Wild Mushroom Venison Stew

January 17, 2012 By 5 Comments

I’ve only had venison a handful of times, and I had never prepared it myself. So I turned to a friend with more experience in cooking with venison… who gave me some great suggestions for how to prepare it. I haven’t always been too fond of stews, but this was so very good. This could easily be a beef stew as well, but I think the venison flavor made it even better.

This venison happened to come from an extra special source. While we were at Grandpa and Grandma’s farm last fall we got a chance to meet one of the hunters who hunts on their property. After getting to know him a little bit, we found out that he considers Jesse’s grandparents like his own… and he said that he would be more than happy to share some of his catch with us. He came back a couple of days later with a variety of cuts for us to enjoy. How’s that for getting our food directly from the source? So cool! Someday I’d like to live somewhere that we can hunt and grow our own food.

Anyway… back to the recipe. I made this stew using the venison chunks.

Venison

Cut the meat up into small cubes and place in crock pot. Mix together flour (I used arrowroot), salt and pepper; pour over meat pieces and toss to coat evenly.

Venison pieces

Then chop up all the veggies and add them to the crock pot.

Veggies

Add the beef broth and other seasonings and stir to mix well. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 6 or until done. Stir as necessary. That’s it!

Stew mixture

I made mashed potatoes to serve the stew over instead of adding them to cook with the stew. And the flavorful gravy that this stew made was the perfect addition.

Stew dinner

Here’s the recipe:

1 1/2 – 2 lbs. stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/8 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp paprika
package mushrooms
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 small white onion, diced
1 stalk celery, sliced

Enjoy!

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Apple-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

January 10, 2012 By 2 Comments

Do you need a fancy-looking meal to impress some dinner guests? This tasty meal from Simple & Delicious was so easy to make for how nicely it turned out. It also made great leftovers since the stuffing kept the meat nice and moist. And since it’s all fresh ingredients it needs no allergy changes, except for the cornstarch.

Start by chopping an apple and some onion.

Apple and onion

By the way this was one of my Christmas presents. It’s an immersion blender that can also attach to become a food processor. Sure makes chopping quicker!

New blender

Anyway, next saute apple and onion in oil until tender. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper; cook another minute or so and remove from heat.

Saute

Make a lengthwise slit down the center of the tenderloin and spread apple mixture over the meat. Close tenderloins, tie with string, and secure the ends with toothpicks. I didn’t have string so I just used several toothpicks, which worked just fine. Bake, uncovered, at 425 for 15 minutes.

Stuffed

Meanwhile, combine the juices and mustard in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch (or arrowroot) and water until smooth and gradually stir into juice mixture. Bring to a boil, cook and stir until thickened. Stir in parsley.

Cooked

Pour 3/4 cup of sauce over tenderloin and continue to bake until meat reaches 160. Let stand before slicing. Serve with remaining sauce.

Served

Recipe:
1 medium apple, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 pork tenderloins (I made one)

Sauce:
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. cold water
1 tbsp. minced parsley

Enjoy!

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Orange Sweet Treats

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I just love no-bake recipes. This is an easy to make treat that requires no allergy changes from the original recipe. It came from a neat book that Jesse’s grandma gave me called This For That. It’s full of ideas for substitutions when you find that you’re out of a necessary ingredient. Since the book has some creative recipes and substitutes, it comes in handy when I need to replace something I’m allergic to in a recipe.

This For ThatRecipe

Start by melting a stick of butter. You know a recipe is off to a good start when it requires an entire stick of butter!

Melt butter

Then add the brown sugar, orange rind, and orange juice and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Sugar and juice

Stir in oats and nuts. Spread into an 8×8 pan and freeze or refrigerate until hardened.

In pan

Then cut into squares, shape into balls, and roll in coconut.

Coconut

Yum! Serve these chilled. Since they are largely butter, they become too soft if they sit out for too long.

Orange treats

I skipped the walnuts since I don’t care for them and I added a good amount of cinnamon because I love it. The orange juice and cinnamon was a great combination. Give these a try and tell me what you think.

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