Grassfed Round Pepper Steak
We have had a busy Wyoming spring so far! Setting up our new ranch, calving and our new business venture a hunting operation! 3T Ranch hunters are treated to some amazing meals, including our grassfed/grass finished beef, during their stay while hunting on our ranch. One of the recipes is Grassfed Round Pepper Steak. My family loves being the new menu testers. If it is approved by them, it will be a hit!
This meal will be great for cold fall/winter evenings when the hunters come back to their cabin after hopefully a successful big game hunt. But, you never know.. it is end of May and it is snowing in Wyoming?! So, all year long dish!
Ingredients:
- 2 grassfed round steaks
- 1 red and 1 yellow peppers
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1/2 onion
- 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 packet of onion soup mix
- 1/2 cup of grassfed beef stock
- Optional: crispy onions as garnish (store-bought)
Directions:
- Cut the steak into thinly slices, it helps when it is still partially frozen.
- Cut peppers and onion into thinly strips.
- Put steak, onion soup mix, beef stock and onion into an InstantPot. Set on manual/high for 20 minutes, natural release after 10 minutes.
- Saute peppers and garlic in cast iron pan for a nice char. Since the beef is nicely tender, the crunchy peppers will add a nice contrast.
- I have served the meal with wild rice and steamed green beans.
Savory Potato Pancakes - Latkes
This side dish will be your new favorite! Garlicky potatoes that are fried.. yep, really tasty!
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs potatoes
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup hot milk
- 6 cloves of garlic (freshly pressed)
- 1 tbsp majoram (dried)
- 1 tsp caraway seeds (crushed)
- 2 tsps Lowry's salt seasoning - regular salt would be ok too
- Avocado oil and grassfed butter for frying
Directions:
- Peel potatoes and finely grate them. Let them sit for a couple of minutes and drain the excess water.
- Heat the milk until it gets hot and pour over the grated potatoes, stir.
- Important step.. garlic. It has to be fresh, no tube, no jar, no powder.. fresh garlic makes this dish amazing. Peel and press garlic.
- Add garlic, flour, eggs, marjoram, caraway seeds and salt. Stir to combine.
- Heat up cast iron pan, let it warm up and drizzle little bit of avocado oil and little bit of butter.
- Scoop 1/4 cup of batter and pour into the pan. Use a spatula to flatten the pancake.
- Fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side on medium/low heat.
- Serve quickly while still crispy and warm.
Notes:
- Caraway seeds should be in your pantry. Next time you are making mashed potatoes, put a little bit of caraway seeds into the pot while boiling the potatoes. You would be surprised how much flavor that will add to your mashed potatoes.
Grassfed Beef Taco Flatbread
We typically don't eat out for lunch very often and eating sandwiches every day can get old, so I was on a mission to find an easy and quick lunch for the ranch crew. Flatbreads are the way to go. Stonefire ready to go artisan flatbreads are sure tasty and great option for lunch. This dish is also good for using leftovers. You can make an extra helping of taco beef mixture the night before and have it ready to go for lunch. It looks fancy, yet easy to assemble!
Ingredients:
- Stonefire Artisan Flatbread (2 in one package)
- 1 lb 3T Ranch grassfed/grass finished ground beef
- 1 red pepper - thinly sliced
- 1 medium onion - thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon - Kinder's Taco Seasoning with Lime and Ancho Chili (Costco purchase, no sugar and the ancho chili adds great flavors)
- 3 cups PepperJack Cheese - shredded
- 1 tablespoon cilantro
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees - convection mode
- Sauté ground beef with 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning. Move to a bowl.
- Sauté onion and peppers for about 15 minutes. If your onions are getting too brown, pour in 2 tablespoons of water. Great trick to have nicely sautéed veggies.
- Shred the cheese
- Place flatbreads onto a large cookie sheet
- I wanted the flatbreads to look pretty, so I have layered the cheese first onto the flatbreads, then taco mixture and then peppers and onions.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle with cilantro for color.
Now, that is a wow lunch in just few minutes!
Grassfed Teriyaki Meatballs
Who doesn't like meatballs, right? Another great recipe for picky eaters, where you can sneak in veggies without them ever knowing! Carrots are in season and we have planted a lot of them! The purple carrots are sure fun to eat!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb 3T Ranch grassfed/grass finished ground beef
- 1 cup Teriyaki sauce - divided - Kinder's Marinade & Sauce
- 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1/2 small onion chopped
- 1 & 1/2 cup of Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt & 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Sauté shredded carrots, garlic, green onions, ginger and onion until translucent. TIP: if your veggies are browning too quickly, you can pour in 1/4 cup of water to continue sautéing the veggies. I use this trick all the time.
