Just launched this month, these quick-view cooking demonstrations showcase recipes available on Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. and will help home chefs get more comfortable cooking with beef. The recipes come with nutrition information and a convenient new feature that allows viewers to place an on-line order for the ingredients at their local supermarket. The segments are rolling out on YouTube and will be further promoted on IBC’s social media channels. Take a sneak peek at the first 2 here!

Mongolian Beef – Prepare this flavorful and satisfying Top Sirloin Steak Stir-fry in 20 minutes!
Ground Beef and Pasta Skillet Primavera – Nutrition box, checked…this is an American Heart Association Certified Heart-Healthy Recipe.

With YouTube a social media powerhouse, it is a prime channel to promote Idaho’s beef industry. During the month of July, IBC’s YouTube channel had 173,034 views. With that many eyes looking for beef information, beef checkoff dollars are delivering engaging and educational information to Idaho homes.

Visit and share IDBeef.org with your friends and family. We also encourage you to take advantage of the power of social media and follow, like and share IBC’s posts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, All Recipes, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube!

What is your favorite part of the beef industry? The people! People in the Idaho ranching community care about each other, their animals, and the land. They are kind, intelligent, and hard-working. I love being a part of the agriculture industry and helping to feed people. I’ve met so many people across the country and traveled to different places because of agriculture.

Why are you passionate about the beef industry? I love our product—beef! It’s such a nutritious and delicious source of protein. I love raising the cattle, seeing our kids learn responsibility and work ethic by taking care of the animals, and sharing the story of agriculture with others. I don’t know another industry that has such a global reach, yet is also feels like a small, connected family.

What’s your favorite beef meal to cook (or favorite beef recipe)? Oh, this is hard! I have so many beef dishes. I think my favorites tend to keep it simple. My family loves cuts like flank and skirt steak, and tri-tip, that is marinated, then grilled and served with a fresh vegetable or salad. I make a lot of ground beef soups and stews in the fall and winter too. My family has a couple favorite recipes I make—Steak Alfredo, which is fettuccine topped with a cream sauce and sirloin steak bites, and Creamy Crockpot, which uses round steak, peppers and onions, and is served over rice.

When you’re not busy ranching, what do you like to do to “unwind”? I love to read, play tennis, and watch my kids in sports, school, and 4-H activities.

What is your favorite part about Idaho? I really love Idaho. It has so many pretty places and the sunsets are amazing. It reminds me of where I grew up. The people are friendly and down-to-earth. I love that you can drive about two hours anywhere from where we live and you can be in the desert or the mountains. It’s been a great place to raise cattle and a family.

Are you a native Idahoan?
You bet, I was born and raised in Southern Idaho, attended college at Boise State University and have never had any desire to leave Idaho.  

What is your favorite part of the beef industry?
Family tradition! I grew up on a ranch in Fairfield and am happy to be allowing my kids to grow up in the same fashion. Working with cattle instills work ethic, passion, and drive.  I remember my dad working hard and our kids see us working hard. We wouldn’t have it any other way.  We also love the community and people involved.    

Why are you passionate about the beef industry?
The thing about passions is that you can’t explain them. Sometimes there Is just a gravitational pull to them. Maybe it’s the animals or the land we love the most–at the end of the day we are producing something we are proud of.  

What’s your favorite beef meal to cook (or favorite beef recipe)?
I feel very fortunate to have a freezer full of beef. It provides quick, delicious meals for my family. I think my favorite is ground beef. It is so versatile. I brown it up with onions and garlic and it go many directions from there. Spaghetti sauce, tacos, enchiladas, shepherd’s pie, simply a bake potato topping or pizza topping are some of our favorites. My husband is also quite partial to my chicken fried steak, made with cube steak. I use my Grandma Davis’s recipe which is delightful to this day!

When you’re not busy ranching, what do you like to do to “unwind”?
It seems that we are always on the go. Lately, our evenings and weekends have been spent working cattle to go out to pasture. We consider ourselves lucky when friends will come and help us out. When the work is done and we can sit under the shade tree and relax is the best feeling.

What is your favorite part about Idaho?
My favorite part about Idaho is that we are lucky enough to get to call it home.   

My name is Dawn Anderson, and I’m a born and raised Idaho rancher. We own and operate a registered Hereford and Red Angus operation, JBB/AL Herefords & Reds, that’s located halfway between Gooding and Bliss along the Malad River. My parents began raising registered Herefords 50 years ago. I had my own herd of Hereford cows growing up and was fortunate to marry someone who was interested in the ag industry. My husband, James, and I entered a partnership with my parents, John and Bev Bryan, in the early 1990’s. Our children, Bryan and Jae, started their own herd of registered Herefords as well. In 2012, my son and my Dad decided it was time to add a second breed to our operation and purchased our first group of Red Angus heifers.

We maintain a herd of around 125 spring calving cows and hold a production sale the 2nd Monday of March in conjunction with Spring Cove Ranch.  Our offering includes bulls and heifers.  We also farm and raise primarily corn and hay.   

