29 Cuts of Lean Beef in a Heart-Healthy Diet

I am really excited to have Amber Groeling as a guest blogger.  Amber is a Hy-Vee dietitian.  Recently, I had the opportunity to be a part of an evening at the Topeka Hy-Vee store where Chef Alli did a cooking class and Amber shared the nutritional value of all of the foods that were being prepared.  It was a really fun evening, and I’m excited to share with you some of the nutritional information that Amber shared with us.  Bonus:  There is a great recipe at the end, Skillet Steaks with Sauteed Wild Mushrooms, which would be a great Valentine’s dinner.

Lean Beef – Adding Flavor to Heart Health

Have you been told you have high cholesterol? Instead of hearing “No red meat!”, you’ll now hear Hy-Vee dietitians encouraging the consumption of lean beef as part of a heart-healthy diet. The BOLD (Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet) study compared the consumption of 4 ounces of lean beef daily to the gold standard of heart-healthy eating, the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. Both diets contained a similar mix of nutrients, including fewer than 7% of calories from saturated fat, but the BOLD diet contained 4 ounces of lean beef each day while the DASH diet limited red meat. At the end of the study, BOTH diets lowered LDL “bad” cholesterol in participants by 10%, providing evidence that beef may not be as bad for cholesterol and heart health as once thought. Advancements in science may also change the way consumers view beef.

• Cattle producers are actually raising beef that is leaner than it was fifty years ago. A sirloin steak now has 34% less total fat, compared to a sirloin steak in 1963.
• We also know that over half the fat in beef is actually monounsaturated fat, the same type of heart-healthy fat found in olive oil.
• There are more than 29 cuts of beef that meet government guidelines for “lean,” including T-bone, tenderloin, top sirloin and 95%-lean ground beef. Look for the words “loin” and “round” in the name to help identify lean beef cuts.  Or visit http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/leanbeef.aspx for a complete listing of lean cuts.

Use the plate method to help incorporate lean beef in a heart-healthy way. Balance your plate with one-fourth lean meat or protein, one-fourth whole grains or starchy veggies like potatoes, corn and peas, and one-half non-starchy veggies or fruit. For example, serve top sirloin steak with steamed green beans, roasted cauliflower, and a whole-grain roll for a tasty meal.

 3 Easy Steps to Pan-Broil – Top Sirloin Steak

• Stovetop skillet cooking is ideal for cooking a tender, juicy top sirloin steak during the winter months.
  • Step 1: Heat heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes.
  • Step 2: Remove steak from refrigerator and season as desired, such as with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Place steak in preheated skillet, don’t add water or oil and leave uncovered.
  • Step 3: Pan-broil top sirloin steak 12 to 15 minutes for medium-rare (145˚) to medium (160˚) doneness, turning occasionally.

Dietitian Recipe of Month…

 Skillet Steaks with Sautéed Wild Mushrooms

 Serves 4. Total Recipe Time: 25 to 30 minutes

 All you need:

2 teaspoons olive oil

3 cups assorted wild mushrooms (such as cremini, oyster, shiitake, enoki and morel)*

2 cloves garlic, minced, divided

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

1 to 1-1/4 pounds beef top sirloin cap steaks, cut 1-inch thick

Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

All you do:

1. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add mushrooms and 1 clove minced garlic; cook and stir 2 to 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and browned. Remove; keep warm.
2. Combine thyme and remaining garlic; press evenly onto beef steaks. Place steaks in same skillet over medium heat; cook 8 to 11 minutes for medium-rare to medium doneness, turning occasionally. Remove to platter.
3. Carve steaks into slices. Season with salt and pepper, as desired. Top with mushrooms.

 *Cook’s Tip: Three cups sliced button mushrooms can be substituted for assorted wild mushrooms.

Nutrition information per serving: 195 calories; 9 g fat (3 g saturated fat; 5 g monounsaturated fat); 71 mg cholesterol; 8 mg sodium; 4 g carbohydrate; 1.5 g fiber; 26 g protein; 9.2 mg niacin; 0.5 mg vitamin B6; 2.3 mcg vitamin B12; 4.3 mg iron; 31.5 mcg selenium; 5.4 mg zinc; 18.5 mg choline. This recipe is an excellent source of protein, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, iron, selenium and zinc

So God made a Farmer

The Rest of the Story

Our Superbowl party went silent when that familiar poem was recited by the familiar voice of Paul Harvey.   Nearly to the end, I thought, who is sponsoring this spot?  Then at the very end, they revealed themselves – Dodge Ram.  Thank you to Dodge for highlighting 2013 as the Year of the Farmer.  It is reported that they have also announced that they will give up to $1 million to support FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) and assist in local hunger and educational programs.

When the commercial was complete, I thought – these are the faces of farming that I know.  You see, I saw the rancher who runs cattle high in the Rocky Mountains and puts up the meadows for hay.  I saw the old Case cabless tractor that I ran as a teenager.  In the straightness of the rows, and see modern farming that utilizes GPS which improves efficiency and reduces inputs.

