Meaty Monday: Taco Spiced Turkey

I was sick a while back and really craving hot comfort food - a soup or a crockpot meal really sounded tasty. However, of course I waited until mid afternoon to think about what to make for supper and was therefore limited in my choices. Hello, Google.

I found a recipe for the one large hunk of meat I knew I had in my freezer: a 2-pound turkey breast that I hadn't used during Thanksgiving. I had no idea how special my taste buds would feel after this meal! It was so simple to prepare and super delicious. The Ninja is stingy with his "this is delicious" compliments so when I get one, I put that recipe on a pedestal. This one will be in my rotation much more often.Read more »

Taking Control with the Protein Challenge!

Today I take control of my race-training and overall health by starting the Protein Challenge. The 30-Day Protein Challenge is a fun, step-by-step way to help you get an optimal amount of protein throughout your day. Significant research shows that some people can lose and/or maintain a healthy weight, support a healthy metabolism, and age more vibrantly when they consume more high-quality protein, within calorie goals.

Since I am extremely interested in maintaining a healthy weight and fueling my active lifestyle, I am stoked to be participating. This may surprise you, but even a meatatarian like myself sometimes has a hard time getting enough protein. Which is why I will be utilizing the awesome tools for the Protein Challenge like the food journal, cheat sheet and on-the-go protein snack idea.

For example, I've already got a start on today by having two scrambled eggs with shredded cheese and a yogurt for breakfast. While delicious, that meal only had 23.2 grams of protein and the goal is to get 30 grams of protein at every meal. This is going to be challenging but fun!

Breakfast full o' protein

I will be blogging about my experiences here weekly (maybe twice weekly, who knows) and how I feel, what I'm eating, etc. I fully expect to feel more energized and, hopefully, improve my performance in some upcoming races!

I have full confidence that my increased protein intake
will have me smiling like this a lot more often!

I encourage you to explore the 30-Day Protein Challenge, and if so inclined, sign up and do it yourself!

What do you have to lose? Nothing.

What do you have to gain? Energy. A healthier lifestyle.

Take control!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Balsamic Beef Roast

When I wasn't huddled around the heater trying to stay warm out here on the arctic plains this past weekend, I was catching up on my Pinterest recipe collection and cooking. I stumbled across what may be my FAVORITE beef roast recipe. Bonus: it called for ingredients I already had on hand and was super easy.

Buzzard's Crockpot Balsamic Beef Roast

Ingredients:
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
~ 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
~ 2 tbsp soy sauce
~ 2 tbsp honey
~ 1 tsp red pepper flakes
~ 4 cloves garlic, chopped

Assemble all of your ingredients, including a beef roast. The amount of marinade will work for a roast up to 3-4 pounds.

Gather your ingredients

Mix together all of your ingredients. Place beef roast in your Crockpot and pour mixture over the beef. Our roast was about 1.25-1.5 pounds and it was the perfect medium-rare doneness after about 2 hours on high. If you have a larger roast (3-4) pounds, you could do 4 hours on high or probably 6 hours on low.

Pour the ingredient mixture onto your roast. Look at all that garlic, yum!

When done, place beef roast in a serving dish and spoon gravy and beef bits over the meat to moisten and infuse with deliciousness.


Robust flavor and so very delicious!

Please, for the sake of all things holy, don't cook your beef to well-done! You only need to cook the roast to 145F!

If you try this one out, let me know how you liked it. We LOVED it - the flavor was robust and the roast stayed very moist. This will definitely be a repeat in our house.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

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 ~

10 Gifts for A Carnivore or Meatatarian

I've seen a lot posts about gifts for farmers and ranchers, which is fabulous except I don't have a huge herd of cattle or sheep. I merely have three horses and some scruffy, lovable canines. However, what I do have is a hankering for meat and penchant for incorporating it into many aspects of my life. First, if you need a refresher of what a meatatarian is, read this post and come back. If you are familiar with this delicious and healthy dietary pattern, read on to find some cool gift ideas to buy for the resident meat lover in your family or circle of friends. These are my top 10 gift ideas for meat-loving folks and they run the gamut of Christmas gift types.

For the decorating meatatarian:

1. Beef Vintage Art Print

I would love to have this in my kitchen!

2. Meat. Yes, It's Meat.

I have purchased this for a family member but no one has bought it for me yet- c'mon folks!

For the grill master in your household:

3. K-State steak branding iron


My stepdad has this but I need one too!

4. A giftbox of Kansas City strip steaks from the Kansas City Steak Company.

Perfect for a Christmas Eve meal!

Of course, you can't forget about the style-conscious meat lover in your home:

5. Steak t-shirt

Yum!

6. Meatatarian: A Personal Choice t-shirt

This is by far my favorite!

 And let us not forget the lovers of bacon. Isn't that everyone?!

7. "Bacon is Meat Candy" - Bacon of the Month Club

Bacon every month?! Yes, please!

8. Two words. Bacon Vodka. You can purchase it in most states (sorry, Ohio and Kansas!).

And these last two are great for any meat eater - I am actually hoping to get a really nice meat thermometer myself!

9. The Healthy Beef Cookbook

 

 10. A reliable meat thermometer and remember to use it! See here for recommended cooking temperatures per the USDA.

Don't fire up the grill without it!

Do you have other ideas? Please feel free to leave them in the comments below!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Faux Fried Fowl

Is this recipe healthier than real fried chicken? Yes. Was it delicious? Yes. Was it better than the real thing? I will leave that up to you to judge. I do know that it was far less time consuming and didn't require me to stand over bubbling Crisco for an hour. I doubt it is as good as my real fried chicken, but I'll take this for a quick meal any night.

