Well, It Wasn't Really Dinner

The night before last, I cooked some of the venison that Rob had shot in the fall. It was the really tender blackstrap and we had decided to slice it rather thinly before we froze it. You have to be careful with venison because it is so lean it will dry out into leather very quickly. Because of this I have taken to marinating it with all kinds of wonderful spices, oils, and acids. I drizzled this batch of meat in olive oil, garlic, a seasoning mix called 21 season salute that you get from Trader Joe's, and the juice of a lemon, this was probably a pound of meat. I let it sit for a while and then put it on the grill. You have to watch it very carefully so it doesn't burn or dry out. 

 The meat was amazing! It had great flavor and I served it with sautéed onions and zucchini. So I had leftovers for my lunch the next day. I hate eating leftovers the same way twice so this is what I came up with. 

 A VENISON TACO

 This makes four tacos, enough for two people. 

 4 ounces of the cooked marinated blackstrap, this is the primo part of a deer.  The piece that is so tender you can cut it with a fork.  

1 very small zucchini

1/4 onion.  I had sautéed these with some garlic the day before.  

1/4 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp cumin

1 very thin lice of brie per taco

4 corn tortillas

and 1/4 tsp salt.

Cook the meat and the zucchini just to the point they are hot.  Remember they were cooked yesterday.  If you are not using leftovers, sauté them and cook the venison on the grill until pink in the middle.  

Pile it on a corn tortilla that has been grilled, or cooked in a little olive oil in a frying pan.  Add the brie, fold the taco and enjoy.  

Here We Go Again, Once Again, And Again!

It's been a year, I know it, well almost a year since I've put anything in here, and I want to start up again, you know school is going to start up again, and it's going to get crazy, and so let me add one more thing to my plate.

Last night we had salmon for dinner. I love it when we grill out and then eat in the back yard. I love my backyard. It's green and filled with birds, and it's cool.

Friday and Saturday Rob and I were in Reno. We were looking through all the things we have from his mom's house in the garage. I don't think we'll ever be through with this stuff, but someday. I'm digressing. We went to Costco and they had wild sockeye salmon, not the filet, but the whole fish. I had to have one. We bought it and headed home to Elko.

There are probably 100 ways to fix salmon, but sometimes, the easiest is the best. I cut two or three hand fulls of thyme and put it in the cavity of the fish with slices of lime, salt and pepper. I slathered the skin with oil, and put it on the grill. Cook at about 350 - 400 for 30 minutes.

I served that with roasted eggplant, red peppers, and asparagus. (This is called escalivada in Catalan). Cut them in strips, (not the asparagus), douse it with olive oil and kosher salt and grill until they are soft and a little charred.

The final side was a rice blend sauteed with onions, mushrooms, garlic and tomatoes. When you have finished, the saute, add a little parmesan cheese. It's quite good.

So think about the leafy green backyard, the cool sound of water running from the sprinkler next door and enjoying life with your husband in the backyard.

Roasty Toasty

I have to admit it. I am the luckiest girl in the world. My husband, Rob, got me the best gift for my birthday this year. He got me an oval 5 quart Le Crueset dutch oven. It's gorgeous, and I use it all the time.

Yesterday, I made a venison roast in my new pot. Oh was it easy.

1 22 ounce venison roast
1 packet of lipton onion soup mix
1/2 cup red wine
1 onion sliced thinly
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 lb. of carrots
3 tbs. olive oil.
your favorite seasoning blend
s and p to taste

rinse and dry the roast and then season with s and p.
In your dutch oven, heat the oil very hot, and sear the outside of the roast. Remove it from the pot, and then add the onions, and garlic cloves. Saute and then add the soup mix, the wine, and your favorite seasoning blend. Return the roast to the pan and put it in a 275 degree oven for a couple of hours, or until the roast is done to your satisfaction.

I served this with comfortable rice from Sunday and sauteed asparagus.

Comfortable Rice

I've always loved rice-based dishes. I think it's because my dad loves rice. I guess you can't be from Arkansas and not love rice, since they have many rice fields there. On Sunday, I grabbed a roast chicken from the grocery store. What a great thing they do, to roast a chicken so you don't have to. Frequently, I have to stretch to come up with a side dish that isn't potatoes. Here's Sunday's.

Comfortable Rice

1 onion diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
8 ounces of mushrooms, sliced
2 tbs. olive oil.

Saute the veg in the olive oil until the onion is translucent.

Add: 1 cup rice

2.5 cups of chicken stock, and the seasoning blend of your choice.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until the liquid is all absorbed.

I then cut up a tomato in small dice, and garnish.

Rob said it was like a comfort food, so it became comfortable rice.

2011: Off to a Flying Start

1/11/11: What a cool date! It's really cold here. The computer says 21 degrees, but I'm not buying it. Maybe 2 degrees, but the cold I got me thinking today about my family and I thought that Chili would be the perfect meal.

