Intern Update: Favorite Beef Recipes

Hey there!

Abbey and Taylor again. We are officially in the month of June and less than a month out from Junior Nationals.  We’re so excited to be there and get to meet all of you. Entering entries to the computer and contacting members for exhibitor packet information makes us feel like we almost know you a bit. (Does that sound creepy? It might be.)

Today instead of giving you an update on our lives as interns (because really the only update is that we are working hard to have everything ready for Junior Nationals), we are going to share our favorite beef recipes. We were inspired to write this post after finding some AJSA aprons in a very cold storage room that Abbey dubbed as the ‘meat locker’.

Abbey’s recipe ­– There is this amazing little taco truck a couple towns over from where I went to high school in Colorado called Lucy’s Tacos. After trying many different items on their menu with at least 50 different options, I discovered their Carne Asada Fries.  When I moved 10 hours away to Oklahoma for college I had to find a way to keep these fries in my life, so I developed my own recipe.

AbCarne-asada-friesbey’s Carne Asada Fries

Prep time- 45 min. to an hour. (Most of this is down time letting the fries soak)

Cook Time-45 min. to an hour.

Total time- 1.5 to 2 hours.

Serving size – 4 people

Ingredients – Fries

  • 4 large russet potatoes
  • 2-3 tablespoon olive oil, or preferred cooking oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste (most days I like to add in a little garlic salt)

Ingredients – Toppings

  • Half pound to a pound of steak – depends on how much meat you want. I prefer a nice marble tri-tip steak for some extra flavor, but you can also use skirt steak of steak you want.
  • Weber Steak and Chop seasoning to taste
  • Shredded cheese – I like a three cheese Mexican blend, but from here on out the ingredients are all personal preference
  • Sour Cream
  • Avocado or guacamole
  • Salsa
  • Shredded lettuce

Instructions

  1. Cut the potatoes into sticks, about a quarter inch to half inch thick depending on how you like your fries. Then place the fries into a bowl of ice water and soak for 30 min. to an hour. This will help the fries to be nice and crunchy.
  2. Preheat oven to 425F
  3. After the fries have soaked, rinse and dry them thoroughly. Use 1 tablespoon of the oil to coat a baking sheet then toss the fries in the rest and season to taste. Spread the fries even over the baking sheet and cook at 425F for 45 min to an hour until nice and golden. Turn the fries about halfway through.
  4. After the fries are in the oven cut the steak into half inch cubes and coat the cubes in the Weber’s seasoning and let sit at room temperature until ready to cook.
  5. When the fries have about 15 min. left cook the meat in a skillet on medium0high heat. I like to use a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet or a griddle for a nice sear but any skillet will work. If needed add a little bit of olive oil to keep the meat from sticking and burning.
  6. When the fries are nice and golden turn the oven off and remove them. I like to layer on some cheese and place the fries back in the still warm oven to melt the cheese.
  7. Plate the fries and add toping as desired.
  8. Enjoy!

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of my Carne Asada fries, but I have provided one I found from www.carlsbadcraving.com that is similar to what I based my recipe off.

stuffed peppers

Taylor’s Recipe:

As we all know, nothing beats Grandma’s cooking and I am pretty much certain my granny is the best cook of all! Growing up just a hop, skip, and a jump away from her house, I spent many days learning all the tricks to making the perfect dish. Moving 1,300 miles provided me with the chance to practice all that she taught me. Although, I will never be the cook she is, I think I have done a good job of perfecting a few recipes.  One of my all-time favorites to make is stuff bell peppers. Especially if they are fresh peppers straight out of Papa’s garden! With little preparation time, this is the perfect meal to toss in the oven on a busy night.

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

Cook time: 30-45 minutes

Total time:  45-65 minutes

Serving size: 6-8 peppers

Ingredients:

  • 6-8 bell peppers
  • 1 box New Orleans dirty rice
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 1 can of tomato sauce (8 oz.)
  • Shredded Mozzarella cheese

 

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Brown the ground beef in a large frying pan and add in the chopped onion, cooking until the vegetable is softened.
  3. Next, add salt and pepper to taste, and then add the can of tomato sauce.
  4. Stir in cooked rice and cook for another 5 minutes or until the rice is warm. (Meanwhile, cut the tops of the peppers off and spoon out the rubs and seeds. Rinse.)
  5. Lightly, sprinkle the inside of the pepper with salt and fill the peppers with the hot meat and rice mixture.
  6. In the bottom of a 3 quart baking dish, put a ¼ cup of water (so you can steam the peppers while they are cooking).
  7. Place peppers in baking dish and top with shredded cheese.
  8. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees until the peppers are tender and the cheese is brown.
  9. Serve hot & enjoy!

apronsHope you have been practicing your beef cook-off recipes! It will be time to show those cooking skills off before you know it!

Shorthorn love,

Abbey & Taylor

2016 Junior National

The 2016 NJSS will be held July 2-7 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Find all of the new and updated information about the 2016 Junior National Shorthorn Show here!

The Edge Goes Digital

The Edge Newsletter, your reliable guide to all things NJSS, is now available in electronic format only. Read it on the AJSA or ASA website, find a link on our ASA Facebook page OR download and print it out at home.  Just don’t wait for your mail carrier to deliver it, because it’s ONLINE ONLY in 2016! Click here to read the Edge 2016 Newsletter.

Team Spirit!

At the ASA office, we like to celebrate our employees – and the environment we work in. So every once in a while we plan an office potluck, which always brings in a lot of food. Shirley (part-time receptionist) usually ramrods this event and brings her famous junk burgers – which Montie has renamed “Husker Junk Burgers” since Shirley is the biggest Nebraska Husker fan you will ever meet.

In the midst of a busy summer consisting of Shorthorn U, Junior National and KEY Conference among many other activities – we hadn’t even had a summer potluck lunch and we wanted to make sure to have one before interns Laura and Blaire left us for the summer, which they will be doing this week. Can’t believe their time as interns are almost up! Watch for a blog post from them this week for a recap of KEY Conference!

Now this office lunch wasn’t just any office lunch. During the planning of food items we would bring, they were soon getting labels like Shirley’s Husker Junk Burgers, Patrick bringing cowboy caviar from “Cyclone Nation” and Montie bringing “Sooner Buns”. So staff each wore their favorite team t-shirts today – all college teams.

Team Spirit

Teams/Schools represented:

  • Nebraska
  • Kansas State
  • Iowa State
  • Oklahoma State
  • Oklahoma (Montie was half and half on his representation of OK college teams)
  • Missouri
  • Oregon
  • Penn State

This was a fun way to show our school/team pride and get together for lunch as a team ourselves. (We are stuffed, by the way.)

What do you do as an office or a staff to bring the team together?

– Audrey  (Go K-State!)