Grass-Fed Beef Recipes for a Healthy, Hard Body by Josef Brandenburg

I don’t know about you, but I’m not terribly interested in eating a half pound of horse flesh with cucumbers on the side every morning. This is what Christian Thibaudeau tells us he eats for breakfast, and more power to him, but seriously, sautéed slices of Seabuscuit every single day would get pretty tiresome after about the second week. Of course, that goes for just about anything.

So what do you do when you’ve run out of healthy food options and you’re beginning to loathe your diet? Watch out, that’s what. You’re setting yourself up to fall way off the hard-body wagon, and once you do, it’s too easy to catch the fast train going the other direction. You know the one I mean. That’s right, the Man Tit Express, with non-stop service to Lardassville. So stay on the wagon, get your ass in the kitchen, and try some of these excellent beef recipes today. You really can love your food and look good naked.

Oh, and because we want to both look good naked and be healthy, the beef we’re after in all these recipes is grass-fed beef. TC’s written several articles about the overwhelming superiority of grass-fed beef, but let’s review.

From Health Food To Poison

Real beef, that is to say grass-fed beef, is a bona fide health food. It’s packed with high quality protein, omega-3s, and even conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). It’s also low in the things that you need less of: saturated fat and omega-6s. And it’s delicious.

The corn-fed crap they sell in the grocery store is not real beef. It’s poison that looks and tastes sort of like beef. The problem is corn. And as you might suspect, the government is behind it.

Cattle are superbly adapted to thrive on high-cellulose foods like grass. That’s why they’re called herbivores (“grass eaters”). When you feed cattle a diet based on corn, soybeans, and other grains, they gets fat and sickly, just like people. The meat becomes loaded with pro-inflammatory omega-6s and saturated fat; the anti-inflammatory omega-3s are practically nonexistent.

In an actual free market economy, only an idiot would grow corn, because it costs about a dollar more to produce a bushel of corn than the corn is worth. And you can’t eat debt. However, in our country, the government pays farmers to raise corn that the market doesn’t want. These subsidies have created a vast surplus of corn, which is sold to feedlots and force-fed to obese couch-potato cows.

It takes about 16 pounds of corn and soy to make just onepound of grain-fed beef. Multiply that by the thousands of tons of grain fed beef produced annually in this country. Under normal supply and demand, corn-fed beef wouldn’t exist: it’s only possible (by which we mean “profitable”) because of about 5 billion dollars a year in government subsidies.

Simply stated, the government uses your tax dollars to pay off farmers and cattle growers who produce inferior food that in fact poisons you. Think about that on April 15.

A Grass-Roots Revolution

Government regulation is largely responsible for the problem of corn-fed, junk-food beef, but we the people are the solution to bring back the healthy meat our ancestors ate and thrived on. We need to start a grass-roots revolution by demanding grass fed beef, and paying the extra few bucks for it.

It’s still a bit of a chore to find good grass-fed beef at the local supermarket but you can usually find it at your local Whole Foods and even Trader Joe’s sometimes. The best way to get it locally and reliably is at a farmer’s market. Here are two great sites to find one near you:Eat Wild, and the USDA’s Farmers Market Search. You can also order beef by mail atTropical Traditions.

Bring it On!

Most of these recipes are not super-quick, but they are super-efficient. You only have to cook once to produce three to five delicious, healthy meals. All can be scaled up to make even more meals, or larger portions for larger guys. Always use organic ingredients whenever possible, as they’re better for taste, nutrition, and the environment.

Tillie’s Low-Carb Grass-Fed Chili

My wife Tillie came up with a great turkey chili recipe, which is even better with grass-fed beef in terms of nutrition and taste. This is an easy, relatively fast recipe that will yield multiple servings of chili that are packed with omega-3s, CLA, protein, fiber, green veggies, and taste.

Ingredients

1 pound grass-fed ground beef 1080 kcal

1 packet chili spice mix (I like Wick Fowler’s brand chili spice mix. All of the components are in different packets. Toss the “Masa” flour in the trash.) 120 kcal

1 can whole stewed tomatoes 140 kcal

3/4 to 1 package frozen French cut green beans 120-140 kcal

1 jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced

1/4 cup grass-fed cheese per serving 115 kcal

2 tablespoons sour cream per serving 52 kcal

Directions

1. Turn heat to medium-high under a heavy bottomed pot. Add meat and brown.

2. Add tomatoes, and follow spice mix directions (leave out the Masa flour!). Add remaining ingredients, except cheese and sour cream.

3. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Top with cheese and sour cream and enjoy.

Nutrition

1,460 kcal for batch, 167 kcal for toppings per batch: divide it up according to your goals and needs. For example, 3 servings = 650 kcal per serving.

Green Cakes & Steak

Potato pancakes are delicious, but like all fried starch, they’re almost certainly a one-way ticket on the Man Tit Express. I missed them terribly, though, so my mother (bless her heart) came up with a low-carb version made out of zucchini. They’re green, but they don’t taste green. They just taste good, and they’re even better with a dollop of sour cream and applesauce on top. My favorite way to eat them is on the side of a nice spice-rubbed, grass-fed steak. Mazel tov! Not that sour cream and steak on the same plate is exactly Kosher, but we’ll give you a pass.

