pesto cheeseburgers

Paul makes awesome burgers. Seriously awesome burgers. One of his secrets is to add some "moisture" ingredient to the meat before shaping the patty - it can be mustard, pesto sauce, barbeque sauce, beer...really, there are an unlimited number of options. But that addition really flavours and moistens the burger.

Our next creation with Maison Le Grand sauces was a pesto cheeseburger. It's barbeque season, so of course, we had to include a grilling recipe!  :)

watch.learn.cook with canadian beef

As much as I love my cookbooks and following recipes, sometimes, I find it so much easier to watch a video. There are days when my brain just isn't wrapping around a concept and a quick video viewing makes things much, much easier. Who isn't a visual learner?

That said, one of my favourite features by the lovely folks at Canadian Beef are their beef-related videos. As part of the Watch.Learn.Cook with Canadian Beef campaign, they have a series of instructional videos to help you master cooking any cut of beef you may want to try!

The one that I've already used myself is the Easy Oven Roast Beef video. In the past, we've pretty much always stuck our roast in the slow cooker, but recently, I've learned how simple it is to make an oven roast and it's a nice change of pace when we have a little more time in the kitchen!

Up next, I'll probably tackle a Beef Stew - something I've never made before, but definitely love to eat.

Contest Alert! 

Speaking of recipes...although most of the recipes I try are pulled from one of my many cookbooks, Paul usually prefers the internet for his new cooking adventures and he uses his handy tablet to have the recipe easily at hand. Want a chance to win your own iPad4? Click here to go to the contest, hosted by Canadian Beef and Eat In Eat Out magazine. Each prize pack consisting of one 32GB Apple iPad4 (Wi-Fi with Retina Display), one remote talking thermometer (these are pretty amazing!) and one cooler tote. Approximate retail value of each prize pack is CAD $770.00. Contest closes at noon on March 31, 2013, so what are you waiting for?

Disclosure: I am a Canadian Beef Ambassador and have been compensated for this post. However, all opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way by my association with the program.

3 peppercorn steak

The next Summer Fresh sauce we tried...well, we didn't exactly cook with it. You see, the Summer Fresh 3 Peppercorn sauce was the first one I pulled out of the box when it arrived and right away, Paul and I looked at each other and said "Steak!"

Yes, as you know, we're both big beef lovers, so there was no question about how we were going to use this sauce. I know, this "recipe" (if you can even call it that) is pretty simple compared to what we've done with the others, but it's one that we were both excited about and really illustrates just how easy these Summer Fresh sauces are.

veal scaloppine with mushroom marsala sauce

I love veal scaloppine (even though I have trouble spelling scaloppine) so when I saw the Mushroom Marsala sauce in the Summer Fresh line-up, I knew what I wanted to make with it.



Confession time (well, not MY confession), but Paul doesn't like mushrooms. Which sucks because I LOVE MUSHROOMS. But he agreed to help me make this dish, and tried the final results as well (that's true love, isn't it?)

Using the Summer Fresh sauce was incredibly easy and the results were really delicious (even Paul admitted that the dish was good, even with the mushrooms). I can't stress how easy this meal was - it look less than 20 minutes from start to finish. In fact, the pasta that we made to go along with the veal took way longer (a recipe for the lovely bow-tie pasta with chunky tomato sauce that you see in these photos will come in a future blog post!)

a week's worth of ground beef...

Recently, Canada Beef asked the Canadian Beef Ambassadors to share tips on saving money and/or time in the kitchen. On the same day that I got that email, Paul announced that it was "meat week" at our house, so the two just seemed to meld together into one perfectly-timed blog post.

"Meat Week", as Paul coined it, would more appropriately be called "Ground Beef Week" - it's not only a budget-friendly week of dinners (well, five days but you can stretch it to a week if you really wanted to), but really time-saving too, which makes life easier on us.

One of the main problems for us is grocery shopping. Since there's only two of us, a lot of the things that we want to buy in bulk (to save money) go to waste when we can't finish it before it goes bad (not everything can be tossed in the freezer, as we have learned the hard way!) So one of the things that we do love to buy in large quantities is ground beef.

Basically, Meat Week starts off on with a huge package of ground Canadian beef that becomes 5 days' worth of main dishes for our dinner. The day that we buy the beef, we cook it and then we use part of it right away and freeze the rest for later use. It makes things super quick and easy on other nights, plus lets us take advantage of the bulk price.

