How exactly should you deal with your butcher?

Here are 10 quick tips:

1. It's a matter of trust
2. Be prepared
3. Learn your cuts
4. Know portion sizes
5. Looks can be deceiving
6. Grades aren't everything
7. Freshness? Ask the right questions
8. Get beyond labels
9. What your meat ate
10. The joys of ground meat

To find out more about these tips, click here.

Cheesy Beef and Noodle Casserole

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef
1 chopped onion
5-6 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 lb. of your favorite noodles, cooked and drained (small noodles work best)
1 lb. grated cheddar cheese
Salt to taste
2 tbsp. oil

Heat oven to 350 F.

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the chopped onion. Cook
until the onions are golden brown then add the ground beef.

Once the meat is cooked through, add the spaghetti sauce and salt to taste.

Simmer until it's heated throughout.

In a 3 quart casserole dish, layer the sauce, noodles and cheese. (You can do as many layers as you want, just start with the sauce and end with the cheese.)

Bake at 350 F for approx 45 minutes. The cheese should be nice and crispy!

6-8 Kaiser Rolls (toasted)
2 LBS. ground beef (80-20 blend)
1 PKG. Thick Cut Bacon
4 OZ. Crumbled Bleu Cheese
Coarsely Ground Black Pepper (You'll need a lot!)

Shape Ground Beef into 6-8 patties. The thicker the better! Coat each side with ground pepper. EAT BACON! You need enough to make a nice crust when grilling. If you're not a SALLY and you like it hot, add more pepper!

Set up your grill for INDIRECT cooking and pre-heat the coals. EAT BACON! You need them nice and hot to get a nice sear and to form the pepper crust! Cook on the HOT side for 3 to 5 minutes on first side. Flip burgers and grill another 3 to 5 minutes. Move burgers over to the indirect heat side of the grill. Add bacon and top with about a teaspoon of bleu cheese (if you like it rich, you can add more). Cover grill until cheese softens. Toast the rolls and EAT!

You can serve these with lettuce and tomato if you want, but they are DAMN GOOD just the way they are!

No, this isn't just some cleverly frosted cake with a drawing of a t-bone on it. It's actually made of meat... and potatoes... and gravy!

"The Black Widow," owner of the Black Widow Bakery no less, created this and documented the entire process for us.

Is it the only meat cake ever? Of course not. In fact, Martha Stewart made one. It's got vegetables in it. Sorry, but that just spoils the whole thing. So don't send us any stupid email. We just like this one the best. Deal with it.

Check out the meat cake extravaganza here.

Beefing up budget with cheap meats is savory choice

The high cost of food is on just about everyone's mind. One way I trim my grocery budget is to use less-expensive cuts of meat.

COUNTRY BEEF RIBS

1 (5 lb.) slab beef back ribs
1/3 c. soy sauce
1 tbsp. cider vinegar
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tbsp. honey
1 bunch green onions

Cut slab into individual ribs. Arrange in 13x9 inch glass baking dish.

Combine soy sauce, vinegar and ginger for marinade. Pour over ribs. Cover tightly and refrigerate several hours or overnight, turning at least once.

Heat coals in grill to medium hot. Place grill rack 4 inches above coals. Remove beef from marinade; reserve marinade. Grill ribs 20 minutes on each side.

Stir honey into reserved marinade. Brush over both sides of ribs. Grill 10 minutes longer on each side.

Trim green onions; brush with marinade and grill 5 minutes, turning once. Serve ribs garnished with green onions.