Hunk of Meat Monday: Beef Roast Times Two!

Tikki Masala Curry - easy and delicious

P.s. my food photog skills are improving a wee bit!

I'm all about easy recipes - I do not have the time nor the willingness to spend 3+ hours over a stove making a completely homemade, handcrafted meal. I often will try to fancy up a main dish or try a new entrée recipe and then resort to frozen veggies and rice as our sides. One out of three ain't too bad, if you ask me.

Which is why I love being able to whip up something new from something old. It's like a makeover. That's what I did with a beef roast last week - the leftover turned into a brand new dish that we've never tried and it was DELICIOUS [all caps intentional]. My timid journey into foods from different cultures continued with this beef curry roast. Both the Ninja and my eyes went wide when we had our first bite of this stuff - and it takes A LOT to get that kind of reaction from him!

Without further ado...

Beef Tikki Masala Curry
1 lb shredded beef
1 jar Tikki Masala curry (we used Patak's)
Naan bread (or appropriate substitute)

That's it - three ingredients.

First, I made a beef roast last Monday night. Nothing too fancy or special - you can use this recipe if you're looking for one. I cooked it to 145 F - please for the sake of all that is good and amazing in the world, do not overcook the meat! We ate half of the beef roast and the other half I shredded using two forks and put in the fridge.

A few nights later, I heated up about 4-5 tbsp. of vegetable oil in a skillet and put the leftover roast in the pan. This is to heat it up and get some of that crisp on the end (you can't get that great crisp in the microwave, people!).


Getting its crisp on. Like my spatula? It came from South Africa!

When I could see the edges were starting to get crispy (not burnt - let me stress this NOT BURNT) I poured in about half of the jar of tikki masala curry sauce. I stirred it around and made sure all the meat was coated thoroughly then I let the whole meal heat up until it was piping hot.


Let the saucy goodness overtake the beef

Serve with naan bread, veggies and rice. Or, if you're like me and couldn't find naan bread at the Dillon's, you can use Kroger sandwich thins which are just as tasty and fit the function well.


So much delicious on the Ninja's plate

That's it - the whole meal took less than 30 minutes. Boiling the rice was the longest activity by a long shot!

I got this recipe tip from the culinary experts at NCBA. Every time I visit our headquarters they are whipping up something tasty and fun - this was no different! Can't wait to see what they develop next!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Marinated Pork Roast with Pan Sauce

A hot meal for a cold day

It's cold and rainy here in Kansas, which has me dreaming of spring and grilling. Alas, our grill doesn't get used as much during the colder months so I'm forced to cook whole meals instead of putting the Ninja in charge of the meat.

Which is why this Hunk of Meat Monday recipe is so fabulous - it was easy, delicious and can be replicated with beef or lamb just as easily so it doesn't get old and boring. Throw the roast in the marinade in the morning and that evening, in less than an hour, you've got a scrumptious, moist pork roast to enjoy while the wind blows and snow flies.

Marinated Pork Roast with Pan Sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
~ 3 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp. parsley
2 tsp dry mustard
black pepper, to taste
~ 4 tbsp. minced garlic

All of this was already in my pantry - win!

Combine all ingredients and save back about three tbsp. of the mixture. Place the pork roast (mine was about 2 lbs) and marinade in a plastic Ziploc bag and let marinate for at least 3-4 hours (longer is better but 3-4 gets the job done).

After marinating is complete, sear each side of the pork roast in a skillet over medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes. Place in 350 F degree oven and cook until internal temperature reaches 145-150 degrees (this took about 45 minutes in my oven but can vary). Let rest for five minutes before cutting.

Searing the pork roast really locked in the flavor on the surface

For the pan sauce:
Marinade that you saved back
2 tsp butter
Pan scrapings from the pork roast
1/2 cup beef broth

Place skillet back on stove over medium heat and add beef broth while scraping up the browned pieces of goodiness from the pan. Add the marinade and let the whole thing boil down for a few minutes. Add butter and remove from heat, stirring until butter is melted. Pour this over your pork roast and enjoy!


So delicious!

In other news, I have finally reached the stage of my life where I look at a recipe like this and am confident that I have all the needed ingredients - red wine vinegar, minced garlic, beef broth etc. I have an overwhelming feeling of pride that my kitchen feels fully stocked. Any others out there feel this way?

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Stuffed Burgers

I am horrible about meal-planning. Usually 'round 5:30, I start to think about what we might want for dinner and go into a panic because I want to make intricate, flavorful meals but forget that achieving that goal requires a little bit more planning.

So, out comes the hamburger. Or ground pork. Or, in last night's case, ground turkey.

I've seen lots of recipes out there for stuffed burgers - those are not a new fad. But I've never made one and I've also never had a turkey burger. Two birds, one stone.

