Skillet Burritos (organic beef) - ONE DISH MEAL!

Just a slight variation on my original Beef Skillet Burritos (substituted Chili Seasoning for Tack Seasoning) with lots of choices and options allowed in this quick and easy beef dish utilizing common taco or burrito ingredients cooked up in a cast iron skillet or paella pan on high heat on the BGE.

Ingredients
1 Lb. Free-Range Lean Ground Beef
1 Pkg. Taco Seasoning (pick your poison)
1 14 Oz. Can, Dark Red Kidney Beans, drained
1 Cup Chunky Salsa (pick your favorite chunky variety)
1 Cup Water
4 Each 6” Flour Tortillas cut into 1 ½” pieces
1- 1 1/2 Cups, finely shredded Mexican Cheese Mixture (3-4 varieties)
4 Large Green Onions, chopped
½ Cup Sour Crème
1/2 + Cup Vidalia Onion, chopped
4 Garlic cloves, minced

EVOO

Optional ingredients (and toppings)
 Chopped Tomatoes
 Chopped Avocados
 Shredded Lettuce
 Jalapenos
Preparation
1. Preheat BGE with raised grid to high heat.
2. Place skillet on grid and drizzle in some EVOO
3. Brown the ground beef, Vidalia onions and garlic until done.
4. Stir in taco seasoning, beans, salsa and water; stir an bring to boil; simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Stir in tortillas, top with cheese and let stand until cheese is melted.
6. Remove from grill and serve directly from the skillet on top of a bed of lettuce and tomatoes, garnish with sour crème and green onions (add optional toppings as desired).

French Onion Chicken Breast (Organic)

…or Crunchy Chicken Recipe!  This recipe is an Organic Chicken breast recipe ‘borrowed’ from a Television Advertisement for French’s French Fried Onions (which probably cancels out the organic piece of this recipe).


Ingredients
2 or 3 Organic (Bare Chicken) Chicken Breasts
2 Free Range Brown Eggs
½ Can – French’s French Fried Onions
6-8 oz. Finely Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2 tsp. Garlic Powder

Preparation Directions
1. Crack eggs into mixing bowl and whip with whisk (add salt)
2. Use egg mixture as a wash on chicken breasts
3. Dump Onions onto paper plate
4. Press breasts onto onions, turn and repeat
5. Place in greased cooking dish or on foil cooking pan
6. Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese to taste


Cooking Directions
Fire up the Big Green Egg to 350-375 degrees (dome); plate setter legs up and grid in place. Place foil cooking pan on grid, close lid and do not look for 40 minutes. Remove and let rest, serves 2. (Indirect works too, it just has to cook longer)


PIC QUALITY FROM IPHONE IN DARK...GOT TOO LAZY TO GET OUT THE NIKON...FAIL!

Nothing Organic about a Food Sealer...but

I've been shopping Food Sealers for about two years.  Just could not pull the trigger.  So, last weekend, a local department store had a sale that included a 15-30% discount at the register ON TOP of the sale price.  So, I rushed over to the store to find the item was marked up by $30 (back to suggested retail) and sale priced to about $3 more than they had it marked before, and $40 more than their previous sale price.  Got it so far?  In essence, they had calculated that the BEST you could do was get within $5 of the internet price of this item...had they left the price the same,  you could have beat the internet price by $30...trust me on the math.  Since this is the third time I have watched this store do this over the past year, I went home.  I also closed my account with them. 

Got on the internet and found THIS BEAUTY for $65, used three times...arrived this week and works like a wonder!  Glad I held out, now I bought this for less than half the internet price and one third what I would have paid the retail store.  And retailers wonder WHY their business is declining?  My Freezer is FULL of freshly vacuum sealed meat now!  Keep On Eggin'

Santa Maria Style Tri Tip (sustainable beef)

The story behind Tri Tip Beef (a.k.a. Triangle Roast): This cut of meat is limited in availability because there is only one per side of beef. Therefore it is typically ground into hamburger or cut into cubes and sold as soup meat. This often over looked piece of meat is not only relatively inexpensive but also very flavorful and has become a favorite amongst the few in the know. The tri-tip roast or steak (also called a triangle roast) is the 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds of meat that sits at the bottom of the sirloin. It has great flavor and tends to be much lower in fat than most cuts of beef i.e., it's a good lean cut of beef.

The thing to remember is that lean also means it will dry out faster so it is recommended that you prepare with a good marinade &/or Rub. Particularly good flavors for tri-tip are Southwestern or Asian. Because tri-tip is lean, be careful not to overcook it, particularly when preparing the full roast. Medium is as far as you should go with this cut. Use a meat thermometer to monitor often during cooking. If you are used to grilling other cuts, this one can throw some grillers off by appearing underdone when it is ready to serve and by the amount it ‘swells’ when cooked.

Santa Maria/Grilled Soy Lime Style – This simple tri tip recipe utilizes a hybrid marinade that is loosely based on a combination of spices picked up from two different recipes.
Ingredients
• 2-3 Lb. Tri-tip roast

• Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning Blends – Meat Magic

Seasoning Marinade:
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground 4-color pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 Tbls. Garlic powder
• 2 Tbls. Sea Salt (fresh ground)
• 1 ½ Cups Apple Juice (100% pure juice)
• ¼ Cup Soy Sauce (low sodium)
• 2 ½ Tsp. Lime Juice
• 1 Tbls. Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 Tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• ½ Tsp. Fresh Ground Ginger Root
• Optional: Corn Syrup or Honey (3 Tbls.)
Basting Sauce:
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
• ½ cup vegetable oil (or EVOO) (add garlic powder if you can’t find garlic infused oil)
Preparation and cooking (NON SEAR METHOD)
1. Mix together all marinade ingredients in a small bowl and pour over the tri tip in a 1 gallon freezer bag. Place in refrigerator for 4-8 hours turning occasionally OVERNIGHT is best however. 
2. Whisk basting sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside for basting.
3. Lightly oil your cooking grid and fire up BGE to T-Rex. Remove from Marinade and pat dry. Rub each side with Paul Prudhomme’s Meat Magic.
4. Set up BGE for Indirect cooking (plate setter) and return the tri-tip back in the BGE and cook to an internal temperature of 135 degrees for medium rare, basting with the sauce twice during the cook.  
6. Remove tri-tip from the BGE, cover it with foil and let it rest 15 minutes; to serve cut into 1/4 to 3/8" slices against the grain.2
1 Paraphrased from Beef Tri-Tip, One of the best cuts you are probably not buying, By Derrick Riches, About.com Guide 2 this recipe is adapted loosely from Foodnetwork.com’s website; titled “Santa Maria Style BBQ”

Pizza night!

Nothing organic about tonight's dinner  besides the tomatoes.  Another variation on our favorite artichoke heart, tomato pizza (see previous posts for a variety of recipe variations).  Just used up some items in the fridge and cooked up this pie...

Sustainable Beef Cooking Challenge! Organic Beef

In picked up a 3.08 Lb. Bone In Ribeye from Manken Farms (Missouri Legacy Beef) this morning.  YOUR CHALLENGE?  Tell me how you think I should cook this puppy, it is over 3" Thick!!!  If you CLICK HERE you can submit your idea, recipe, cooking tips et al via email.   

Please DO NOT put your idea as a comment on this blog, it requires too many steps for me to manage the comments.  

The method and/or recipe I pick will be featured on this blog and you will be recognized in the write up and I'll send you something from my vast collection of spices and sauces in appreciateion.  I must receive the entries by Thursday the 16th.  Keep On Eggin' 

Soba Noodles with Grilled Shrimp (w/Organic Chinese Long Beans)

...and Orange Dipping Sauce!
Soba (and or Udon) noodles have a wonderful flavor that is terrific with shrimp and stir fried vegetables.

Ingredients
2 Oranges for fresh juice
2 Tbls. Mirin (rice wine)
1 ½ Tsp. Soy Sauce (organic)
1 Tsp. Rice Vinegar
1 ½ Tsp. minced Jalapeno
½ Tsp. grated fresh ginger root
1.5 lb. Large Shrimp peeled and deveined
6 Oz. Soba (substitute Udon) noodles
Vegetable Oil for Grill surface
Optional: Stir Fry Sauce (any flavor)
Select  your own desired Vegetables for Stir Fry e.g.
Japanese Long Beans
Bell Peppers
Sugar Onions
Carrots
Snow Peas (optional)
Preparation
1. In a bowl combine the OJ, Mirin, soy sauce, vinegar, chile and ginger.
2. Shrimp marinade: Option 1; Use a few tablespoons of the dipping sauce for 10 minutes. Option 2: Rub shrimp with favorite seafood spices e.g. Paul Prudhommes Seafood Magic
3. Boil a large pot of salted water and add soba noodles until done. Remove from heat drain and set aside.(rinsing is optional).
4. Drizzle EVOO in a wok or other pan e.g. terracotta baking dish and sauté all vegetables until tender. Optional: Add stir fry sauce and stir until hot, remove from heat and cover.
5. Shrimp preparation: Option 1: Skewer and grill until done, Option 2: Toss into wok or terracotta baking dish and cook in EVOO until done.
6. Remove and serve all ingredients as separate dishes; Shrimp, veggies, noodle and dipping sauce on the side.

Pork Tenderloin with Organic Water Spinach

The only thing difference about this tenderloin cook last night from normal was the fact that I used Water Spinach. Other than that, I used Paul Prudhommes Pork Magic and made beans.   After looking into Water Spinach it has some interesting applications and in Florida it is even considered an invasive grass species...interesting.
Read on if you want more information about Water Spinach than most people would want in a lifetime, ha.

Water Spinach
Ipomoea aquatica is most commonly grown in East and Southeast Asia. Because it flourishes naturally in waterways and requires little if any care, it is used extensively in Malay and Chinese cuisine, especially in rural or kampung (village) areas. It has also been introduced to the United States where its high growth rate has caused it to become an environmental problem, especially in Florida and Texas. It has been officially designated by the USDA as a "noxious weed"[2] (the term "noxious" refers to its effect on the environment, not to any toxicity.


The vegetable is a common ingredient in Southeast Asian dishes. In Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, the leaves are usually stir fried with chile pepper, garlic, ginger, dried shrimp paste (belacan/terasi) and other spices. In Penang and Ipoh, it is cooked with cuttlefish and a sweet and spicy sauce. During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in World War II, the vegetable grew remarkably well and easily in many areas, and become a popular wartime crop.


In Chinese cuisine (Chinese: 空心菜; literally "hollow vegetable") there are numerous ways of preparation, but a simple and quick stir-fry either plain or with minced garlic is probably the most common. In Cantonese, the water spinach is known as 蕹菜 (Jyutping: ung3 coi3, sometimes transliterated as ong choy). In Cantonese cuisine, a popular variation adds fermented bean curd. In Hakka cuisine, yellow bean paste is added, sometimes along with fried shallots. The vegetable is also extremely popular in Taiwan, where it grows well.


Go to wikepedia if you still thirst for more information on Water Spinach!

The History of Labor Day (it's not just for cookin')

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means - Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day - More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers. Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."  
But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day - The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883. In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.


PERSONALLY, I'LL PROBABLY SPEND TIME ANSWERING SOME EMAIL, WORKING ON A PROJECT THAT NEEDS SOME SLIDES UPDATED AND COOKING OUT...A TRUE LABOR DAY EXPERIENCE!