 

I give you faux fried fowl aka oven-fried chicken. It was delicious! I sort of improvised and used the spices I had in my kitchen but I am certain you can go on Pinterest and find a great assortment if you're not into mine. I got my inspiration from some cornflake chicken recipe and went from there. Remember, we like a lot of seasoning in our home!

 

You'll need:

 

1 beaten egg

3 tbsp. milk

1 sleeve of crushed saltines

1/2 tsp thyme

1.5 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tbs butter

1 lb of chicken breasts

 

Mix together dry ingredients and in a gallon Ziploc bag. Combine milk and beaten egg - dip chicken breasts into mixture and then place into gallon Ziploc bag. Shake it up.

 

 

 

 

Place chicken on foil lined pan. Drizzle melted butter on top of chicken.

 

 

Bake at 375 for about 55 minutes or until the middle is 170 degrees F. Don't screw around with chicken, make sure it's completely cooked to the right temp or you could get food poisoning on your way to your honeymoon. No lie.

 

 

Serve with starch and veggies/fruits. Super juicy, super delcious and even had some crunch to it.

 

What's cookin' in your kitchen this week?

 

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~



Fancy Feast at the Frobuzz House: Lobster Dinner with Zucchini Chips

Could I have put any more Fs in the title? Probably so.

Every once in awhile, the Ninja and I break our normal routine of pork chops, tacos, lasagna soup and repurposed beef roasts and have a real fancy meal. This time, it was lobster tails that I got 1/2 price at Dillon's on clearance ($5 for two 5 ounce lobster tails). Huzzah!

Last night's meal was definitely the most simple supper I have prepared in a long time -- broiled lobster tails, zucchini chips and better-than-the-real-deal Cheddar Bay Biscuits (my version).

I started by prepping and baking the zucchini chips. I got the recipe from this Zucchini Round Up site which hosts a plethora of zucchini recipes for those who have a ton in their freezer from a prolific summer garden. Three easy steps:

• Slice zucchini (a little bit more narrow than 1/4 inch is best) and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet

  

  Ready for the oven

• Use pastry brush to apply EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) - sprinkle with kosher salt

Maybe a bit too salty?

• Bake at 225 F for 2 hours or until crispy.

Finished product - a bit dark on the edges but still devour-able!

As usual, I deviated from the recipe and this time it wasn't super successful. First off, I didn't brush the olive oil on, I sort of drizzled it. I barely remember to brush my hair every day so of course, I wasn't about to dig for the pastry brush to groom zucchini. Well, I should have because some chips got more EVOO than others. Secondly, I put way too much kosher salt on these bad boys. The Ninja loves salt and even he thought they were too salty at the end. So, season wisely because they will shrink and then your salt amount sort of doubles. Lastly, I had to use the oven for the cheese biscuits so I cranked it up to 400 for the last 30 minutes of baking and sort of *cough burntsomeofthechips cough* so I highly suggest either baking your bread beforehand or doing the chips earlier in the evening.

Despite all my flubs, they turned out pretty well and it's definitely a recipe I will make again!

Moving on to the protein on the plate - the lobster tails were so easy to make they only really warrant a short paragraph.

• Cut shell off of tail
• Drizzle EVOO on tail
• Season with lemon pepper
• Broil for 10 minutes

Easy prep work - the hardest part was cutting off the shell!

Serve with heavenly cheddar biscuits, zucchini chips (or side of your choice) and enjoy!


A whole plate of delicious for a fraction of the cost of a Red Lobster dinner

There you have it - a unique meal that was affordable and delicious! What are your favorite simple supper recipes?

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 ~

Beer Drenched Pork Chops

My friends and family will tell you I'm not a beer drinker. However, that does not mean that I won't cook with it - hence this recipe that I found on Pinterest.

When you read through the ingredients you're probably going to think the pork chops will be bitter and overwhelmingly 'hoppy.' Not so.

I only made three chops with this recipe but should have made six because I was wishing I had more for leftover lunches the following days.

Without further ado:

Beer Drenched Pork Chops
- 1 bottle dark beer (not as dark as Guinness - I used Amber Bock)
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- six pork chops
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 water

Season chops with salt & pepper.

The beginning of a great meal

Place in a skillet with a little bit of vegetable/canola oil. Brown both sides.

Mmmmm, meat.

While the chops are browning, combine your beer, ketchup and brown sugar and mix together well.



The dark beer of choice - I'd say it turned out well!

Mix together ketchup, brown sugar and beer. It will be foamy - don't worry.

After chops are brown, add beer mixture to pan and simmer, uncovered, until chops are 145 degrees F. This will take about 15 minutes but use a meat thermometer to be certain - don't overcook your pork or it will be too dry! Especially since you're going to add them back to the sauce briefly to coat.

 Bubbly, porky goodness

Remove pork chops and set aside. Add ~1 tbsp cornstarch and 1/4 water to sauce mixture and simmer briefly to thicken. Add chops back to mixture and coat with sauce for a few minutes. Serve with rice or your choice of sides.

 

Don't be fooled - my food photography skills are not improving I just used some editing to make it look 'better' - I think white plates and natural lighting would drastically improve my plated meals!



That's it! Seriously one of the best pork recipes I've ever had - I hope you love it as much as the Ninja and I did!

 

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~