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Hey Folks,
Happy Thursday! I recently completed an assignment in my Nutrition 101 course that made use of the FDA's new online "MyPlate supertracker" for food and fitness. I set up a profile and entered in the food I had eaten the day before: A breakfast of pastured eggs, mushrooms, sweet red peppers, and kale scrambled in some grass-fed beef tallow and coconut oil (working at the farmers' markets is so awesome!). I noticed that the nutrition calculator showed high level of "empty calories" from the saturated fat in the coconut oil and butter - I would have been better off using the corn, soy, cottonseed, or canola oil that was recommended on the MyPlate website! It surprised me to see that the FDA's recommendations portrayed the wholesome fats like those from grass-fed beef as "empty."
Grass-fed fat is not "empty" - it is an amazing nutrition source. If you look at the fat in our beef, you will notice the yellow tint of beta-carotene from the living pasture (this is a precursor to vitamin A). Compared to grain-fed fat, grass-fed fat is high in omega-3 fats in relation to omega-6 fats. Saturated fat forms 50% of our cell membranes, 80% of the fat in the brain is saturated, and the list goes on. I eat grass-fed meats and butter and I feel great! Unfortunately, most studies linking meat consumption and heart disease were based on the results of a diet of grain-fed beef and trans fats at fast food restaurants.
On a different note, It has been getting cold these past few nights - a perfect time to pull out the crock pot or dutch oven and slow cook a beef roast!
Yesterday morning, I got to work on a beautiful chuck roast. It came out perfectly, and all it took was a little patience. Here's what I used:
1 white onion
1 shallot
A few cloves of garlic
¼ cup dried thyme
Lots of butter, tallow, or lard (~4 tbsp. I use more if the roast is lean)
2 tbsp Sea Salt
Begin by patting the roast dry with paper towels and rubbing with a mixture of thyme and sea salt. Get a cast iron pan hot with butter/lard/tallow, and toss in sliced onion and shallot so they're coated, then place them in the bottom of a crock pot with crushed fresh garlic to make a bed for the roast. Sear the herb-coated roast on all sides in the remaining fat and move it to the crock pot with any dripping from the pan. Turn the crock pot on low and cook for 8-12 hrs (everyone's crock pot is different, mine was done in 9). You can add potatoes, carrots, and celery to the mix as well, usually an hour before the meat will be done, for a nice stew.
This week's coupon is for 10% off any Beef Roast if you put in a special order on the web. They are excellent - dry-aged, flavorful, and nutrient-dense. Have a great week!
See you at the market,
Steve Moak
(760) 805-9194
steven@son-riseranch.com
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