What is your favorite part of the beef industry?
It’s difficult to identify one part of the beef industry as my favorite.  It is probably the connections it creates among producers and beyond.  I enjoy talking with people who have been in the industry a long time and hear about the changes that have occurred as well as to those individuals who know very little about “cows” and assume I raise black and white animals that produce milk for public consumption.  It’s exciting to share our story.    

Why are you passionate about the beef industry?
There is no better way to raise a family.  It provides a great opportunity to teach children responsibility and that we have a greater responsibility to the world in providing a wholesome, nutritious product.  I was fortunate to be raised in this lifestyle and to be able to raise my family in this environment.  It is imperative that we be good stewards to provide the same opportunities for our children to raise their families here if they desire to do so.  

What’s your favorite beef meal to cook (or favorite beef recipe)?
I don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so my favorite is fast, easy and delicious.  You can’t go wrong with a steak (any kind) on the grill, with freshly picked asparagus, and a baked/grilled potato.  

When you’re not busy ranching, what do you like to do to “unwind”?
I’m not sure how relaxing it is but I enjoy golfing whenever I get the chance.  

What is your favorite part about Idaho?
I recently made a trip to the Moscow area and it reminded me of the variety of terrain Idaho offers.  It’s amazing and beautiful.

To catch up with Dawn Anderson and her family on a regular basis, you can keep up with her ranch’s Facebook page!

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!

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. 

Aren’t these just the cutest calves you’ve ever seen? So far we’ve had one bull and one heifer, and have been blessed with such great mommas.

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!

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!

This week we’re going to grill up a couple of absolutely beautiful rib steaks! This delicious cut is located at the top of the rib primal portion of the beef (highlighted in yellow) and generally comes from the section of beef spanning from ribs six through twelve.

So what’s the difference between a Rib Steak and Prime Rib? Not a whole lot! When combined as a multiple Rib Roast section and roasted, it’s considered to be Prime Rib; but when each one section is sliced and then grilled, it becomes a bone-in rib steak.

This marinade recipe comes from the kitchen of my pal Tamzy Hopwood, who submitted it after last week’s O Bone Roast recipe! Tamzy is quite the cook, so I had no doubt what she was sending me would turn out phenomenal!

The last few day’s we’ve been busy moving different sets of expectant mother cows into their new “nursery” fields. It’s been windy, wet and cold—so the last thing I want to do after being out all day is come home and cook some extravagant meal. A recipe like this works perfect for our current schedule, because all I have to do when I get home is turn on the Traeger, and whip up some kind of side to go with it. And did I mention there are hardly any dishes to do?! Now that’s what I call winning!!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

1 ½ tsp garlic powder

3 Tb dried basil

1 ½ Tb dried parsley flakes

1 tsp course sea salt (if desired, not necessary)

Add all ingredients into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag. Add steaks to marinade mixture, refrigerating at least 8 hours, prior to cooking.

Since I knew I would be busy making lunches in the morning, I started marinating these the night before—which gave them almost 24 hours to immerse themselves into this mixture, prior to grilling.

I fired up our Traeger on high, and cooked each steak for 8 minutes per side. I decided to keep our meal pretty simple, so in between flipping steaks I whipped up a homemade Caesar salad and a few slices of garlic bread.

Justin claimed this was the best steak I’ve ever cooked, so I think we can officially consider this recipe to be a success! At first I thought he was just trying to be nice, but after I had a chance to dig into mine, I have no doubts his words were somewhat close to the truth.

Next week I’m planning on making up a pot of hamburger chili and cornbread, along with a fun little giveaway, so be sure to stop by!

Before we get into the actual cooking beef part, I want to make a few things clear.

1. I am not completely inept when it comes to cooking; however, I am far from a professional. I don’t own any fancy cooking devices, know what a balsamic-reduction is, or know how to fold my linen napkins into little origami swans. So if you’re reading along thinking to yourself “I don’t know if I can do that,” the answer is “Yes! Yes you can!”
2. Very few of the recipes I use this year will actually be of my own creation. I plan on using a few of my favorites, things I’ve found, and recipes that you’ve submitted! So when I say “next week I’m going to be using a Rib Steak,” feel free to send me your best Rib Steak recipes! You can fill out the contact form on our website, email us (info(at)idahocattlewomen(dot)org), or send us a Facebook® message!
3. We wholeheartedly welcome your feedback!! That being said, we want to keep this a positive place. The point of this series is to help women feel more comfortable when cooking beef, and give new ideas to those who already do. Feel free to leave tips or tricks that you have found helpful when cooking beef or ask any questions you have about cooking beef!

Moooooooooooo-ving on…let’s get cooking!!!

The roast cooked today is an O Bone, named because of the small, circular bone within the cut. This is a type of bone-in Chuck Roast. A Seven-Bone Roast or other bone-in chuck roast will cook the same.

As you can see, Chuck cuts (highlighted in yellow) come from the high shoulder area. It’s naturally a tougher cut of meat so cooking it low and slow yields a tender texture and delicious taste!

