CRAZED MIND: Texas Beef Council

Showing posts with label Texas Beef Council. Show all posts

Big Bag Texas Beef Giveaway

I am so excited to be booking my travel plans for June. The Solagne Spa in California will be my run away thanks so to Shaklee Corporation. I feel so lucky. And I can't wait to share it all with you too. In the mean time I have something else to share with you. Remember the Texas Beef Council Appetite for Inspiration event where they served the Nolan Ryan Beef? They have a Father's Day package that will be on their website until June 14th. The package includes a pack of 4 Nolan Ryan strip steaks, package of hamburger patties, package of original sausage, Nolan Ryan grilling apron, and an autographed Nolan Ryan baseball card. All of this for $69.99! And I have a sack full of goodies to share with one of my lucky readers. Oh and don't forget I also have The Healthy Beef Cookbook-Autographed Copy by Chef Richard Chamberlain to share with you too. Go enter that to win! You will find the link over there in the right hand column.

But today I have more, lots more to give to one of you. In a red I <3 Beef bag from Texas Beef Council there is:

Black adult apron that says I <3 Lean Beef like the one Other Mom is wearing in the photo.
Red childs apron that says Beef, It's Whats for Dinner
2 activitiy books for the kids
Enriching Family Mealtimes tool kit
29 ways to Love Lean Beef & Nutrient Bang for Your Calorie Buck
Fajita Seasoning
A meat thermometer
A multi choice measuring spoon
Red Cow Dinner Bell
Ink Pen
$25.00 Gift Certificate for Nolan Ryan Beef
Coupons for Nolan Ryan Signature Beef Products totaling in $6.85 of savings
Recipes of

Beef Bisket Tostados with Spicy Peanut Slaw
Sweet Hawaiian Mini Burgers
Beef and Heiloom Tomato Salad with Balsamic Syrup (photo to left)
Tandoori Beef Skewers with Pistachio Couscous with Curry Vinaigrette
Super Sloppy Joes
Kaleidoscope Beef Kabobs
Cheesy Taco Cups
Steaked-Out Pita Pockets

How does that sound? Honestly a bag just stuffed full of goodies. And it can all be yours. So what do you have to do to win? Well you have to follow me on GFC (see box in the right column) and leave me a comment. I would like to know your favorite beef dish. Make sure I have an email to contact you back with too! If you would like to have extra ways to enter than do any of the following.

Tweet this giveaway and leave link in comments
Share on Facebook and leave link in comments
Friend @TxBeef on Twitter and give them a shout out, let me know you did and under what twitter name in the comments.
Friend @nolanryanbeef on Twitter and give them a shout out, let me know you did and under what twitter name in the comments.
Like Nolan Ryan Beef on Facebook, you can enter to win in their contest too. Give them a shout out! Share with me in the comments.

I want to thank all again for the great fun trip to Austin, Thanks to Texas Beef Council, Nolan Ryan Beef, KludgyMom (aka GiGi) and DFW Bloggers Group. All the above prizes come from this event and were provided there. I did not receive any payment just the great fun of attending and visiting with so many amazing bloggers thanks to this event.

A Cooking We Will Go Giveaway

A cooking we will go, a cooking we will go....hi, ho, and derry oh.....a cooking we will go! Who wants to join me? Well I have 4 cookbooks here and one of them I am going to give away to you. It is a signed copy by Chef Richard Chamberlain on The Healthy Beef Cookbook. It was put together by him and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the American Dietetic Association. Betsy Hornick also helped get it going too. I love that the favorite recipes have been marked with tabs already too. It also has Chef Chamberlain's famous steak rub that he uses at Chamberlain's Steak and Chop House. Pretty cool, huh? If you want to win this one then read on to the end of this post. I will tell you how to enter!

Now on to some others to share with you. As you know I am excited about the future grandbabe, The Turtle, who will arrive this summer. I am putting "Best Food for Your Baby & Toddler" in the gift bag for the baby shower this month. As a new mom, I am sure that she will be thrilled to have a few guidelines to help out. I know it was something I read about when my own was a lil one. I love that this is broken down by age range, types of food and has thousand of facts inside to help you understand your choices. There is more than 150 recipes and snacks inside too. That is enough to help any mom know what to fix for a meal. Add in information on breastfeeding, organic foods, allergies and how to start early to prevent childhood obesity....just chalk full of great information.

My other favorite is 'Simple Food for Busy Families'. I have several food allergies and am always having to adapt recipes. I love that this book has mix and match ideas that I can go to. Taking out what I can not eat and adding in the flavors I love. Makes cooking much more of an individual taste. Add in the education that is here on types of food, nutrition available from different foods and how to make quick wholesome meals, you have a winner of a book here. This is not a cookbook per say. It is a kitchen text book that I feel most moms would be thankful for. The whole life nutrition approach is not just for your children as it is for your complete family.