When we were kids we knew it was winter because the chili pot came out. My mom is famous for her chili. People come from near and far for it, and I can't count the times the pot was licked clean in the coach's lounge at a wrestling tournament in Goodland or Garden City.

I think the best thing about my mom's chili is that it won't blow the top of your head off. It's rich and hearty and oh so good with saltine crackers or on a piece of toast for breakfast. That may be one of my most favorite breakfasts. I think it ranks right up there for my sister Heather too! My dad loves a chili cheese omelet made with Mom's leftover chili.



I have to say it's one of the easiest things you can make. Here goes:

Mom's Rich and Hearty Chili

2 14.5 ounce cans of kidney beans in chili sauce
1 14.5 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 chopped onion
1 small can of diced green chilis (mild)
1 lb of hamburger
1 - 2 tsps of chili powder
1 - 2 tsps of cumin (this is my addition)

Brown the hamburger in a pot and drain off the grease, then add the onion and saute it until it is golden. Add the kidney beans, the tomato sauce, the green chilis and the seasonings.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and let cook for a couple of hours to make the flavors meld.



Saltine crackers! A must have for this chili, or a good loaf of crusty white bread if you are out of saltines. Oh, you can top this with diced raw onion and cheddar cheese and it's just great that way too.

The Hunting Widow!

I was a hunting widow last week. It was fun. Rob went out to fill his bull elk tag. This is a once in a lifetime hunt and it's amazing how in to this he is.

He left last Friday and I went to the football game with some friends and then came home and had a sandwich. I know so exciting, but it's not always fun to cook for yourself.

On Saturday I had a bunch of friends over for appetizers and beer and that was fun too. We had elk tenderloin on crackers that I made. Recipe forthcoming in another post. My friend Dave Meisner made the tenderloin. It was soooooo good. He served in on the crackers with sourcream/horse radish sauce and pomegranate seeds. His kids call it a Rudolph. I thought it was funny.

On Sunday, I had Talmud study with some of the people from the JCEC. I made raspberry and pear pie with a streusel topping. It turned out well.

2 cups of fresh raspberries, three sliced pears, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 c. sugar, 1/8 tsp. ginger, and 2 tsp. corn starch. Mix this all up and put into a pie crust.

Cover with streusel topping.

2/3 c. flour
2/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. chopped pecans
1 tsp. cinnmon
5 tbs. melted butter.

Mix together and then crumble on top of the fruit.

Bake at 350 until the filling is bubbling and the crust is brown.

Rob likes Lasagna!

I know I say it all the time, but gees, life is so crazy. Two weeks ago (I think that was the week of Halloween) was unbelievable and the week before this one wasn't any better. It started off with some weirdness and I think it may take an award.

Last Monday I went to the doctor and when I got home I didn't really want to deal with cooking, so much so I can't remember what we had a week later. Obviously memorable. Tuesday Rob had class and I don't remember what I made for dinner for that one either. Something with artichokes I think, but who knows. Wednesday, I made spaghetti. Here's mom's spaghetti sauce with a little tweeking.

Oh, I have so many tomatoes and I have to can them, and I really should do it tonite, but I need to go in and bake, and, and, and, and.

So, anyway.

1.5 lbs. of ripe tomatoes cut into quarters
2 small green, red, or yellow peppers. seeded and quartered
1 large onion, quartered
3 cloves of garlic
2 tbs. of italian seasoning
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. red wine
1 small can of tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of tomato sauce if you don't think your tomatoes are juicy enough. Mine were juicy enough.
1 lb. ground meat. (I used venison.) Put all of the above, except for the wine in a food processor or blender and combine until liquid.

Brown the meat in a pan and then add the tomato mixture. Let the whole thing simmer, simmer, simmer.

Cook some pasta and then serve with salad. Right on the plate, I can't tell you how good the pasta, salad and sauce is together. OMG! I love it. Oh and you need really crusty, great awesome bread with it.

I can make that too!

So you are asking, then, why does Rob like Lasagna if you had spaghetti? Well, of course spaghetti and leftover sauce lead to lasagna. So on Halloween we had just that. Our friends Jeff and Trinity came over. They are not a couple, Trin's husband Michael was working and her step-daughter was at friends for the evening and Jeff doesn't get any trick-or-treaters in his neighborhood, so they came to our house.

Lasagna

1 box of no boil noodles
2 quarts of spaghetti sauce
1 package of sliced swiss cheese
1 cup of grated parmesan
1 16 ounce container of small curd cottage cheese


for this lasagna, Isauteed some mushrooms and some asparagus before they went bad and created a layer of this too.

Heat up your spaghetti sauce, spoon a thin layer on teh bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Add a layer of noodles, another layer of sauce, a layer of swiss cheese and cottage cheese and then a layer of the mushrooms and asparagus and then repeat this three times. finish with a layer of noodles covered with a layer of sauce and the parmesan cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes at 375. or until bubbly.

Let it set for five or ten minutes before you cut into it.