If you’re someone who is going to be looking for one of these bad boys in a grocery store, you’ll find them to be moderately priced—so buy away!

The recipe I’m using came from The Wicked Noodle and is one I will definitely be using again!

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

4 pound Chuck Roast

1 medium to large yellow onion, chopped

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2-3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

5 sprigs fresh thyme

2 cups reduced-sodium beef broth

2 bunches small carrots

1 pound baby potatoes, white or red

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

**My additions/substitutions: Neither of my local grocery stores carried fresh thyme, so I chose to forego that ingredient. I like rubbing meat in a product called “Spade L Ranch Beef Marinade and Seasoning,” and thought this would be a good opportunity to do so (which I will explain about below). I also had a couple sweet potatoes that I wanted to get used up, so I substituted those for the 1 pound of baby potatoes.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300F.
2. Heat oil in a large dutch oven over high heat. Season roast well with salt and pepper, add to pan and brown well on all sides (a few minutes per side). Remove roast and set aside.
3. Add chopped onion to drippings in pot and reduce heat to medium. Sauté onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar, increase heat to medium-high and boil until reduced and slightly syrupy, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in Dijon.
4. Set roast on top of onions in pot. Pour in 2 cups of beef broth and add thyme sprigs. Cover and place in over for 2 ½ -3 hours, or until very tender.
5. Add carrots and potatoes to pot and return to oven. Continue cooking until carrots and potatoes are tender, somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes.

Isn’t a rubbed roast just beautiful?!

Spade L Ranch Beef Marinade and Seasoning is one of my favorite products, so I decided to put it to good use. Although the original recipe doesn’t call for adding a rub, I chose to rub my roast the night before, and let it sit overnight in all that delicious flavor.

Rubbing something like this is super simple…I added a small amount of water to a shallow baking dish, got all sides of the roast wet, and then went to town rubbing Spade L anywhere it would stick. 

Fun Fact: My house and I both survived the browning process, intact!

I’m not going to lie, the browning process made me real nervous. I remember one time when I was younger my mom was making a friend and I homemade finger steaks, and accidently had a small grease fire. Ever since I’ve been leery of beef and oil together….so you can only imagine what went through my head the moment I put my roast in the pan. “Here I’ve promised everyone that I wouldn’t burn my house down, and chances are it’s gonna happen right now!”

After the browning process, I continued on with adding the chopped onions in and probably sautéed them for a good 5-6 minutes. Then I boiled down the balsamic vinegar and added in the Dijon. It was at this point where I wondered if I had picked the right recipe. Hot onions, boiling vinegar, and spicy Dijon–my eyes started watering with all the fumes and there was a small part of me that wondered if I still had time to turn back.

After everything was browned, sautéed, dijoned,and brothed it was finally ready to go in the oven! I love this part because it gave me time to get a few things done around the house, which included washing all the dishes I used! I’m the kind of person who loves sitting down to a meal with an already-clean kitchen!

At the 2.5 hour mark, I took the roast out, and added the carrots and potatoes. I cut both up pretty thin, because I wanted them to come out really tender. I kept the roast in the oven for another hour before pulling it out and slicing it up!

This, my friends, is O Bone Roast heaven! The guys had to unexpectedly run to Twin Falls the same day I made this, so Justin didn’t come home for lunch. Since I didn’t want something this fresh-out-of-the-oven to go to waste, I called my Mom and had her come over for lunch. She gave it two thumbs up, and told me she wants to use this recipe on her own cut of Rafter T Ranch O Bone!

Next week I’ll be cooking up a Rib Steak, so if you have any good recipes be sure to send them my way!

One of my goals for the upcoming year is to really focus on getting better at the things I’m already good at. That probably sounds a bit silly, but sometimes I think we get lost in wanting to add new things to our lives, when we really should be working to perfect the skills we already have. I’m the kind of person who likes to be the best, so why not work on bettering the things I’m already pretty decent at?! For instance, although my husband continually tells me I’m a great cook, I know I have a lot of room for improvement—and I know exactly how I can channel my inner Ree Drummond.

At the tail end of last year, our ranch had two animals butchered, which we split three ways. The great part about butchering your own animal is having a freezer full of beef. The somewhat unfortunate part of that is the daunting feeling of “What am I going to do with all of this?” This isn’t a bad thing if you know how to cook it all; but that my friends, is where I fall short. While I know I’ve eaten every traditional cut of beef, I also know that cooking them all (on my own) is something I have not accomplished in my 25 years of life. Until now!

Isn’t a freezer full of beef just heavenly?!

In an effort to keep my cooking creative (and my husband’s stomach full), each week or so for the rest of the year I plan to write about my culinary experiences with a new cut of beef. Some cuts will be repeated over the course of the year, but each cut will be guaranteed to feature a different recipe. I also plan on enlisting your help every now and then—asking for your tips, tricks, and fabulous recipes!

Join me on my quest for 2016, as I take on beef—one cut at a time!

~J