Photo-A-Day #2700

Today was all about beef. Lean beef, beef patties, grilling beef and eating beef. I got the opportunity to work with The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and threw a backyard Grilliance party. Prior to our party we did some research on different cuts of beef on the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner website. There we also found some delicious recipes as well as tips for getting the most out of grilling.

We had decided on getting some ribeyes and I wanted to get them from the Chartley Country Store because they have a huge meat case and knowledgeable butchers. Well, they also had ribeyes and they were a bit expensive so I asked if there was something else that they would suggest instead.

They suggested Sirloin Strip Steaks and they looked delicious. So I got six of them and then asked what they’d suggest I put on the steaks. They have a liquid called Black Jack that you rub on steaks that makes the steaks blackened and they also have something called Fun Salt that you rub on as well. That combination tasted great.

While I was out shopping for the steaks Allison was getting some of the side dishes ready. She decided on a Zesty Black Bean and Corn Salad because we are part of a farm share and she found a combination that took advantage of the most of our vegetables from the share.

Now, we received a Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. party kit that included recipes, a Confident Cooking with Beef pamphlet, A Lean Beef Flavor Boosters pamphlet, the Healthy Beef Cookbook, a Grilliance T-shirt, a Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner apron, a meat thermometer and a set of tongs. The information was invaluable in selecting what we had for dinner and also gave me straightforward answers on cooking with beef. So, when I spoke with the butchers at Chartley Country Store I had some knowledge to go along with their suggestions and felt much more informed about what I was buying. Then when I got everything home I felt very confident about grilling.

Like I said, I got six strip steaks for the adults but for the kids I picked up a package of beef sliders and some Kings Hawaiian mini rolls, they worked perfectly together. I got ready to grill up those items but not before I had grilled up zucchini and squash kabobs, and thinly sliced red potatoes. Add those two items plus a container of homemade baked beans that I picked up at the country store and we had a meal we wouldn’t soon forget.

We have to throw parties like this during the week because of my work schedule and so when deciding upon inviting guests we looked to friends who had kids the same age as Eva or close enough, who could do an earlier weekday night and who were up for fun. We invited our friends Michele and Bob as well as Kate and John and their kids. The kids ate first and then played inside, outside and back inside again. It is good to get them all out and playing, especially after dinner, that way they’ll get tired out and sleep well. We’re lucky to have such good friends. Our friends made traditional salad and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Our friends enjoyed the steaks very much. They said that the steaks were grilled just right and they liked the combination of the Black Jack and the Fun Salt that I rubbed on the meat prior to grilling. The kids enjoyed their sliders and Andrew ate everything he could. He actually ate more than all the other kids, that boy loves to eat and he loves steak. Yeah, he’s nine months old and using those little teeth of his to chow down.

If you are going to host a backyard grilling event I would encourage you to take a look at www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com as a resource. There are recipe ideas and the information on safe cooking with beef as well as how to enhance the flavors of the beef that you are going to cook with. While I didn’t specifically use one of the recipes from the site the closest thing to what we had was the Tender Pepper-Rubbed Strip Steaks with Grilled Vegetable Trio. We had the strip steak and the red potatoes and maybe next time we will do this recipe because I enjoy asparagus. I enjoyed grilling with beef and we broke in my new grill doing so. I even picked up some fancy lump charcoal which gave everything a great smokey flavor. Until my next grilling adventure…

Check out this great infographic on 3 simple steps for grilling beef. You can click the image for a full size version.

Click the image to download the full .pdf for Beef Grilling Tips

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in an In Home Party campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and received product samples to facilitate my party and review, and a promotional item to thank me for participating.