Autumn Chopped Salad

The calendar is quickly moving into soup weather. I'm all for that. I love homemade soup on a chilly fall day. In fact, I made this season's first pot of Vegetable Beef Soup this past drizzly Monday.

But I also love salads all year 'round. A few weeks ago, Jill told me she'd tried an Autumn Chopped Salad from the blog, Iowa Girl Eats. (Jill's father-in-law, Alan, steered both of us toward this blog awhile back. Good advice!)

I've now made this Autumn Chopped Salad three times, including once as a side dish for a ladies' luncheon, where it got great reviews. The last time I made it, I served it as a main dish salad by adding seasoned grilled steak. Randy is glad to eat salad as long as he gets some protein to go along with it. Even though the original recipe had bacon and it provided good flavor, that's not enough protein to make it a main dish at our Kansas-beef-raising house.

Pears and apples are favorite fruits for the fall. Throw in some dried cranberries, feta cheese and, of course, that bacon, and it's a winning combination. The dressing is a blend of purchased poppy seed dressing and balsamic vinegar. Yummy - no matter the season!

Autumn Chopped Salad with Marinated Steak

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats blog

6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
3 slices center-cut bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
1 pear, chopped, with skin on
1 apple, chopped, with skin on
1/4 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup Poppy Seed Salad Dressing (more or less)
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (more or less)
Grilled seasoned steak (about 3 ounces per person)

Cook bacon until crisp (I used the microwave.) Cool and chop. Grill seasoned steak to desired doneness. Set aside to rest. 

Combine romaine lettuce, pear, apple, peanuts, dried cranberries, cooled bacon and feta cheese into a very large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine poppy seed dressing and balsamic vinegar to taste. Toss salad dressing with salad, coating well.

For main dish salad, put dressed, chopped salad onto serving plates. Top with sliced grilled steak. Serve immediately.

This generously serves 2 for a main dish salad. As a side, it serves a big crowd.

Notes:

• Even though I'm a vinegar lover, Randy is not. And we both preferred the dressing with only 1 tablespoon of the balsamic. 
• Next time I make it, I might try this homemade dressing, Orange Vinaigrette, which I've used on other main dish salads.
• I've used peanuts every time, but it would be great with walnuts or pecans, too. 

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Today, I'm linked to Wake Up Wednesdays through Wichita blogger Ashley's Kitchen Meets Girl. Click on the link to see what's cooking. 

Beef Up Lunch Plus A $50 Giveaway

I served Sweet Potato Beef Mash-Up Wraps with cherry tomatoes, grapes and baked zucchini crisps.

Move over, turkey! There's a new partner in town for your buddy, sweet potatoes. You may have a "beef" that you're getting booted aside, but taste buds don't lie, so mosey on down the road until November, won't you?

Hamburger and sweet potatoes are the new co-stars in Sweet Potato Beef Mash-Up Wraps, a recipe developed by the Beef Council to be used in school lunch programs to meet the revised USDA school lunch guidelines.

As a Kansas beef producer, I'm always glad to see beef included in school lunches. A 3-ounce serving of lean beef (about the size of an iphone) contains 150 calories, yet provides more than 10 percent of the Daily Value for 10 essential nutrients, including protein, which is important for kids (and adults) because:

• It helps maintain a healthy weight;
• It helps physical performance;
• It supports growth, repair and maintenance of the body's tissues;
• It supports the production of red blood cells;
• It provides satiety (a feeling of fullness).

To help schools include high-quality protein, like beef, on the menu, a team of culinary experts developed five new beef recipes. (All five recipes can be found by clicking here.) Before final selection, the recipes were tested in schools across the U.S. to evaluate students' response, as well as ease of preparation and food sourcing for lunch personnel.

While it's not a combination that I would have dreamed up myself, the Sweet Potato Beef Mash-Up serves up a tasty and healthy meal with just enough Mexican spice to wake up your taste buds. And you can get dinner on the table in around 30 minutes - always a bonus in my book. 

There's still a little bit of time left for Kansas school food service directors to try one of the new ground beef school lunch recipes at home and then add it to their school lunch rotation for 2013-14. As an incentive, the Kansas Beef Council is offering to reimburse, up to $10 through September 1, school menu developers for ground beef purchases to try one of the new recipes.

But you don't have to be in food service for a chance to win a gift card! I was asked by the Kansas Beef Council to try one of the beef recipes and share it on Kim's County Line. The Beef Council has provided me with a $50 gift card to give away to one of you! To be eligible for the gift card, please leave a comment on the blog about your favorite meal featuring beef. If you have trouble leaving a comment, you may email me at rkjbfarms@gmail.com. The winner of the gift card will be chosen at random from all the comments received. The opportunity to win the $50 gift card will close at midnight on August 28, and the winner will be announced here.

Check out other beef recipes on Kansas Beef's Pinterest or like Kansas Beef Council on Facebook. Also, you can find recipes at Beef:  It's What's For Dinner.

I also received money to cover the cost of ingredients in making this recipe. However, the opinions are my own (and Randy's, of course)! I modified the recipe as indicated in the recipe notes. 

***UPDATE:  Ginger Sanders was the lucky winner of the $50 from the Kansas Beef Council. Randy drew her name from the bowl. (Really high-tech, right?!) Ginger shared that her hubby's favorite beef recipe is meatloaf. He likes it just as much the second day as meatloaf sandwiches. Thanks to all who participated by naming your favorite beef dish! UPDATE ***

Sweet Potato Beef Mash-Up

Makes 4 servings

Total Recipe Time:  30 to 35 minutes

1 lb. ground beef (93 percent lean or leaner)
1/2 cup water, divided
4 tsp. taco seasoning mix, divided
1 large sweet potato, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup Greek or regular nonfat yogurt
1/2 to 1 tsp. hot pepper sauce
Chopped fresh cilantro
Small whole wheat flour tortillas (6- to 7-inch diameter), warmed (opt.)

Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add ground beef; cook 8 to 10 minutes, breaking into crumbles and stirring occasionally. Remove drippings. Stir in 1/4 cup water and 2 teaspoons taco seasoning; cook 3 minutes. Remove from skillet; keep warm.

Combine sweet potatoes, onion, remaining 1/4 cup water and 2 teaspoons taco seasoning in the same skillet. Bring water to a boil; reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring once. (Note:  When I checked this at 5 minutes, the potatoes were starting to stick, but weren't cooked. So I added another 1/4 cup water. That worked well.) After 10 minutes, remove lid; stir in oil. Continue cooking, uncovered, 4 to 6 minutes or until potatoes are tender and begin to brown, stirring frequently. Return beef mixture to skillet; continue to cook 2 to 4 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, combine yogurt and hot sauce, as desired, in small bowl. Note: I only used 1/2 teaspoon, but you can adjust it to taste.

Evenly divide beef mixture into four tortillas (about 1 cup for each serving). (This can be served as a hash without the tortilla and is 247 calories.) Garnish with cilantro and serve with yogurt mixture as desired.

Nutritional Information with 1 small tortilla, 1 cup of the beef-sweet potato mixture and 1 tablespoon of the yogurt mixture: 357 calories; 15 g fat (5 g saturated & 5 g monounsaturated fat); 76 mg cholesterol; 576 mg sodium; 25 g carbohydrate; 5.0 g fiber; 29 g protein; 6.3 mg niacin; 0.4 mg vitamin B6; 2.3 mcg vitamin B12; 2.8 mg iron; 18.3 mcg selenium; 6.0 mg zinc; 82.3 mg choline.

This recipe is an excellent source of fiber, protein, niacin, vitamin B6 and B12, selenium and zinc; and a good source of iron and choline.

Rock and Roll Beef Wraps

Want to try another of the recipes developed through Beef Checkoff dollars? I made this one, too, and the guys found them in their wheat harvest meals-to-the-field line-up.

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I'm linked today to Ashley's What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday.  

'Harvest' Some Rock and Roll Beef Wraps

Beef: It's often what's for dinner around here. That makes sense when beef from our cattle herd is in the freezer.

Quinoa is usually not for dinner around here. Quinoa (keen-wa) is one of those trendy foods that ends up on lists like the 10 Top Food and Health Trends in 2013. Quinoa has been a staple of peasants in the high Andes for more than 3,000 years, but now it's peaked the interest of American cooks. U.S. imports of Peruvian quinoa more than quadrupled between 2007 and 2011.  It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal or grain, and it packs 8 grams of protein in a cooked 1-cup serving.
Rock and Roll Beef Wraps inspired me to try quinoa for the first time. Jill made the recipe first and recommended it. It was one of five new lean ground beef recipes developed with Beef Checkoff dollars to use in school lunchrooms to meet the USDA requirements for healthy school meals. K-12 students from five states participated in a pilot test of the new ground beef recipes developed to meet the revised USDA guidelines.

(photo on blue lunch tray was from the Beef Checkoff kitchen. Every school lunchroom needs those blue trays, right?!)

Spinach tortillas would have made a prettier photo, I suppose, but both Randy and I enjoyed the beef wraps. The recipe will likely make a repeat appearance on the Harvest 2013 supper rotation, and we'll see what Jake thinks.

All five recipes developed by the Beef Council can be found by clicking here. The Kansas Beef Council is encouraging Kansas school food service directors to try one of the new ground beef school lunch recipes at home this summer and then add it to their school lunch rotation for 2013-14. As an incentive, Kansas Beef Council is offering to reimburse, up to $10 through September 1, school menu developers for ground beef purchases to try one of the new recipes. I don't qualify, but if you do, you should take advantage of this promotion.

I may try out a couple more recipes, too, and will let you know what I think. But I do recommend Rock and Roll Beef Wraps. Try it and tell me your verdict!

(And, since I'd already bought the quinoa, I tried a salad recipe that I'll share with you soon. Stay tuned!)

Rock and Roll Beef Wraps

 Developed by Beef Checkoff Dollars

Total Recipe Time:  35 to 45 minutes.

Serves 4.

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup water
1/3 cup uncooked quinoa
2 tbsp. dry ranch dressing mix
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 cups packaged broccoli or coleslaw mix
4 medium whole grain or spinach tortillas (7- to 8-inch diameter)
Optional toppings: apple slices, red bell pepper strips, cucumber slices, carrot slices, sliced almonds, chow mein noodles

Cook ground beef in large nonstick skillet over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, breaking into crumbles and stirring occasionally. Remove drippings.

Stir in water, quinoa, ranch dressing mix and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes or until quinoa is tender. Stir in slaw; cook, uncovered, 3 to 5 minutes or until slaw is crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.

Divide beef mixture evenly among tortillas. Garnish with toppings as desired. Fold over sides of tortillas and rolling up to enclose filling.

Nutrition information (without toppings): 418 calories, 12 g fat (3 g satured; 3 g monounsaturated fat), 76 mg cholesterol; 695 mg sodium; 41 g carbohydrate; 6.8 g. fiber; 31 g protein; 6.4 mg niacin. This recipe is an excellent source of fiber, protein, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, iron, selenium and zinc.

Notes: Romaine or iceberg lettuce leaves can be substituted for tortillas.

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I'm linked today to Ashley's What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday. Click on the link to check out other tried-and-true recipes from food bloggers.