[2] Hummus logs, with either celery, fennel or cucumber logs (photo courtesy Cava).

[3] Classic Ants On A Log, given a classy treatment: angled corners for the logs, a mix of raisins and sultanas for the ants. You can also use dried cherries or cranberries (photo courtesy Food 52).

The second Tuesday of September is National Ants On A Log Day, a kid-friendly snack.

But the cuteness doesn’t limit the idea to kids. It’s fun for adults, too, and can substitute for the familiar plate of crudités.

Classic Ants On A Log (photo #3)fills pieces of celery with peanut butter (the log) with a line of raisins on top (the ants).

Here are more clever variations, plus the history of Ants On A Log.
 
RECIPE #1: FRIENDS OF ANTS ON A LOG

The food stylists at Woman’s Day expanded the concept (photo #1), and we’ve added to it.

Ingredients For Both Caterpillars & Snails

 
For The Caterpillars

 
For The Snails

 
 
RECIPE #2: HUMMUS LOGS
Ingredients For Photo #2: Hummus Logs

These ideas are from Cava, an East Coast Mediterranean restaurant chain.

The concept is friendly for kids, while sophisticated enough for cocktail snacks.
 
Ingredients

 
Plus

1. MAKE the caterpillars: Fill the celery stalks with peanut butter or cream cheese and top with grapes, blueberries or grape tomatoes for the body and head. Use peanut butter or cream cheese to glue on candy eyes and celery or radish matchstick for antennae.

2. MAKE the snails: Fill celery stalks with peanut butter or cream cheese and top with an apple, cucumber, kiwi, orange or tomato slice shell and a cashew “head.” Use peanut butter or cream cheese to glue on candy eyes.

3. MAKE the hummus logs: Fill the celery stalks or cucumber logs with hummus (first scrape out some of the cucumber center for the hummus). Add the toppings and sprinkle with a bit of the herbs.

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*Add 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne to a cup of peanut butter, or to taste. You want subtle, not overpowering.

  

Recipes for simply-cooked meat or poultry—roasted, grilled, sautéed—typically advise: season with salt and pepper.

You can do better than that! Chef Sarah Russo of Pre Brands beef suggests additional seasonings that work for almost all meat and poultry.

Her technique for maximum flavor is to use at least three spices plus salt. For example:

 
Try these combinations; then, if you particularly like another spice, experiment with your own combination.

In addition to salting before cooking, try these trios of spices (photo courtesy Pre Brand).

[2] How about a stir-fry?

[3] A ribeye steak.

[4] Filet mignon salad (here’s the recipe).

We don’t eat a lot of beef because we don’t like cleaning up after it. But when we befriended new neighbors, serious carnivores, we received ongoing dinner invitations and began to eat much more of it.

They cook only grass-fed beef. Grass-fed cattle are those whose diet after weaning consists only of fresh of stored grasses. Before modern mass production led to grain-fed diets, cattle ate only grass and silage (compacted grass, stored in a silo for the winter months).

While you’d think the lower fat levels would mean less flavor, the steaks and ground beef we’ve had were, simply, luscious—juicy and tender.

With grain fed beef, the flavor comes predominantly from fat. Grass fed beef has a more nuanced flavor and leaner taste (in a good way).

Here are the reasons people prefer grass-fed beef:
 
 
THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF GRASS-FED BEEF

Compared to USDA Choice beef, grass-fed has:

 
As a bonus, grass fed cooks quicker!
 
 
PRE BRAND GRASS-FED BEEF

Our neighbors get their beef delivered from Pre, a Chicago-based company that sells 100% grass-fed steaks and ground beef under the Pre label.

The Pre team is dedicated to selling the kind of beef that they want to eat. They use 15 quality checkpoints to ensure the flavor, tenderness and juiciness they want, along with a well-balanced marbling.

The 15 points quality including breed, class, marbling, tenderness, size, weight, and of course, no added hormones, no added antibiotics and no feelots.

Pre beef represents the top 10% in grass-fed beef. We attest: We were impressed.
 
 
PRE CUTS OF BEEF

The line includes ground beef with different levels of leanness: 80%, 85%, 92% and 95%. Plus:

 
(Check out the different cuts of beef.)

Currently, Pre is sourced from select regions in Australia and New Zealand that offer ideal environmental conditions (rainfall & variety of grasses) for year-round pasture raising. These countries also have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world. The animals never given antibiotics or growth hormones.

Why not the U.S.? According to the company, the climate in the U.S. is not ideal for the high-quality, grass fed beef raised on pasture year-round.

Note that imported beef does not receive USDA grading: Only cattle raised in the U.S. can be USDA graded.

When you buy the packaged beef, you can tell it’s grass-fed at a glance: The raw beef actually has a purple-red color, from more myoglobin, a protein found in animal muscles.

Once the package is opened and the beef is exposed to air, the color will change to a brighter red.

