The Florida Raised Daily
Food For Thought
For more than 100 years our family has developed relationships with beef producers in the State of Florida, and part of sourcing quality meats for our commercial clients meant spending a lot of time visiting ranches. You see, because we are multi-generational experts in quality meat, where our meats are sourced and how it is produced matters greatly to us. We only source the quality of meat that we feel good about feeding our own family.
The ‘Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock’ is applied research in action, and it is one of 20 global labs led by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) in partnership with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The program is also funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Maybe in some way, our busy lifestyles and transitioning away from slow home cooked meals is something that we need to change. One of the most educational things you can do, is head to a thrift or used bookstore and pick up some recipe books from the 1950’s or the 1970’s if you can find them. Not only will you get some fresh ideas and recipes, but you will also learn some of the longer preparation methods that take more time but create really delicious results.
Because our family has lived in Florida for generations, we’d like to preserve some of these heritage beef and local produce recipes that are part of our culture. So, we did a little digging and found some really interesting historical American and Floridian recipes that you might want to try at home.
Both men were avid cattle ranchers and built a big reputation for themselves, but in very different ways. Florida has a rich cowboy culture and history that is full of great stories of men who worked the land and made their livelihood by moving vast herds of cattle and profiting from the lucrative business opportunity in the 1800’s and 1900’s.
We have two short stories to tell about a rogue cow hunter and his legendary antics, and a man who grew from humble beginnings as a new pioneer and resident in Florida, to amassing a herd of 50,000 cattle and becoming a local Judge.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the two Cracker Cowboy legends of Bone Mizell and Ziba King.
As we count down to Christmas, naturally the traditional holiday turkey will steal the show. But after the turkey is gone and you are filled up on leftover hot turkey sandwiches, you may be looking for some fun comfort food meal ideas.
If you have a package or two of Florida Raised grass-fed ground beef, you have a whole lot of possibilities in your refrigerator! We found these four great recipes that are a little different for a fun twist on holiday food as you are celebrating in the month of December.
Did you know that you can follow in the footsteps of Florida Cracker Cowboys? The Florida Cracker Trail marks some of the historical routes that our cattle ranchers and their helpers traveled, as they moved vast herds of cattle across the state.
On November 20, 2000 the Florida Cracker Trail was designated as a Community Millennium Trail and protected. The Millennium Trails is an initiative by the White House Millennium Council, and the Federal Department of Transportation, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and the National Endowment for the arts. Other private agencies and charitable organizations participated in protecting this important piece of Florida history for future generations to enjoy.
Chances are that if you are a long-term resident of Florida, you’ve had the opportunity to visit South Florida and explore the Everglades and some of our national parks. If you have, it’s likely that the land you walked on was previously underwater, at some point in Florida’s history. The land as you see it today wasn’t always that way; many of the decisions we made with water management in the early 1900s damaged our local environment.
When you think of a Florida grass-fed beef rancher and producer, we’d like you to consider how much they care and advocate for the protection of our land and natural water systems. Their livelihood and multi-generational ranches depend on grazing land that produces world-class beef, which contributes more than $900 million dollars annually to the Florida GDP.
If you are trying to eat healthier every day, you may be searching for new balanced meal ideas that are economical, satisfying and easy to prepare. Have you tried making protein bowls part of your menu on a weekly basis?
Many of the protein bowl recipes that we see online are based on Greek yoghurt, with fruits and nuts. And that’s great, unless you really don’t like yoghurt. But there are other really hardy recipes that incorporate grass-fed ground beef that are so easy to make. You can even bulk prepare the ingredients for a healthy packed lunch or snack anytime you need a boost of great flavor and proteins.
We’d like to share a few tasty suggestions we found that you can try at home.