So, our favourite way to have ground beef in 5 days week?

my first oven roast

Confession time - I have never made an oven roast. Never. I've "kind of" made a pot roast (usually, Paul makes the pot roast and I assist), but I've never made an oven roast by myself. So when I got my latest Canadian Beef Ambassador assignment, I was excited and nervous - I had to make an oven roast! This was the first time they had asked me to make something that I had never cooked before.

Paul was extra excited because lately he's been complaining that I need to cook more and bake less since he wants to eat some real meals and less desserts (apparently, he can't survive solely on baked goods like I can).

Cooking an oven roast is actually MUCH easier than I had anticipated. The one important kitchen gadget that I highly recommend having is a meat thermometer. Paul and I actually own several different meat thermometers (the little round non-digital metal ones and also a couple of digital ones) but Canadian Beef sent me a new one - a talking digital thermometer.

The new thermometer is really simple to use and has different settings for beef, chicken, veal, turkey, lamb, and pork. They have pre-set temperatures, so you just choose how well done you want your meat. For example, under the Beef setting, you can choose from Rare, Medium-Rare, Medium and Well Done. Under some meats, like chicken, you can only choose Well Done. When the temperature is close to ideal (about 5 degrees lower than the pre-set), a voice comes on and tells you that the cooking is almost done. You'll get more talking reminders as you get closer to the ideal temperature and again when you reach it. This method is much easier than trying to figure out timing based on the weight of the meat.

mmm...steak...plus, a *giveaway* (mmm...steak knives)!

I love steak. Paul loves steak too, so it's always easy for one of us to convince the other that we should have steak for dinner. There's something so beautiful about a thick, juicy, perfectly marbled slab of meat sitting on our grill. We almost never dress it up with anything more than a coat of freshly ground salt and pepper.

Now, as you can probably tell, our favourite type of steak is a Grilling one, but did you know that steaks fall into three categories? Before becoming a Canadian Beef Brand Ambassador, I could never keep this straight! Basically, they're grouped according to how they should be prepared:

• GRILLING - can be grilled without any extra prep or effort 
• MARINATING - needs to be marinated before you cook it (no matter how you cook it)
• SIMMERING - needs a slow simmer in a nice liquid to ensure tenderness (like a steak version of a pot roast!)

Since I'm not that familiar with the other steak groups besides Grilling, I wanted to learn more about how to cook them properly. Curious? Check out this very useful page that give you tips, cooking notes and timing on cooking all three types of steaks.

I definitely want to start cooking with Marinating and Simmering steaks more often - there's a whole bunch of recipes I've already bookmarked on the Canadian Beef site that I want to try. (Hmmm...how long do you think it would take me to try out every steak recipe here?)

Want to join me and other steak lovers in a fun Twitter chat all about STEAK? Canadian Beef and ShesConnected are having a #LoveCDNBeef Twitter Party on Thursday, September 13 at 8:30 pm EST. Follow @CanadianBeef and @shesconnected, and use the #LoveCDNBeef hashtag.

In anticipation of all the steak I'm going to be eating, CUTCO (in partnership with Canadian Beef) was kind enough to send me a set of their new steak knives. Although we already own several sets of steak knives, these ones are pretty darn nice. They have a thick, full tang, which Paul and I noticed right away, and both of us also loved how great the knives feel in our hands - they have an ergonomic design and a really good weight to them.

• Exclusive Double-D® edge provides a clean, smooth cut every time and stays sharp longer than straight-edge knives. Can be factory sharpened. 
• Ergonomic handle is a universal fit for large or small, left or right hands. Thumb and forefinger lock into place for safety and control. Fatigue-resistant design. 
• With CUTCO's Forever Guarantee, we will sharpen, hone, buff, repair and if necessary replace your CUTCO knives and accessories for FREE. No receipt is required. 
• Like all CUTCO products, the Steak Knife is guaranteed forever.

Are you envious of my new steak knives? Well, you don't have to be! The generous team at CUTCO is also giving a set of these steak knives to one lucky kitchen frolic reader! 

To enter:

• Leave a comment, telling me how you like your steak (2 entries)

If you want extra entries (1 entre for each action):

• Leave a comment, telling me what CUTCO product you'd like to try out most.
• Follow me on Twitter (leave a comment letting me know you're following me)
• Follow CUTCO on Twitter (leave a comment letting me know you're following them)
• Tweet about this giveaway (please include my Twitter handle, @kitchenfrolic so I can see the tweet!)

Don't forget to leave an email so I can contact you if you win! Contest is open to residents of Canada and the USA. Contest ends Friday, September 28, 2012.

(If you had already entered using the Rafflecopter form I had up earlier, don't worry, I have those entries saved. I was having problems with their form, so I had to take it down, but don't worry - you're entered!)