- Let the vegetables cool down.
- In a mixing bowl combine your sautéed vegetables, egg, ground beef, 1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce and breadcrumbs. Don't forget salt and pepper. Gently mix it all to combine, you don't want it to over mix it.
- Use small ice cream scoop to measure out your meatballs, so they bake evenly.
- Spray baking sheet with cooking spray and load up with meatballs.
- Bake in the oven 20-25 minutes.
- Once your meatballs are out of the oven, put them in pan and pour over the remaining 1/2 to 1 cup of teriyaki sauce. Just depends on how much sauce you would like.
- Serve with fried rice and sprinkle with some extra green onions for color.
We hope you will try our recipe!
3T Ranch Summer Berry Cake
Have you tried red currant berries before? It is native across Europe and great for jams and light summer cakes. My grandparents had many red currant bushes in their garden and I remember picking them as a little child. My grandma or as we called her "babi" baked many of these wonderful light cakes - "bublanina". You can use any fresh fruit you have, it always turns out airy and tasty.
Saturday afternoons at my grandparents' house were always reserved for visits from the neighbors and you could count on that this cake would be served along with hot coffee, yes.. even in the summer time. So, as I'm sitting here on Saturday afternoon, typing up this recipe and enjoying my own version of her cake, it sure brings many wonderful memories of my grandparents.
I have ordered the red currant shrub for my garden a few years ago and the very next year it was producing fruit. The berries are known as super fruits as they have naturally high antioxidant capacity and they also have a good supply of vitamin C and K, manganese and potassium.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 grassfed unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tbl granulated sugar
- 1 farm fresh egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups of fresh or frozen berries of your choice (I have used strawberries and red currants from my garden)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Grease and line with parchment paper 9-inch round cake pan.
- Mix milk and apple cider vinegar and let it sit.
- Beat together butter and 1/2 cup of sugar for 2 minutes.
- Beat in egg and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and sat and add to the bowl with butter and sugar. Gently stir a couple of times.
- Gradually pour in the milk and vinegar mixture that just turned into buttermilk, stir until incorporated, don't over mix.
- Spread batter evenly into the pan.
- Evenly arrange fruit over the top of the batter.
- Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar.
- Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let it stand 10 minutes before serving.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and some leftover fresh fruit.
Cowboy Casserole
When cooking for cowboys and kids, I always whip up the Cowboy Casserole. Plenty of veggies, but they stay hidden under the cheesy and crunchy tater tots that the kids love. Great for a quick summer dinner.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs 3T ground beef
- 2 cups chopped up celery or green peppers are great as well
- 1 cup chopped up onion
- 1 cup chopped up carrots
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/2 tablespoon Lowry’s Garlic Pepper Seasoning (optional, this is our 3T staple seasoning)
- 2 tablespoons of yellow mustard
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 – 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 bag of tater tots
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Directions:
- Heat up oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut up your veggies.
- Heat up your good size pot/oven safe and put in 2 tablespoon of oil.
- Saute veggies for about 5-10 minutes.
- Include the another tablespoon of oil and stir in the ground beef. Stir for 5 minutes.
- Time to put in the seasoning – salt, pepper, ground mustard, garlic powder, Lowry’s, yellow mustard, ketchup and Worcestershire Sauce.
- Stir to combine all of the ingredients and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Keep stirring.
- Arrange tater tots in circles over the meat mixture.
- Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until tater tots are cooked and crisp.
- Sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake additional couple of minutes or until melted.
3T Ranch Chimichurri Sauce
Grassfed Sirloin steak and shrimp tacos. Our crew loves this dinner. I made homemade chimichurri sauce to go with all of this deliciousness. What is chimichurri? It's and Argentinean sauce or condiment, similar to pesto, that is popular throughout South America. I have used parsley and cilantro to make this sauce. I love making chimichurri during the summertime. My parsley and cilantro are growing like crazy in our garden and I love the freshness of the herbs.
I have recently discovered taco size uncooked tortillas. WOW! Definitely add them to your list next time you go to the grocery store.
Ingredients:
- 1 packed cup parsley (chop it up after you measure it)
- 1 packed cup cilantro (Chop it up after you measure it)
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbls red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup of olive oil plus additional 2 tbls
- 1 small grated shallot
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Measure the herbs and give it a rough chop.
- Now, the easy part. Put all of the ingredients into the food processor, except the 2 tbls of olive oil.