I’ve sat around a dinner table like that and given thanks.  I’ve been honored to shake many hands that are grease stained and rough.  I know the men and women who work hard on their own farms all day, come in early to clean up, and head off to town to a school board or some other committee meeting to keep their community going.

I saw the optimism that I sense for the future of agriculture in that little girl’s face.  My Professor friends who teach at Kansas State University report more students preparing to return to their family farm than they’ve seen in years.  I’d just completed reading an article from my alma mater, Colorado State University, about how CSU students won the national title in the Meat Science Quiz Bowl, and all the details that they needed to know from how meat is raised to how it is processed to cooking to how it ends up on your plate.  The food production system in the US is complex, but it takes complexity to feed 300 million people in the US affordably and to allow 98% of those people the luxury of not having to produce their own food.

Later, my sweet little Mess Maker and I watched the clip on YouTube, and when it was over he said, “Mama that’s a good one”, and I couldn’t have agreed more!

Conservation project

Our farm has fields that are both “on bottom ground” and “in the hills”.  The bottom ground is near the river, and mostly flat land.  Our hill ground is obviously in the hills and parts of the fields have some slope to them.  There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of land.

One of the conservation practices that we employ on our land is to have terraces on the contour of the hill which decreases soil erosion.  In conjunction with the terraces, another practice we use is contour farming which means that we don’t farm over terraces, we farm with the curve of the terrace.  The purpose of the terraces is to shorten the length of the slope of the hill.  The combination of terraces and contour farming allows a reduction in the erosive energy that the water has as it travels down a hill.  Therefore, the terrace helps to decrease soil erosion.

Terraces will naturally erode some overtime and need to be maintained.  Every few years our terraces will be plowed to maintain their water holding capacity.  The reason that plowing is effective in maintaining terraces is because it throws the soil sideways as the soil turns over.  This throws the soil to the top of the terrace which makes the terrace bigger and builds it up.  Here are some pictures of a terrace that was plowed earlier this week.

Although we are still in a drought in Kansas, the dry weather is allowing a lot of extra projects to be done over the winter.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll share some of the other things that we’re doing during the winter months.

The Best Ham & Potato Soup

Recipe Flashback – in honor of January being National Soup Month!

This is really the name of this recipe and I think it lives up to its name!  Since October is National Pork month it’s a great way to round out the month, and perfect for Halloween night.  It’s great for either putting in the Crock Pot or cooking on the stove.

The Best Ham & Potato Soup

8 medium potatoes (I don’t even peel mine, just wash and dice)

2 carrots, finely shredded

2 stalks of celery, sliced

1 onion, chopped

5 cups of water

5 chicken bouillon cubes

1 ½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1-12 ounce can of evaporated milk

2 cups of cubed ham

Directions to cook on the stove.  Bring water to boil.  Add bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper to water.  To make this recipe quickly, I just wash all my vegetables then run them through my food processor to chop.  I don’t chop the potatoes as finely as the carrots, onion, and celery.  Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down to medium; add potatoes, celery, carrots, onion, and ham.  Cook until vegetables are soft.  Add evaporated milk and cook for 5 minutes.

Directions to cook in slow cooker.  Place vegetables and ham in slow cooker.  Add bouillon cubes, water, salt, and pepper.  Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.  About 2 hours before serving, add milk.

Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with chives, parsley, and cheese.  Yummy!

The pig farm where I was raised – I grew up on a family farm, and we raised pigs.  My parents stopped raising pigs around 2006.  The pig farm that I was raised on was “farrow to finish”.  This means that we had mama sows that were bred, they had baby piglets that were raised to market weight and sold to be processed into meat for grocery stores.  Most family pig farms today are more specialized than what our farm was.  They may only have the mama sows and then sell the piglets once they are weaned from their mother.  Other farms might just have the small piglets and raise the feeder pigs to market weight.  Each part of raising pigs has its own challenges.

A lot of people have questions about gestation crates that might be used on pig farms.  We did not use gestation crates on the farm that I was raised on ~ more on that in a moment.  We did; however, use farrowing (or birthing) crates.  I firmly believe that farrowing crates are important not only to the health and well-being of the mama sow, but especially important for the piglets.  The mama sow would receive individual feed and close monitoring during the days after giving birth.  The way that the crates are designed, there were bars on the sides so the piglets can get to the sides without the sow laying down or stepping on them.  The sow does have room to lie down to nurse the piglets; the piglets just have space on the sides where the sow cannot lay on top of them.  Once piglets were weaned from their mother, the sows would be moved outside to group pens.

On my parent’s farm, the group pens were outside.  Part of the pen would be concrete where the sows were fed, and part was dirt.  There were “huts” or shelters that they could get in to protect themselves from the elements.  There are some disadvantages to this type of housing.  First, there isn’t a great way to climate control the environment.  During the winter, we would “bed them down” with straw inside the huts, but there were still large open areas that exposed the outside.  Second, there is a hierarchy order with animals.  When sows are fed in this group setting the most aggressive will eat first and the most while the weaker ones will get what’s left over and less feed.  Remember survival of the fittest?  Third, even though these pens were checked at a minimum twice each day, on rare occasions, we’d miss sows that were ready to have their piglets or they’d deliver early in the group setting.  This is very challenging for a lot of reasons, one being that it’s very dangerous to remove the piglets and the sow from the setting.