Oh, and if you're wondering - I prefer my steaks Medium-Rare, and will sit sullenly glaring at you if I have to chew on anything more done than Medium.

Disclosure: I am a Canadian Beef Ambassador and have been compensated for this post. However, all opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way by my association with the program.

mmm...burgers

If there's one meal that Paul and I love, it's hamburgers. Especially Paul - he really loves his burgers!

During the summer, we tend to have burgers a lot since the BBQ is in use at least two times a week. Plus, this year Paul has been whipping up his own homemade burgers instead of the frozen ones we used to buy. I LOVE the way Paul's burgers come out - they're always meaty and juicy - just the way I want a burger to be. Mmm, I'm getting hungry just writing this blog post!

As a Canadian Beef Brand Ambassador, we've been having even more hamburgers than usual and in the past two weeks, we've made burgers three times! Our favourite toppings are the basics: thick slices of cheese (we tend to throw a variety on there), ketchup and mustard (one of the many from Paul's growing collection).

Paul is still "perfecting" his burger recipe and I'll be sure to share it on this blog once he gives it his seal of approval. In the meantime, I'm having fun taste-testing the trial burgers!

What about you burger fans out there? What's your secret ingredient to the perfect burger?

And speaking of burgers, what's your burger personality? Yes, I said "burger personality"! Turns out I'm a split personality - I'm definitely mostly Old School ("You believe that the classic burgers is sacred. You keep your toppings pristine: ketchup, mustard, a fluffy white bun. Why mess with a good thing?"), but once in a while, I tend to be a little Gourmet ("You can’t eat your burger unless it’s been elevated to the level of Emperor. At your house, Truffle oil, sautéed chanterelle mushrooms, and sundried tomato pesto have taken the place of yellow mustard and good old ketchup. Why use iceberg when you can have Arugula is your motto.")


You can find out your own Burger Personality here (and please come share it with me!)

Disclosure: I am a Canadian Beef Ambassador and have been compensated for this post. However, all opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way by my association with the program.

sharing my love of canadian beef

Earlier this year, I was chosen as a Brand Ambassador for Canada Beef Inc, which I am totally excited about (Paul's pretty excited too). Not only are we both big beef eaters, we generally feel pretty patriotic whenever we're travelling and see "Canadian Beef" on the menu (which has happened in London, Cuba and Hong Kong!).

So, for the past month, I've been learning more about Canadian beef and already have my in-laws asking "Is it Canadian?" every time anyone buys beef for a family dinner. However, being a city girl, I don't really know much about where my beef comes from, so I thought that this would be a great opportunity to not only try new recipes involving beef, but also to learn more about how this product ends up from a farm to my table.

Since being chosen as an Ambassador, one of my go-to sources for all things beef is the Canada Beef site at http://www.beefinfo.org. Not only is it full of eye-opening information about beef and the beef industry, there are also tons of useful tips, recipes and useful tools on the site. For example, there's a Virtual Beef Nutrition Counter where you can see the nutrition values for various cuts of beef (I must admit, I played with this for awhile), a Make It Beef Club that lets you sign up for an e-newsletter, and lots of ways to connect to other beef-lovers!

(photo credit: from the Canadian Beef Facebook page)

And since I'm a little nerdy when it comes to facts and figures, check out these impressive stats about Canadian beef:

- There are 83,000 farms and ranches with beef cattle across Canada with a total of 4.27 million beef cows (Statistics Canada, Jan. 2011)
- Beef production contributed $24.6 billion to Canada's economy in 2010 (Canfax, Statistics Canada 2010)
- In 2010, Canada exported 50% of the total beef and cattle produced in Canada (Statistics Canada, Canfax, AAFC 2010), making it the 5th largest beef exporter in the world (excluding live cattle exports)

And my favourite factoid: On average, Canadians are eating 44.5 lbs (20.2 kg) of beef per person every year (Statistics Canada 2010). 45 pounds of beef! On average! That's quite a bit of beef!

Well, if I'm going to be eating that much beef in a year, I'd better make the most of it and make sure I'm cooking it properly! So, one of my favourite areas of the Canada Beef site is definitely the Cooking Lessons section of the site. This area not only gives you lots of beef-related recipes, but also has videos and step-by-step lessons on how to cook beef in various ways (ie. oven-roasting, broiling, grilling, etc). 

I'm definitely going to be learning a lot during my time as a Brand Ambassador! I hope you'll join me as I wrangle up some beef at the market and experiment with different beefy recipes (like these juicy homemade pesto burgers!)

Disclosure: I am a Canadian Beef Ambassador and have been compensated for this post. However, all opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way by my association with the program.