Next, in keeping with family healthy food, is ever so sweet and sexy Mario Lopez with the 'Extra Lean Family' cookbook. Here we have over 50 20 minute recipes that we can pop out for our family on a nightly basis. If your stuck on what to cook, this book has a week by week menu available with the recipes right there. Naturally lean and healthy meals that have lots of color and textures. This helps make appealing meals. Each week has a grocery list included and are easy to put together. Not wanting to get stuck in a rut, there are double duty meal variations where you use the same ingredients and get two different dishes from them. Add in the steps to control you weight and have metabolism-boosting ideas, it is a win-win cookbook. For those super busy homes that need guidance for meal time, this is the cookbook you want to look at.

Now for winning that wonderful cookbook at the top, The Healthy Beef Cookbook. Here you go! I was thrilled to attend the Appetite for Inspiration event in Austin held at the Texas Beef Council. It was FUN! So if you will be so kind as to pop over for a visit at the Texas Beef Council. Come back and tell me something you found there. Then your entered. Make sure I have your email too! You can get an extra entry if you add Texas Beef Council to your twitter account with @TxBeef. Give me the info where you added them and sent out a tweet shout out! There you have two entries. Need more? Okay give me a hint, recipe or idea for cooking amazing beef and I will give you another entry. Let's get out there and COOK, COOK, COOK!

Highlights of Texas Beef

Busy morning here after our day trip yesterday. Have tons to tell you and GOODIES to share with you too! So stay tuned. But since I need to take kittens to their new home today. And there is Cinco de Mayo in the park with a dance going on. I am going to give you some teasers. I will be back soon to give you more about it all!

The Other Mother who was my run away date for the day. We had a blast. Here she is in her best Top Chef form!

Beef ranch steak with heirloom tomatoes.

Chef Richard Chamberalin of Chamberlain Steak & Chop House

Was great to have everything ready for us that Texas Beef set up for us.

Yummy, Nolan Ryan steaks ready to cook. A little cracked pepper and heat....and viola'.

Tenderloin, Cranberry and Pear Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing Salads

Serves 4

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

10 minutes

Ingredients

4 beef tenderloin steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (approx. 4 oz. each)

1/2 tsp. coarse grind black pepper

1 package (5 oz.) mixed baby salad greens

1 medium red or green pear, cored, cut into 16 wedges

1/4 cup dried cranberries

salt

1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (optional)

Honey Mustard Dressing

1/2 cup prepared honey mustard

2-3 Tbsp. water

1-1/2 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. white wine vinegar

1/4 tsp. coarse grind black pepper

1/8 tsp. salt

Instructions

Season steaks with 1/2 tsp. pepper. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place steaks in skillet; cook 7 to 9 minutes for medium rare to medium doneness, turning occasionally.

Meanwhile, whisk Honey Mustard Dressing ingredients in small bowl until well blended. Set aside. Divide greens evenly among 4 plates. Top evenly with pear wedges and dried cranberries.

Carve steaks into thin slices; season with salt as desired. Divide steak slices evenly over salads. Top each salad evenly with dressing, pecans and goat cheese, if desired.

Suggestions

To toast pecans, spread in single layer on metal baking sheet. Bake in 350 degree oven 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Watch carefully to prevent burning. Set aside to cool.

Christmas in the Fall?

I know I have told you that some days it feels like Christmas around here. Well I am sharing my joy and luck with you again. This last week I was so happy to see packages arrive for reviews and giveaway for you.
And those are all things to come. But I had a few other surprises in the batch. One was that I had won a giveaway over at Is there a Bathroom on this Ship? I love all the fun giveaways that are hosted there. Here are her current giveaways if you want to go and get some goodies for yourself.
* Tropical Traditions Glass and Surface Cleaner (1 winner, ends 10/4/10)
* Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter (trade paperback) (3 winners, ends 10/9/10)

* Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (2 winners, ends 10/9/10)
I had won in the Faber Castell- Creativity for Kids giveaway. So it is now going to be fun around here. Princess Emma will get to color in the coloring and ARTivity book with triangular color pencils. And College Girl has already laid claims to the watercolor ecopencils for her design projects in theater. It is always so nice to have extra art supplies around, don't you agree? But on top of that I also had such a nice lil personal note from the Public Relations Manager, Lisa Bowdy of Faber-Castell letting me know this was my winning package. Such nice manners and a personal touch. She also invited me to check out Creativity for Kids. (Hint...go check it out!) The have online activities, discounts, craft of the month and featured products each month.

My next snail mail goodie was from the Texas Beef Council. Remember when I went to the Appetite for Inspiration cooking event this month? Well they were so kind to send me a thank you note. Again, manners are so wonderful. Well that is enough to make me smile. But she included a H*E*B $25.00 gift card so I could make one of those wonderful meals we were taught. I think instead I am going to make the Orange Glazed Short Ribs that are on the Texas Beef Councils web site. It is a crock pot meal and perfect with fall weather hitting. You may want to pop it on for a Sunday Night Football dinner?

