Realizing how important it is to eat animal products from grass fed animals, I had searched for years for a commercial source of milk from grass fed cows to no avail! Thankfully, however, that has changed and now I can get grass fed milk from my local food coop.

Unless you're lucky enough to own your own milk cow, have a subscription to a grass fed milk cow, or have a local grass fed creamery, it's been very difficult to get good milk. For years I settled for milk that was just organically certified to be sure I wasn't getting hormones or antibiotics. I always found that Organic Valley was the best tasting, much better than Horizon, but it was still grain fed.

Farmer's Creamery, from an Amish cooperative in the Midwest now offers grass fed dairy products, including fresh milk! The whole milk is delicious, and it's not homogenized so the delectable cream rises to the top, just like real milk should.

If you've been with grass fed and healthy for any length of time you know how important good fat is to your health so you're not a what I call a "lipi-phobe" (fearful of fat) and don't buy into the low-fat hype. You know better than to drink low-fat or skim milk -even though they do offer it. (There won't be any cream rising to the top of skim milk)!

Farmer's Creamery is distributed by United Natural Foods (formerly Rainbow) so you should be able to get it at your local health food store or coop. If they don't carry it, ask them to order it for you. You'll be so glad you did.

You've seen it advertised in countless grocery stores and restaurants: "Serving certified Angus Beef," as if it were some sort of high quality premium that was differentiated from other beef. The Angus marketers would have you believe that, but it just isn't so.

There is no real carcass difference between Angus and any other breed. You can get very flavorful, tender, and marbled Angus, as well as very flavorless, tough, and poorly marbled Angus beef. It really depends on a number of factors including the genetics of the individual animal, what they've been fed, and how they've been handled and processed.

All other breeds can and do have individual animals that have superior flavor, tenderness, and marbling as well, AND GRAIN FEEDING CAN MAKE ALMOST ANY MEAT TENDER including Angus or any other breed!

It gets even more ridiculous when they advertise Angus hamburger. All ground beef is tender, because the metal teeth have already done the grinding.

When you're choosing beef, no matter what the breed, grass fed beef has more flavor than grain fed, as well as far superior nutritional quality. If you buy grass fed beef that has been ultrasound tested you can be assured of great tenderness and marbling as well. (See tip 2007 - 11- 14 to read about ultrasound testing).

When you are cooking a beef roast you need to know which cut to choose, depending on how you want to serve it: Sliced or shredded.

The meat that comes from the front end of the carcass such as Chuck Roast, Brisket , and Arm roast shred easily and don't necessarily slice up well in to thin uniform slices. These front end cuts are best slow-cooked, or braised. When they are cooked this way they are tender, and the meat falls apart readily and comes off of the bone with no effort.

If you want to serve roast beef in slices, you'll want to cook it quicker and at a higher temperature and have several different options.

The best and premium cuts of roast are from the mid section of the carcass. Standing Rib Roast, is of course from the rib area, and is a high-end roast that is commonly used for special occasions. If it comes from a carcass that is graded USDA Prime it is known as Prime Rib.

Sirloin Tip Roasts (also known as Tri-tip Roasts) come from the area between the ribs and the hip, and lend themselves very well to slicing.

Other back end roasts that work very well for slicing come from hip and thigh, and consist of Rump Roast, Pikes Peak Roast, or Round Roast.

There are several different cut of roast that can come from the Round section: Eye of round can be quite tender, and can cook up much like whole tenderloin, and in fact is sometimes called the "poor man's tenderloin". (See our tip from 10/31/2007)

Other roasts from the round section include: Heel of Round, which is the back of the thigh, or Bottom Round Roast which is to beef what the equivalent cut of what ham is to pork.

Roast are a delicious and economical way to feed many people, and when you serve grass fed beef roasts you can feel good about all of the health benefits you are reaping.