs at Meet Your Beef) designed these caps, along with lots of other fun “Make Mine Beef” goodies. If you’re interested in seeing what else she has, you can follow this direct link to her store.

Subscribing is easy….scroll about halfway down this post, until you see “Subscribe” on the right hand column (as illustrated in the picture below).

Afterwards, an email will be sent to your Inbox, confirming your subscription. All you have to do is click on the activation link found in the body of your email, and you’ll be set!

Wow! It’s December 2015! How have we reached the end of the year already?! We just completed our first Women in Ag Blog Series and want to say thanks to all who read, commented, shared and participated. We are grateful for the support! For every woman featured, there are a couple hundred more that are also contributing in unique and different ways to help bring food and fiber to the rest of us. We look forward to sharing more stories of Women in Ag in the months to come. For now, we hope you will continue following us as we share the story of agriculture from Idaho Cattlewomen. Following is a collection of links to recap our month.

Day 1: Women in Ag: Idaho CattleWomen Chair, Robin Lufkin

Day 2: Women in Ag: Idaho Agriculture Director, Celia Gould

Day 3: Women in Ag: UI Research Technician, Megan Satterwhite

Day 4: Women in Ag: Weiser Cattlewoman, Julie Kerner

Day 5: Women in Ag: Camas Prairie Cowgirl, Diana Graning

Day 6: Women in Ag: Agriculture Devotee, Christie Prescott

Day 7: Women in Ag: ICA Board Member, Dawn Anderson

Day 8: Women in Ag: Simplot Land Manager, Darcy Helmick

Day 9: Women in Ag: Rangeland Resource Commission Director, Gretchen Hyde

Day 10: Women in Ag: Idaho Purebred Breeder, Maureen Mai

Day 11: Women in Ag: Trade Specialist, Leah Clark 

Day 12: Women in Ag: Social Media Savvy Cowgirl, Chyenne Smith

Day 13: Women in Ag: Natural Resources Policy Advisor, Karen Williams

Day 14: Women in Ag: Range Management Specialist, Brooke Jacobson

Day 15: Women in Ag: Cowboy Girl, Jayme Thompson

Day 16: Women in Ag: All-Around Ranch Wife, Trish Dowton

Day 17: Women in Ag: Small Town Superwoman, Jodie Mink

Day 18: Women in Ag: Livestock Marketing Communicator, Kim Holt

Day 19: Women in Ag: All-Around Cattleman, Jessie Jarvis

Day 20: Women in Ag: Idaho Cattle Association President, Laurie Lickley

Day 21: Women in Ag: County Extension Agent, Sarah Baker

Day 22: Women in Ag: Corporate Marketing Specialist, Alethea Prewett

Day 23: Women in Ag: ICA Membership and Productions Manager, Dawn Schooley

Day 24: Women in Ag: Top Hand, Kara Kraich Smith

Day 25: Women in Ag: Animal Health Territory Manager, Carmen Stevens

Day 26: Women in Ag: Fourth Generation Rancher, Sarah Helmick

Day 27: Women in Ag: Ag Communications Professional, Maggie Malson

Day 28: Women in Ag: Rural-Loving Ranch Wife, Tay Brackett

Day 29: Women in Ag: Cattle Industry Champion, Ramona Karas

Day 30: Women in Ag: Rancher and Everyday Agvocate, Linda Rider

Please feel free to continue sharing these stories, and if you have any comments or questions about future Women in Ag posts, please contact us at info@idahocattlewomen.org.