An Ode to Beef

UPDATED February 14, 2017: Check out these new American Heart Association certified heart-healthy beef recipes from Beef. It's What's for Dinner.

My friend Adam texted me this picture last week. On my Blackberry* it looked like maybe a Valentine's Day card or box of chocolates, but when I looked closer it became clear that it was a BEEF heart. Not a real beef heart, of course, but two ribeye steaks forming a heart. Love it!

*I have since upgraded to an iPhone :)

Adam knows I love beef. I'm sure all my Facebook friends know I love beef. Last year "beef" was the most oft used word in my Facebook posts (followed by "ride" and "run"!). But Adam knows I've been a beef lover for many years...long before I went to work for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Adam and I are friends from high school and he can testify that my love of beef goes back to backyard barbecues in the 1980s when we mastered the art of grilling steaks to a perfect medium rare.


So why do I love beef ? Let me count the ways...

An Ode to Beef
by Daren Williams 

I love the sizzle of a steak on the grill, searing in the juices and slow cooking until its just right, but I love it even more when I cut into a perfectly grilled steak and take that first tender bite.

Beef is a lean source of protein which helps me maintain a healthy weight, which hasn't always been the case (I once weighed in at a whopping 278).

Beef provides fuel for the finish of a triathlon's swimming, biking and running stages, providing zinc, iron, protein and B vitamins to keep my body moving as it ages.

Beef comes from family farmers and ranchers who care for animals and the land, toiling every day to provide food for my family, I could not provide with my own hand.

I love serving beef to my sweetheart for some Valentine's Day sizzle, knowing when BEEF is What's for Dinner, our love will never fizzle!

Please join me in celebrating Valentine's Day by taking your sweetheart for a nice steak dinner or staying home and grilling a heart-shaped T-Bone Steak with Parmesan-Dusted Mushrooms. Too cold to grill? Try a Two-Steppin' Tenderloin in the oven or one of the many other great beef recipes on Beef It's What's for Dinner.

Ride on!

Daren