What's For Dinner: Burgers Made From Grass-Fed Beef

As I've explained before, I don't eat all that much meat, and in particular, I don't eat much red meat at all. However, D was in the mood for burgers the other night, and I surprisingly found myself in the mood for a "real" burger, too. As per usual, I headed down to our local Whole Foods to check out my options. In my mind, I wanted to purchase grass-fed and finished beef, which means the beef cattle are able to roam freely and eat grass, as they would do naturally, rather than being stuffed full of corn (which they can't digest naturally) as is the case on CAFO operations. Some grass-fed cattle are sent to CAFO operations to be finished, or reach their slaughter weight. This is not what I wanted. In addition to some ground sirloin, I also ended up purchasing two pre-made patties to make our lives a little easier for that night's meal. All of the burger meat I purchased received an animal welfare rating of four, and came from White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia. 

Here is what the Whole Foods website has to say about this farm:

WHITE OAK PASTURES - Bluffton, GA

Established in 1866, White Oak Pastures is comprised of 18 different farms in and around Southwestern Georgia. Fourth-generation cattleman Will Harris raises his cattle according to traditional methods, including grazing the five thousand-plus cattle on 100% Georgia native sweet grasses. With the help of a loan from Whole Foods Market, Will recently built an on-farm processing facility designed for low-stress animal handling while also minimizing the environmental impact. Learn more about Will and White Oak Pastures in this video.

Grass-fed beef from White Oak Pastures is available in our stores in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and in Washington, D.C. and Princeton and Marlton, New Jersey.

That's a farm I can get behind. I put D in charge of cooking the burgers, and he cooked them to perfection on the gas range. We served the burgers with a side of sweet potato fries and a spring greens salad.