So below are two recipes, intertwined - one for turkey burgers and one for beef burgers.

Buzzard's Stuffed Burgers
- 1 lb ground beef or hamburger (did you know they're not the same thing?)
- 1 lb ground turkey
- Worcestershire sauce
- Swiss cheese, torn into tiny pieces
- Shredded Cojack cheese
- 1/2 strip bacon per beef patty
- salt & pepper
- seasoning salt

Fry bacon while ground beef is defrosting - this is essential if you waited until the last minute to get started on dinner. Shred bacon into tiny pieces - one half piece per patty. I only made two patties so one piece of bacon was plenty.


Mmmm, bacon

After beef is defrosted, place in bowl and pour in a good amount of Worcestershire sauce (~4 tbsp) and mix up with hands. Let set for ~5 minutes before dividing beef in half and forming two- half pound patties.



Add in Worcestershire sauce, mix and let marinade for five minutes

Make a divot in the patty and place half the bacon and some shredded cojack cheese. Smush burger around filling, while retaining patty shape.



Add in your stuffing and mush the patty around the bacon and cheese to seal

Do the same process (two patties, cheese, smushing) with the swiss cheese and ground turkey. At this point, I had four- half pound burger patties.

Turkey and swiss sammich, anyone?

Season your turkey patties with salt and pepper; beef with salt, pepper and one of my fave seasonings, Red Robin french fry sprinkles.



Season beef patties with salt, pepper and Red Robin's french fry seasoning

Grill patties over medium charcoal heat until internal temperature reaches 160 F. Enjoy the gooey goodness when you cut into them (we didn't have any buns so ate with forks)!

Don't they look delicious?!

 

Bacon and cheesy stuffed amazingness!

I plan to try again with mushroom stuffed ground pork burgers (for the Ninja, not me) later this spring. Now that it's warming up, we basically spend every minute of every evening outside working or playing around, and 5 out of 7 nights, we end up grilling. I love it - quick prep, quick eat and quick clean up. Triple threat.

The turkey burgers were good but not great. I needed to add bacon in the middle or something. They also needed more seasoning but I'm not sure what is a great turkey seasoning? I would appreciate input and advice for ground turkey seasoning!

If you try these out, let me know if you liked them and leave me tips below, please!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Buzzard's BEST Flank Steak Marinade

Last week, I splurged and bought a 1.5 lb flank steak - the Ninja had a pretty busy, hectic week so I thought a celebratory week's-end steak dinner would serve as a great way to de-stress.


Perfection on a plate

I'd never marinated or cooked a flank steak before but some advice from the BEEFMAN pointed me towards soy-sauce based marinades. After some googling, I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to proceed and, after some piece mealing of other recipes, came up with the following recipe. I cannot accurately describe the magnitude of tastiness of this steak. Wowza - I even had some of it for breakfast before my 10K on Saturday.

Buzzard's Best Flank Steak
- 1/2 c. canola oil
- 1/3 c. soy sauce
- 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
- 1 tbsp minced garlic (more if you like garlic a lot, we do)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1.5 lb flank steak

Combine all ingredients, except for steak, in a medium mixing bowl.


Tools for the construction of delicious steak

Place meat in a shallow dish and pour marinade over the steak, turning steak to thoroughly coat. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hrs. I flipped the steak every hour or so to make sure every surface was getting adequate marination time during the day.


Look at all that garlic, yum!

For best flavor, grill on medium heat over charcoal until medium rare (145 degrees F). This should take about 5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the cut. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing into strips against the grain of the meat.


Don't overcook it - medium rare at 145 F

Flank steak is not a particularly tender cut of beef so cooking to well-done will make it tougher to chew. However, flank steak is one of 29 heart-healthy lean cuts of beef - one three-ounce serving (about the size of a deck of cards) has only 158 calories! 

OMG it was so good - flavorful, juicy and heart-healthy!

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did - so tasty!

What other easy, delicious beef recipes do you prepare? Please share below - I'd love to try them!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

If You Can Brown Ground Beef: Easy Lasagna Soup

This is quite possibly the easiest soup recipe I've ever made - outside of opening a can of chicken noodle soup when I'm sick. And when you're sick, who wants to cook? "Not I," said Buzzard.

Sorry for the tangent - anyway, the weather is warm and the end of soup season is near. So I thought I'd try this one before spring is in full-swing and it's too warm for soup. My coworker is a huge fan of the lasagna soup he gets from a deli in DC and inspired me to try it (thanks, Joe). Thanks to some googling, I found this recipe from Mostly Homemade Mom. But per usual Buzzard style, I have some suggested changes (in parentheses).