- Pulse and pour in an additional 1 tbls of olive oil if necessary. You can add one more. This really depends on how much you have packed the measuring cup.
- Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.
Grassfed Beef Liver Pate
Impress your guests with a new appetizer! Grassfed Liver Pate is amazing and very healthy!
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg 3T Ranch Liver (typically around 1 lb)
- 2 tbls avocado oil
- 1 finely chopped shallot
- 4 finely chopped garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup of red cooking wine (Holland)
- 2 sprigs thyme - just leaves
- 2 tbls grassfed butter
- 2-4 tbls heavy cream or milk
- salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
- Defrost the liver.
- Heat up cast iron pan and put in avocado oil.
- Cut up liver into chunks.
- Cook liver over medium heat for about 5 minutes, put in shallot, garlic and thyme. Do not season at this time. The salt would make the liver tough. Cook the liver all the way through.
- Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Cook for additional couple of minutes.
- Salt and pepper to taste. (It will need good amount of salt).
- Put all of it into the food processor along with 2 tbls butter and 2 tbls heavy cream and pulse until smooth. (If your mixture is still too think, pour in additional 2 tbls of heavy cream. Heavy cream works better in this recipe than milk. It will make your pate creamier).
- I have served the liver pate on homemade crackers with softened blue cheese and couple of thyme leaves for color.
Stuffed Jumbo Pasta Shells with Grassfed Ground Beef
I like to meal plan and keep track of our favorite recipes. Stuffed Jumbo Pasta Shells are definitely on the monthly dinner rotation list. Easy, even after a long day of work, it doesn't take that long to put it together. Meal planning keeps me on track and I don't over spend at the grocery store. Every Sunday afternoon, I sit down at my desk and create a menu for the week. I meal plan for lunches and dinner since school is over and all of the kids are at home for the summer.
Stuffed Jumbo Pasta Shells are always a hit. Early in the week I make our favorite No Sugar Marina Sauce. This batch of sauce will be enough for this recipe and pizzas later in the week. It is worth it to prep it ahead of time. If you don't have time to make our sauce, store bought marina sauce is ok too. Just make sure to read the label and get the kind that doesn't have any extra sugar added.
Meal planning makes it easy to decide on dinner after a long day of working the cows, weeding the garden or the never ending fencing chores. So, here you go!
Ingredients:
For the Shells
- 1 box of Jumbo Pasta Shells (American Beauty 12oz)
- 15 oz Ricotta cheese
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 1 cup shredded Mozzarella
- 1/2 shredded Parmesan
- 1/4 chopped up parsley
For the Sauce
- 1 lb 3T ground beef
- 2 jars of marinara sauce or 1/2 of our No Sugar Marina Sauce
- 1 tbls Italian seasoning
- 2 chopped up garlic cloves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbls fresh chopped up basil
Optional items to include in the sauce
- 2 cup of fresh spinach
- 1 cup of fresh mushrooms
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Boil water and cook shells per package directions and let them cool.
- Mix Ricotta, Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses along with egg and parsley.
- Cook ground beef, include garlic. (Wait to include the garlic until the beef is almost done cooking to prevent burning it). Mix with the sauce and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Stir in basil.
- Optional: sauté mushrooms and spinach for about 5 minutes and put into the sauce.
- Pour in 1/2 of the sauce in 9x13 cooking/oven dish.
- Stuff the shells with the cheese mixture, about one heaping tablespoon each.
- Lay the shells in the sauce and pour the remaining sauce over them.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
How to cook grassfed/grass finished steak
Cooking steak doesn't have to be intimidating!
Just follow these easy steps!
- Defrost steak overnight in the fridge or in cold water the day of
-
- defrosting steak in warm water or in microwave will partially cook the beef and it will be tough
- Let the steak rest on the counter for 20 - 30 minutes to bring it to room temperature
- Don't put defrosted steak from the fridge right in a hot pan, the steak needs to be room temperature
- Season with your favorite seasoning. Pepper and salt will do the trick as well. 3T steaks have delicious flavor already.
- Heat up your cast iron pan on medium heat - about three minutes, put in little bit of canola oil
- Grilling. Preheat your grill, no canola oil and now follow the same steps as for cast iron pan.
- Put in your steak and right away, turn the heat to low. All the way to low!
- 1 inch steak will typically cook for about 4 minutes on each side. Set the timer!
- Flip the steak after 4 minutes and cook for additional 4 minutes. Don't mess with the steak, just let it cook.
- Steak is cooked, but needs to rest. Cover the steak with aluminum foil and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Ready to serve! Don't forget to cut the steak against the grain, which means against the direction that the muscle fibers run.