On the flipside of the disadvantages of the group housing that I described above for sows can be overcome with gestation crates.  A lot of farms today have buildings that are climate controlled ~ think air conditioning/heat to keep the building at a constant temperature.  Hmmm – similarly, most of us keep our houses climate controlled year round…. The hierarchy order isn’t an issue with gestation crates.  Each pig receives their feed individually and can have their health monitored individually.

Why did my parents never convert from outside group housing to gestation crates?  I would say that as much as anything it had to do with the cost of putting in this type of barn.  From an economic and sow health aspect, there are a lot of strong reasons why a pig farmer would have built a barn with gestation crates.  Farmers don’t make these decisions without doing a lot of research and contemplating what overall makes the most sense for their farm.  That being said, if a farm already has their sows housed in gestation crates, they built this type of barn only after much research and contemplation.

Leftover Mashed Potato Redo

Looking for something to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers?  Here’s a great option to redo the mashed potatoes.  Honestly, I don’t make mashed potatoes very often because during my first 18 years, I ate enough boiled potatoes to last my entire lifetime.  But when I do make mashed potatoes for my family, I generally cook twice as many potatoes as we’ll eat so I can make these a few days later as a quick side dish.

Here’s what you need:

Leftover Mashed Potatoes

Butter

Cheese

Seasoning – we like celery seed, onion powder, salt, and pepper

**You can add a lot of other things to these potatoes such as bacon, chives, onion rather than the seasoning.

I warm the leftover mashed potatoes in the microwave until the potatoes are slightly warm.  Once the potatoes are warmed, I can easily fold in the butter, cheese, and seasoning.  Then I will transfer the warmed potato mixture into a greased baking dish, and bake the potatoes at 350 degrees until hot, usually about 20 minutes.

Food Prices

Did you know that the average American household spends 10% of our incomes on food compared to 18-25% in other parts of the world?  (Source:  UN Food and Agriculture Organization)

What all goes into food prices?  A lot of different factors – see this USDA diagram.  Commodity prices account for 14% of food prices, while food processing, packaging, retail trade, transportation, and other things make up the other 86% of the cost of food.  In 1950, farmers received more than 40 cents for every food dollar that consumers spent in the grocery store.  Today, they received less than 12 cents.

These are some tips of how I try to save on grocery costs.

*Stock up on staples when they go on sale.  Last week our local store had a lot of food staples on sale ahead of the holidays so I stocked up during my weekly grocery shopping.  Some of the items that were on sale at my local store last week (some half price!) included:  butter, canned vegetables, cream cheese, broth, cream soup, and lots of other goodies.

*Purchase store brands.  There are a few items that I make it a point to buy a brand name, but usually I can’t see a lot of difference so I’ll buy the store brand.  On a related note, I don’t do a lot with coupons.  I recognize some people have had great success with coupons, and I probably don’t know how to do it effectively.  Generally, when I clip coupons, I seem to forget them or I’m trying to keep my little Mess-Maker somewhere near the grocery cart while crossing items off “the list”.  The long and short of it, is I find coupons to be too big of a hassle right now.

*Just in time food.  It is a rule in our house that if you use the last of something, you will put it on this list so it gets bought again.  If it’s not on the list, don’t expect to eat it again!  J

*Buy in bulk when it makes sense.  For our family, these include – peanut butter, frozen fish, and canned goods.  We will also have a side of beef or pork processed as needed.  This is quite an upfront expense, but I save money over time by buying our meat this way, and it’s so nice to have a selection of meat in the freezer rather than thinking about it each week as I buy groceries.

*The extra freezer.  Having an extra freezer can be a double edged sword.  If you know that you’re not good about rotating food, you might end up with lots of mystery meat samples!  I keep my kitchen freezer stocked with vegetables, fruit, cheese, butter, and a few “convenience” foods.  My extra freezer is reserved for meat, frozen goodies from the garden, and any bulk purchases when things are on sale.  I try to put “like” foods on each shelf so the freezer stays more organized à if you don’t know what I’m talking about, refer to the mystery meat comment above.

How do you try to manage your food budget?

Let’s Talk Turkey

My friend, Katie, from http://www.onthebanksofsquawcreek.com/ has graciously allowed me to share her blog with you.  Katie and her husband farm in Iowa and they raise turkeys for meat.  The first time I met Katie, she asked if I liked the Subway turkey sandwiches, and said that their turkeys are used in Subways sandwiches.  Every time I go to Subway now, I think of Katie!

Thanksgiving Turkey

Go to her blog and look under “Turkeys”, it’s fascinating to learn more about how her family raises turkeys for meat consumption.  It was interesting to learn about the testing that their flock goes through to ensure food safety.  She also has some great recipes.  Honestly, I’ve always thought of turkey more as a holiday food, but after looking at some of her great recipes, I think we’ll be eating turkey more year-round!

Last, but certainly not least, check out Katie’s farmhouse renovations and all of the DYI projects.  So many great ideas!

Thanks for sharing, Katie!