Simple Lasagna Soup
- 1 lb ground beef (could substitute 1/2 lb with ground pork sausage)
- 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I would suggest cutting this in half)
- 15 oz jar pasta sauce - we are a Prego family
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning (I doubled this)
- 2 1/2 cups bowtie pasta, cooked until just about done
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese (I used cojack)

 

Brown and drain ground beef in stock pot, and return to pot. 

About 1/2 way through the browning process, I thought "Dang, this would be good with sausage, too." So, you could use 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 pork sausage and I bet it would be OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS.

Add tomatoes, pasta sauce, broth, water, and Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. 

Some seriously good smells were filling up my kitchen at this point.

 

Stir in cooked pasta and simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Almost ready!

Serve with crusty bread and mozzarella cheese.

Your mouth will thank you for eating this soup.

 Seriously, it was so great. The Ninja is ridiculously hard to please with meals - "fine", "ok" and "good" are his general responses as to whether or not he enjoyed dinner. But every once in a while his face lights up with delight at the flavor hurricane invading his taste buds. This was one of those times. Other times include my fried chicken, beer drenched pork chops, mustard pork chops and rice (recipe soon), engagement chicken, homemade pretzel bites and my imposter Red Lobster cheese biscuits (which are BETTER than the real thing).

I'd love to get an influx of new recipes to try - please share your favorite concoctions below!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Easy, Delicious Beef Meatballs in Under an Hour!

Dear readers, it is 'Hunk of Meat Monday' and yes, you read that right. You can prepare a delicious home-made beef meal in less than an hour. For reals.

This week, I thought I'd share something that doesn't require a crockpot - no offense Crockie, I still love you but sometimes you need something that tastes fresh, ya know?

I made this recipe because I wanted to see if it could compare to my grandmother's meatball recipe, which I have no intention of sharing. Good news - these are fantastic! This is the second time I've made them and they were delicious both times and SO FANTASTICALLY SIMPLE. The great thing is that you could substitute pork, veal or lamb really easily, or do a combo. The next time I make them, I plan to combine pork and beef.

Buzzard's Meatballs

• 1 lb hunk of meat ground beef
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp H2O
• 1/2 c bread crumbs (I make a piece of toast, then tear apart and put in my food processor)
• 1/4 c minced onions
• salt and pepper to taste
• ~ 1 tsp garlic salt*
• ~ 1 tsp Italian seasoning*

* Remember my inability to measure things? Note the approximation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 177 degrees Celsius for my Aussie friends). In large bowl, combine all ingredients except meat and mix together.

Doesn't look like much but all those spices contribute to the delicious factor!

Add hunk of meat/ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine.

Mix it - mix it real good.

Form into meatballs and bake for 25-30 minutes for 1" balls. If your balls are larger, it will take more time to bake them. Mine were larger than a golf ball so it took about 40 minutes (always use a meat thermometer and for ground beef recipes like this, the internal temp should be 165 F).

Handsome little fellas

These could be really great for spaghetti or pasta or as a stand-alone meal. I like to prepare them as a meal and then serve with veggies and pasta on the side.



I've mentioned before that food photography is not my forte but trust your tongue not your eyes - these are delicious!

I hope you enjoy! Sound off below and let me know if you liked it!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Awesome Freakin' Beef Roast Recipe

No fancy schmancy title needed for this - just the truth.

It's cold. I hate doing dishes. These two factors equate to a lot of crockpot dinners. In the past I've made chicken n' noodles, beef roasts, teriyaki chicken, pork loin with apples (thanks for the recipe, Melissa!) and a variety of dips. I decided to put a twist on my roast prep and try a new flavor. I had heard of beef roasts cooked in Coke but I'm a Dr. Pepper fiend so I did some tweaking and came up with the following:

Buzzard's Delish Dr. Pepper Beef Roast (again, no fancy titles here)

• 3 lb beef roast (top round, top sirloin, rump etc)
• 1 can Dr. Pepper
• ~10 oz water (I just filled up the soda can with water and called it good)
• Salt and pepper*
• 3 cloves garlic
• Worcestershire sauce*
• Secret ingredient

Combine all ingredients and cook in crockpot on low for 5-7 hours or until 145 degrees [it didn't take 7 hours for mine to cook. More like 5.5]
*I learned how to cook from my mom and grandmas - they didn't measure things out often so I don't either.

Ingredients - very simple!

I didn't have any actual garlic so I used a combo of garlic salt and minced garlic from our fridge (again with the approximate amounts and substitutions). Probably 1 1/2 tsp of minced garlic. The salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce are to taste - the Ninja really likes a lot of flavor so I poured in a whole heap (maybe 7-8 squirts/dribbles/shakes).

The masterpiece cooking - I won't reveal my secret ingredient or how much of it I used but it's in your spice cabinet. Probably.

