The unofficial start to summer is just around the corner as Canadians celebrate what’s colloquially known as The May Two/Four and as Americans celebrate Memorial Day.
Nothing heralds the start of summer so much as a beautifully grilled burger enjoyed in your own backyard. Fragrant and loaded with crisp lettuce and sliced tomato, not to mention mouth-watering barbecue sauce, the burger IS summer.
With backyards being pretty much the only place lockdown weary folks can go, upping your burger game is crucial to your “at-home celebrations.”
I’ve partnered with truLOCAL to create the most delicious burgers and backyard fun.
HINT: it’s my birthday month and guess what I’ll be celebrating with?
Read on if you’re curious.
Backyard BBQ Burgers
Every year my children ask me what meal I want to eat to celebrate my birthday. That wonderful day happens to fall on the first long weekend in May – Victoria Day – which for Canadians also marks the unofficial start to summer. For Americans, your unofficial start to summer falls on May 28th – Memorial Day.
Every year I answer the same way. I say I don’t want any fuss and I want grilled hamburgers with all the sides – corn on the cob, potato salad, Greek salad, and loads of toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles.
Someone fires up the grill. Others prepare the salads and toppings and we gather over a glass of wine to share this simple but delicious meal. It’s all I need.
This year, like last year, however, was clouded by COVID. It has become impossible to gather thanks to social distancing regulations and lockdowns. I’m in an area where we’ve been in lockdown for over 140 days and counting!
What will any celebrations look like this summer?
Your backyard BBQ to the rescue!
Your backyard or someone else’s has become your safe haven. Social distancing and lockdowns have become normalized despite our craving for human connection so playing in your own backyard is looking pretty darned awesome right now.
With any luck, we will be able to celebrate outside at my overlong picnic table with my craved-for burgers because nothing is as iconic to a backyard grilling session as burgers and delicious sides. And also because my son-in-law will do all the grilling.
I’m requesting exactly this for my upcoming big day. You’re invited too!
Where do you get your burgers?
Many factors go into making an over-the-top delicious burger. The first of these being the source and quality of the meat. Where do you get your burgers?
Eating Clean and the Clean Living lifestyle have advocated, since the beginning almost 20 years ago, that clean food needs to be well-sourced. You need to know where your food comes from and what has been “done” to it before it goes in your mouth.
This matters! Protein from animal sources is particularly important because so much meat has been perverted with hormones, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and foods that these animals otherwise do not eat. Did you know, for example, that cows don’t eat corn? They prefer grass. So range-free, grass-fed animals are generally happier and healthier for your consumption.
Since it’s not as simple as buying a box of meat from questionable sources or of dubious quality, I’ve discovered the excellence of truLOCAL, a Canadian company first featured on the Dragon’s Den with an ambitious idea to provide clean, well-sourced, free- run protein sources from local suppliers.
truLOCAL’s Dragon’s Den appearance catapulted them into success and now you can get a custom curated box of high-quality meats, poultry, seafood, and game anywhere in Canada and some parts of the US.
Enjoying clean and well-sourced burgers has never been easier.
Custom Curated Eat Clean truLOCAL Box
In honour of my upcoming birthday, the unofficial start to summer, and dash to the outdoors, I’ve created 3 custom curated truLOCAL boxes. No need to worry about what to order. Select your box, whether it’s all grilling all the time, traditional favourites, or land and sea, your shopping is effortless.
Discover truLOCAL meats for yourself. It’s as easy as selecting delicious beef, salmon, or chicken burgers, or one of the 3 boxes I’ve curated and you’re good to go.
Enjoy the summer with Eat Clean approved burgers and cheers to you!
Love and light,
Tosca Reno
Marinated Top Sirloin Cap Steak
Ingredients
- 2 lbs truLOCAL sirloin cap steak
- ½ cup low sodium tamari or Bragg’s Soy sauce
- ½ cup olive oil extra virgin
- Juice of 4 limes, freshly squeezed
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 shallot minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ⅓ cup parsley italian flat leaf, minced
- ⅓ cup cilantro minced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp black pepper or to taste
- 1 pinch pink salt used as finishing salt
Instructions
- Trim steak of large pieces of fat, silver skin, or connective tissue. Place steak in a shallow glass baking dish. Set aside.
- Chop and mince garlic, shallots, parsley, and cilantro. Combine in a medium mixing bowl.
- Add all the liquid ingredients, cumin, salt and black pepper to the bowl and whisk to incorporate.
- Pour marinade on steak, making sure marinade covers well. Cover and set in the refrigerator to marinate for 5 hours.
- Remove steak from the refrigerator 1 hour prior to grilling and allow steak to come to room-temperature.
- Preheat grill to high.
- Sear steak over direct high heat 3 minutes per side. Move to indirect side of the grill and continue cooking approx. 6 minutes each side (for Medium). Check internal temperature with a meat thermometer to check the desired doneness (Temperatures and times are approximate)
- Rare: 125°F Medium Rare: 135°F Medium Rare: 145°F Medium Well: 155°F Well: 165°F+
- Remove from heat. Allow steak to rest for 15 minutes. Slice into ¼" strips across the grain and serve with Kale/Chimichurri Sauce (recipe follows), over mixed salad greens.
Kale Chimichurri Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup washed, packed kale, ribs removed
- 1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp pink salt
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Place all in a food processor and process until coarse mixture results. If the mixture is too thick, thin with water.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
Notes
Check out Tosca's recommended list of Best Blenders for Meal Prepping here!
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