The Beef: Ingredients

4 6-oz grass-fed steaks 405 kcal

A handful of my spice rub (see my previous article for the recipe)

The Beef: Directions

1. Rub meat thoroughly.

2. Cook meat however you like it: grilled, broiled, medium, well, rare.

The Cakes: Ingredients

4 medium or 7 small zucchini 132 kcal

1 small onion 29 kcal

2 eggs (farm eggs if you’ve got ‘em) 140 kcal

2 tablespoons olive oil 240 kcal

Salt and pepper to taste

4 tablespoons sour cream (grass fed if you can find it) 104 kcal

1 cup applesauce 100 kcal

The Cakes: Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.

2. In a food processor use grater attachment to grate all veggies, and transfer to a large bowl.

3. Beat egg, salt and pepper in a separate cup and add to bowl of veggies. Mix well. (Some zucchini are more watery than others; if you notice liquid accumulating in the bowl, pour it off.)

4. Place large spoonfuls of the mix onto olive oiled baking sheets, and flatten with spoon. Bake for 8-10 minutes per side. Cakes should stick together well. If not, add an extra egg because zucchini doesn’t come in standard sizes.

Beef Sate

With just a little forethought you could have an absolutely amazing lunch, dinner, or snack. You could marinate the beef before you leave for work: the marinade takes 5 minutes to make. You could marinate the beef before you go to bed, and then cook it when you get home the next day, etc.

The Beef: Ingredients

1/3 cup soy sauce 66 kcal

1/2 — 1 teaspoon Splenda (depending on how sweet you like it)

3 tablespoons lime juice 20 kcal

3 tablespoons vodka or brandy (nearly all the calories cook off) 195 kcal

1 tablespoon peanut oil 120 kcal

1 heaping tablespoon Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste 15 kcal

1 1/2 pounds 1/2″ thick grass-fed steak, cut into 1″ squares 1620 kcal

Skewers, metal or bamboo (optional, you can just cook the pieces with no skewers at all)

The Beef: Directions

1. Mix everything but the beef in a large bowl.

2. Put beef into marinade, and let it marinate for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

3. If using bamboo skewers, soak in water for 30 minutes if you’re going to grill over flame.

4. Grill or broil 5 — 8 minutes depending on how well-done you like it.

5. Serve with peanut sauce and veggies.

The Peanut Sauce: Ingredients

1/2 cup boiling water

1/4 cup natural peanut butter 420 kcal

Juice of 1 lemon or lime 10 kcal

1 teaspoon of Splenda or Xylitol (granulated)

1/2 tablespoon Thai Kitchen Roasted Red Chili Paste 25 kcal

The Peanut Sauce: Directions

1. Add all ingredients to boiling water. Stir, lower heat, and simmer until it thickens some: about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Pour over meat and/or veggies.

Nutrition

2,491 kcal per batch: divide it up according to your goals and needs. For example, 4 servings = 649 kcal per serving including 1 cup peas (26 kcal per servings), and 3 tablespoons peanut sauce. There is generally always left over peanut sauce and the alcohol cooks away, so the real calorie count is actually lower.

But enough damn recipes! Get out there and eat some beef!

Josef Brandenburg is an award-winning fat-loss expert based in DC, specializing in helping normal, busy people create the bodies they want, in the time that they actually have to create them. Visit his website and find out about The Body You Want’s 7 Day Free Trial.

Super Bowl Party for a Super Body

Conventional Super Bowl food and football look like this:

But the people in the Super Bowl look like this:

or like this:

Here’s a menu and recipes to help you have a great time while you avoid heart burn, weight gain and feeling like crap.

Chips and dip

There are a lot of dips you can choose from:  salsa, baba ganoush, and guacamole, are my favorite.  I just go with the better store bought stuff because I rarely have the time to make it myself.

#1.  Baked Rutabega Chips

These don’t come out all that crispy, but they are still very good and you can spoon pretty much anything on top of them.

Ingredients

1 Rutabaga, peeled and sliced into thin “chips” (a food processor makes this quick and easy)
1 TBS olive oil + 1 TBS to coat your baking sheet
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425 F.  Mix all the ingredients except 1 TBS of olive oil that should be left over for the baking hseet.

Coat a baking sheet with the remaining olive oil, and then spread the seasoned chips out in a single layer.

Bake for about 30 minutes, turn them once or twice.

#2. Low-Carb Cheese Crackers

Ingredients

4 slices (approx 1 oz each) cheddar cheese (pre-sliced from a grocery store – I’ve used several brands and they all seem to work fine.)

Parchment paper

Directions

1.  Take cheese and fold into quarters (you end up with 4 pieces of cheese that are about ¼ the size of the original slice) and place on baking sheet that has been covered with a sheet of parchment paper.

For best results and crisp leave the unbaked cheese out overnight.

2.  Preheat oven to 400 F, and put cheese in oven when the oven heats to 400.
3.  Bake for 8min

For a crisper cracker – leave the cheese on the parchment paper for an hour or more to help it dry out.  The longer it sits out the dryer it gets and the crisper your cracker.