I used a top round roast but you could use any beef roast for this. We buy a lot of meat on sale so we're not too picky about what we get. Sometimes we buy beef roasts and cut them into steaks!

Excuse my horrible iPhone photo - I've mentioned before that I'm a horrible food photographer. But look how it's still pink and not overdone!

You guys, this was so delicious but please don't overcook it! Roasts are done at 145 degrees F and it will be so delicious and you'll love it and be sad you didn't make a bigger roast so you had more for leftovers!

What's been cooking in your kitchen?

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Airborne Beef Promotions

In light of all the questionable hype going on with Chipotle, I thought it would be nice to share a positive story about beef.

This past weekend, I had the honor of standing up with one of my best gals in her wedding. En route to the wedding, on one of many flights I've had over the past month, I sat next to a woman who told me she only ate beef when she ordered hamburgers. I thought this was odd, so I asked her why and she shared with me that her mother had served her overdone, tough and unflavorful flank steak for the duration of her childhood. I spent the next hour sharing easy, delicious beef recipes with her. I even told her where she could get a really good steak in Kansas City (Ruth's Chris Steak House, Hereford House). So, in honor of the anonymous consumer and Labor Day, I am posting a flank steak recipe that is so crazy easy, your toddler could prepare it.

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak Recipe (via www.simplyrecipes.com)

Ingredients

Marinade Ingredients
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Other ingredients
2 pounds flank steak
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Method

1 Score the surface of the steak with 1/4 inch deep knife cuts, about an inch apart, across the grain of the meat. Combine the marinade ingredients. Place steak and marinade ingredients in a large freezer bag. Coat the steak well with the marinade. Seal the bag and place in a bowl. Chill and marinate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

2 Using olive oil soaked onto a paper towel, coat the grill rack of your grill with olive oil. Preheat the grill with high, direct heat. The grill is hot enough when you hold your hand about an inch over it and you can only hold it there for about a second.

3 Take the steak out of the marinade bag and sprinkle generously on all sides with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. The salt and pepper will help form a savory crust on the steak. Place steak on the hot grill. If you are using a gas grill, cover the grill. Grill for 4-6 minutes on each side. Half way through grilling on each side, turn the steak 90° so that you get more grill marks.

4 Flank steak is best eaten medium rare; well done will make it too tough. When the steak has cooked to your preferred level of doneness, remove from the grill and place on a cutting board. Cover with aluminum foil to hold in the heat and to keep the steak from drying out, and let rest for 10 minutes.

5 Make very thin slices, against the grain, and at a slight diagonal so that the slices are wide.

If you want, you can take the excess marinade and bring it to a boil, simmer for several minutes, and serve with the flank steak. Great also with salsa or horseradish sauce.

Hope everyone had an awesome Labor Day weekend with your friends and family.

Until next time,
~Buzzard~

Superbowl Snackdown

(No, this wasn't served at any party I attended. Dang it)

FroBuzz attended a nearby Superbowl party and didn't want to show up empty handed so 'we' (meaning 'I') had to drum something up.  Hyatt suggested these but I thought they sounded kind of plain so I gave them my own twist. Below is the recipe I concocted (warning: Buzzard's don't measure anything so don't be upset at some of my measurments).

What you'll need:
1 lb. hamburger
1 lb. pork sausage
Salt & pepper
Italian seasoning
Garlic salt
Hot, pepper cheese - enough to melt and hold meat together
Colby - Jack cheese - enough to melt and hold meat together
Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits
Original Triscuits

Directions:
1. In one skillet brown hamburger; in another skillet brown sausage. Season each with salt, pepper and italian seasoning to taste. Drain.
2. Combine 1/2 of each meat with 1/2 of the other so that you have two pans with 1 lb of meat in each.
3. While on medium heat, in one pan add enough Colby-Jack cheese to bind all the meat together.  I used ~ 3/4 of a regular sized block of cheese. Allow cheese to melt and keep stirring meat until it creates a hot, melty mess.  Sprinkle with garlic salt to taste.  Spoon  ~ 1" meat clump on to Original Triscuits while warm.
4. Repeat step 3 for the other meat mixture, except using hot pepper cheese and the Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits.  Do not use garlic salt in this mixture, the pepper cheese and fancy triscuits are plenty of flavor.
Refrigerate until time to eat. To rewarm (because you can't eat them cold, duh) place in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes OR microwave a plate of 10 for about 30 seconds. Your choice.

Makes about 80 snacks.

They aren't fancy to look at, so I don't have a picture but they sure disappeared quick! Not only were they delicious but they were made with wholesome beef, pork and cheese produced right here in the good ole U.S. of A.  Thanks to America's farmers and ranchers for providing such tasty ingredients!

I also made a football cake but due to the fact that I didn't have enough red food coloring, the cake looked pea green. I do NOT have a picture of that, sorry.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~