Now for surprise #3! Yeah, three of them so far. This last weekend we were at our local fair, the Comanche County Pow Wow. Well so many companies and organizations have booths set up there. I bought raffle tickets and picked up freebies of shopping bags and the such. Well one of the places I entered was with a local Mary Kay lady. This was something I was happy with. I wear Mary Kay and did not have a local lady. As a matter of fact I have been using Jana Leonard online, a fellow blogger at Life with the Leonards. But, still nice to have local. Well I now have a delightful lil card from Hitoni Bergmark here. You see it, another nice note. I am loving all the manners. She let me know I won $20.00 of free products. And a complimentary custom makeover! I am going to use it one day that I have a hot date with Dear Hubby! Great gift for me to feel so so so pretty. I think I am going for the TimeWise® Age-Fighting Moisturizer (normal to oily) for my gift certificate.

This has been an amazing mail call, right? Well, I am not done! Nope. Next still......(see I told you it was Christmas here today!) I also had a package from Regina from Cottonfield Farm. She has an adorable etsy shop too! I had ordered a special necklace for my mom and Regina had gone way out of her way to make it for me. In the game Hand n' Foot that Granny M is addicted too, a book of 7 sevens is worth 3000 points. Well I asked for a tile necklace of that winning hand. Regina did not have enough tiles of 7 cards. So she went looking til she found more. She ordered them and made my necklace. Isn't that really going the extra step? I also ordered a special necklace for my College Girl. It is a glass tile necklace of a Morning Glory necklace. That is our special wake up call. My mom used it on me and I did the same with my girl. Now we even have Morning Glories growing in our front flower beds. It is a tradition for the ladies in our family now.

The next item in the box was a cute lil purse mirror for me with a retro coffee cup on it. I loved it! Just right, coffee and the 50's feel to it too! Perfect. Well Regina, being the lady she is, sent me a lil note. Oh all of this love is too much! But she was so happy to sent me a second cup of coffee to share with a friend. Yeah! She gave me two of these lovely purse mirrors. Wow! So since she said I could share one....I am going to do just that. Yeah, I am going to give the second one to one of you! Just leave me a comment with an email attached. Tell me something that made you smile today. Anything that put that warm feeling in your heart. Or that twinkle in your eye. And I will pick a winner, SOON! So hurry....now....yeah, get going and leave me a comment.....I AM LOOKING!

Drooling About

Ok I promised you much more on the great event from the Texas Beef Council and June Cleaver Nirvana aka Holly Homer at the Appetite for Inspiration. Again I have to thank Milestone Culinary Arts Center for allowing us to invade them. Mom bloggers all over the place and filled with food. You know we were all in our element. Also I have to give a nudge to my bloggy buddy and neighbor Nessa for going with me.
Erin Johnston of the Texas Beef Council welcomed us and introduced us to Angela Lemond. Angela is a nutrition consultant. You know what that means? That is the person who knows what we should be eating compared to what we are really eating. I wanted to crawl under my seat being so large....but Angela was so kind. She admitted that we all eat the no-no's. Just learn to do it in moderation. Angela is an active mother, so she is really noticing how hard it is for an active mom with kids, job and housework to get a good meal on the table. Short cuts are needed. So she shared some ideas with us. My favorite is to introduce your children to new foods all the time. Reintroduce those foods that the picky eater scrunchies their nose up at also. Remember taste buds change.
Next we watched this hunk of a top chef, Richard Chamberlin cook two yummy dishes for us. You can have some of his signature dishes at Chamberlain's Steak and Chop House in Addison, TX. The first dish was Beef and Heirloom Tomato Salad with Balsamic Syrup. Here it is! I have to say it tasted as beautiful as the colors show up.

Next was the Beef Pot Roast with Maple Sweet Potatoes and Cider Gravy. Now he had me here. I adore sweet potatoes. Toss in the Maple syrup and you are serving up a lil dish of heaven for me. This is what it looked like. The sweet potatoes are just behind that lovely pot roast.

Next we all played Top Chef. We had to draw for teams. I ended up with the Beef Brisket Tostados with Spicy Peanut Slaw. There I am, yes, the one with the busy print dress, but I was having lots of help from Shauna and Amy. Our 'sous chef' was there to the left to help out if we needed it.

Now this was really easy. Since it was made with brisket which takes some time to cook. The chefs at Milestone had already cooked that for us. Even had it shredded too! So we were just mixing up the slaw and doing assembly. Not hard to do. I do enjoy the crunchy slaw on top of the juicy beef. Of course I was thrilled to see the peanuts in the dish. I live in Comanche Texas and we were known as the peanut capital of Texas for a very long time. Doesn't this look just amazing.

Beef Brisket Tostados with Spicy Peanut Slaw

Now if you want a kid friendly and delicious dish then check out this one. It is the Sweet Hawaiian Mini Burgers. They used 95% lean ground beef. So your not introducing the fat into the dish. Add in the caramelized pineapples and it was just perfect.

I have to show you what Nessa made. She said this was easy peasy and a dish her kiddos would snatch right up. Chipotle Sloppy Joes with Crunchy Cole Slaw. These look great and not sloppy at all.

Chipotle Sloppy Joes with Crunchy Coleslaw

I have to thank June Cleaver Nirvana and Humphries Nation for the wonderful photos. They were so kind to share with me. I also want to add a list of the mom bloggers that were able to attend this event. They were all so nice to include us country gals to the shindig.

Who Put Me in Charge of These People