Doug Day

It was Wednesday, so it's a Doug Day. Doug is our friend who lives in Stateline and works for the Department of Transporation. He helped Rob with his campaign for Justice of the Peace years ago and he shows up almost every Wednesday when he is in town for dinner.

I made a shepherd's pie with the leftover venison from Sunday.

Venison Shepherd's Pie

5 carrots, diced into 3/4 inch cubes
1 can of green beans drained
1 lb of grilled venison, that has been cubed
8 oz. of sliced mushrooms
1 onion, diced and sauteed
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 bag of hashbrown potatoes, the obrien kind without the peppers and onions.
1/4 c milk
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1/4 c sour cream or greek yogurt
1 package of brown gravy mix

Cook the carrots in boiling water, until they are barely tender.
Saute the onions and garlic, and then add the mushrooms. Add the brown gravy mix and 1 cup of water, stir it all together.
Add the venison and heat it. (Remember, it's already cooked.)

While you are doing this, put on a pot of water to boil. When it is boiling, add the potatoes and cook until tender. This doesn't take very long. Mash them and then mix them with the milk, cheese and sour cream/yogurt.

In a 2 quart casserole mix the carrots, onion/meat mixture and green beans together. Top with the mashed potatoes and bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until bubbling on the sides.

On Thursday, I threw together an anything pizza. It hit the spot with a nice salad. Easy dinner.

Friday and Saturday we were in Reno for a conference and ate cruddy fast food. In and Out Burger, Baja Fresh, Jack In the Box. It's awful I know, but it is what it is.

Sunday, we got home late and had a quick snack. Boned and skinned sardines packed in oil on french baguette with manchego cheese and a lovely dirty martini. What a way to end a great weekend.

ZA!

Well, even though it was late, Rob had a hankering for Pizza. So, that's what I made.

Pizza Dough

1/2 c hot water
1 tsp. yeast
a pinch of sugar
1 tbs. of olive oil
3/4 tsp of kosher salt
1 1/3 c flour.

Mix the water, yeast and sugar together and wait for the yeast to bloom. Add the olive oil, the kosher salt, and the flour. Knead for a few minutes and then put the dough covered in a warm place to rise.

Toppings: Anything you want. Last night: pizza dough goes onto pizza stone. Olive oil goes on dough, three chopped pepperoncini peppers, and two small tomatoes chopped go on top of that. A layer of parmesan cheese. Once sliced onion sauteed, one orange, red, green, or yellow bell pepper sliced sauteed, 1 can of sliced olives, and two heaping teaspoons of garlic, sauteed and put on top of parm layer. Layer of mozzarella, layer of parm. Cooking spray sprayed on the top. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until the crust is crisp and the cheese is goldeny brown. (I don't think there is such a word as goldeny, but i like it anyway.) Oh, and on one half of the pizza, I put anchovies. Rob likes anchovies. I do too, but not on pizza.