Nutrition

Makes 4 servings of 4 crackers

Regular cheese crackers – 18g net carb per 1oz serving
These cheese crackers – .5g net carb per 1 oz serving (4 crackers)

#3.  Raw veggies

I know.  This is very anticlimactic, but it’s also probably the easiest one to do.

Pizza

Low-Carb Pizza Green

1 La Banderita (there are other brands too) low-carb tortilla (you can get them at Safeway, Harris Teeter and probably other places)                               5g net carb
2-3 tbsp pesto (fresh is better, watch for added sugar)       1g net carb
1 handful spinach                                                                        .5g net carb
½ cup cooked chicken                                                               1g net carb
½ cup mozzarella cheese                                                          1.5 g net carbs
Pinch parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Low-Carb Pizza Red

1 La Banderita (there are other brands too) low-carb tortilla (you can get them at Safeway, Harris Teeter and probably other places)                               5g net carb
2 tbsp no sugar added pizza sauce                                          2.5g net carb
4 slice tomato                                                                                2g net carb
½ cup cooked chicken                                                                1g net carb
1 small handful fresh basil leaves
½ cup mozzarella cheese                                                         1.5g net carb
Pinch parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions – Same for both (ingredients are listed in ascending order: tortilla first, next thing on top, etc.)

1. Pre-heat over to 400 F and lightly spray large baking sheet.
2. Place tortillas on sheet and add ingredients (Ascending order – so tortilla 1st, then pesto, then spinach, and so on)
3. Bake for 8min, cut up and enjoy!

Nutrition

Green = 9g net carb per pizza
Red = 12g net carb per pizza

Quesadillas

Ingredients

2 x 6” La Tortilla Factory low-carb tortillas
1/4 cup plain, cooked chicken breast     (optional – you can put anything else inside or nothing except cheese)
1/2 cup     Salsa
cooking spray

Instructions

1. Heat skillet with cooking pray
2. Place cheese and chicken between the tortillas, and cook until brown on both sides and cheese is melted.
3. Eat with salsa, and a side of raw veggies like peppers, cucumbers, celery or carrots.

Jalapeño Poppers (not deep fried)

This one is all new and from a client.  It turns out that you don’t have to batter and deep fry a jalapeño to make it taste good.

Ingredients:
- jalapenos
- cream cheese
- bacon (you can also use turkey bacon, and I guess some sort of veggie “bacon” would work too)
- toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350.
Cut jalapenos in half and de-seed with a spoon.
Fill jalapeno halves with cream cheese.
Wrap 1/2 slice of bacon around each filled jalapeno, then secure with a toothpick.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bacon starts to squeeze the cream cheese a bit (I use a baking drip tray to let the grease drip off).
Eat. They are addictive.

And for dessert Pineapple & Cream Crepes

Ingredients
1-2 oz mascarpone                                                 125-250 kcal (.5-1g carb)
2 oz super thin slices of pineapple                     27 kcal (5g carb)

Instructions

1. Cut off top and bottom and sides of pineapple, and place in freezer for 10-15min.  With a very sharp knife and careful technique, or preferably a mandolin (you can find one for a good price online), slice 2oz of pineapple.  This should yield 3-4 thin slices.

2.  Take half the mascarpone and put into center of pineapple, and roll around.  Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

Makes 1 serving @ 152-277 kcal , and 5.5-6g net carb per serving

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC  Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, The DC Fitness Advisor and the Fitness Expert for the PCOS Challenge TV Show. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a FREE copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Super Easy Low-Carb Appetizer for Your New Year’s Eve Party

In case you have been living under a rock, or taking nutrition classes at a University, then you know that when it comes to fat-loss and health low-carb wins hands down.  I’ve written about that here, here, here, here, here, here and a whole lot of other places.

Your New Year’s Eve party is right around the corner, so I wanted to give you something easy that you could make that would be both tasty and helpful with getting a head start on your New Year’s Resolutions.

When you go low-carb one of the things that you miss the mot is crunchy stuff like crackers.  Here is a great alternative that I love with Baba Ganoush (a great, lower carb alternative to hummus).

Low-Carb Cheese Crackers

Ingredients

4 slices (approx 1 oz each) cheddar cheese (pre-sliced from a grocery store – I’ve used several brands and they all seem to work fine.)

Parchment paper

Directions

1.  Take cheese and fold into quarters (you end up with 4 pieces of cheese that are about ¼ the size of the original slice) and place on baking sheet that has been covered with a sheet of parchment paper.

2.  Preheat oven to 400 F, and put cheese in oven when the oven heats to 400.
3.  Bake for 8min

For a crisper cracker – leave the cheese on the parchment paper for an hour or more to help it dry out.  The longer it sits out the dryer it gets and the crisper your cracker.

Nutrition

Makes 4 servings of 4 crackers

Regular cheese crackers – 18g net carb per 1oz serving
These cheese crackers – .5g net carb per 1 oz serving (4 crackers)

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC  Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, and author of “The Body You Want”. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a FREE copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

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