PRE beef cattle are fed fresh grass year-round. This is not true about all beef that is labeled grass fed.

If you like drilling down to the details, here they are:

 
PRE grass-fed cattle do not go to feedlots; they continue to eat their regular grass-based diet. They are 100% “grass fed and finished.”

What Is Pasture-Raised Beef?

Another term heard in accordance with “grass fed” is “pasture raised.”

This latter term has more to do with environment than diet. Cattle are not confined and are free to graze on open pasture.

At a minimum, pasture raised animals must have continuous access to the outdoors for 120 days per year. At Pre, cattle are raised outdoors on pasture for their lifespan.
 
 
READY TO EAT DELICIOUS BEEF?

Here’s a store locator.

Order online at EatPre.com.

There are also gift cards. To our friends and family who are reading this: put us on the gift list!

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*CLA, conjugated linoleic acid, is a naturally occurring fatty acid found in meat and dairy products. It may help reduce body fat deposits and improve immune function. Our beef has up to 3 times the amount of CLA as USDA choice beef of the same cut.Here are the health benefits of CLA.

Yesterday we featured murasaki, Japanese purple sweet potatoes.

Today, it’s a completely different view of potatoes: Fried or roasted peels!

We knew that we could freeze potato peels (and all vegetable peels) to make stock. We never thought to cook them as a standalone food.

But, in that time-honored tradition of letting nothing go to waste, the Idaho Potato Commission has turned what would have been tossed, into a crunchy garnish [photo #1] or snack [photo #2].

So serve the fried/roasted peels with dipping sauces; or use them as a garnish on lunch or dinner plates, salads and soups.
 
RECIPE: FRIED IDAHO POTATO PEELS

While this recipe uses just the peels, you can cook the flesh separately and make mashed potatoes, or use them in another recipe.

You can also roast the peels instead of frying. The recipe is below.

Note that the raw peels will discolor if not cooked promptly.

[2] Enjoy fried peels as a snack. Here’s a recipe using an air fryer, from Cadry’s Kitchen.

[3] Russet potatoes. Idaho potatoes are a variety of branded russets grown in Idaho (photo courtesy Potato Goodness).

1. SCRUB and wash the potatoes. Peel in long strips, and keep the peeled potatoes for another recipe uses).

2. FRY the potato skins in a sauté pan until crispy, about 5-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the skins. Or, place in a basket and fry at 365°F for 2-3 minutes. Take the potatoes from the pan or fryer while hot and season with kosher salt and black cracked pepper.

3. MAKE dipping sauce(s).

 
RECIPE: ROASTED POTATO PEELS

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat for easier clean-up.

2. TOSS the peels until thoroughly coated with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Consider using a flavored salt.

3. ROAST for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir halfway through roasting.

4. REMOVE from the oven and sprinkle with your choice of toppings: chopped scallions, crumbled bacon, grated cheese, etc. Serve immediately with ketchup, one of the dips above, or sour cream.
 
 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IDAHO POTATOES & RUSSET POTATOES

Russet potatoes are a particular breed that is grown in many states, a large, oblong shape. However, only those russet potatoes that are grown in Idaho can be called Idaho® potatoes; the name is trademarked.

Idaho’s ideal growing conditions—the rich volcanic soil, climate and irrigation—are what differentiate Idaho potatoes from those grown in other states. It’s the concept of terroir (tur-WAH), a French agricultural term that describes the growing area—the soil, land or terrain.

The term is used to convey the larger concept “of the land,” i.e., how the specific place where an agricultural product is produced bears the taste of that particular piece of land, its specific soil composition and microclimate.

While the russet is the most well-known potato grown in Idaho, more than 25 other potato varieties are grown in Idaho including Yukon golds, reds and fingerlings.
 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF POTATOES

THE HISTORY OF POTATOES

[2] Murasaki oven fries with wasabi aïoli. Here’s the recipe from Bonjon Gourmet.

“As sweet as sugar.” That’s what we thought when we first tasted murasaki sweet potatoes.

The next day we ran out to buy some (at Trader Joe’s).

With an attractive violet-colored skin (murasaki is Japanese for violet) and a pure white interior [photo #1] we didn’t realize we were eating mashed sweet potatoes (they were peeled) until the first bite.

If we had been cooking, we’d have added the peel for a new take on skin-on mashed potatoes.

The murasaki, which is grown in California, has a sweet, nutty, full-bodied flavor.

 
You can cook murasaki in every way a potato can be cooked:

 
MURASAKI NUTRITION

A medium potato (five inches long) is 120 calories, and is fat and cholesterol free.

It has 500% DV of vitamin A, 40% vitamin C, 18% of potassium, 16% dietary fiber, 6% iron, 4% calcium and 2% sodium.

If kept dry and cold, murasaki potatoes will remain fresh in the fridge for three weeks.
 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF POTATOES

STOKES PURPLE FLESH SWEET POTATOES

THE HISTORY OF POTATOES