Big Game Pot Roast

A dear, sweet client of mine gave me my first moose roast to prepare earlier this month. I've never cooked any type of moose. Turns out it's much like beef and very delicious. Especially when you come across the right recipe.

I'm so glad I bought this book for my husband for Christmas. Hopefully he doesn't read this before the unwrapping and have another surprise ruined. He already ended up getting his wool coat early. Which ended up being a good thing. I believe I mentioned in my last post that we had some pretty frosty weather this month.

I adapted this recipe from "Dressing & Cooking Wild Game From Field to Table" The Complete Hunter. I say "adapted" because, of course, I didn't have all the ingredients it called for and once again, I wasn't driving all the way to town for some marjoram and french onion soup and whatever else. Glad I didn't. It ended up being the BEST roast I've ever had! And I've had some good ones.

This recipe is good for any big game...moose, venison, elk, bear, antelope, etc

Big Game Pot Roast

Use the shoulder roast, rump roast, or bottom round.

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp ground thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 1/2 to 3lb roast

3 T oil (I use safflower)

10 oz water 

2 tsp beef bullion paste

1 large yellow onion (thinly sliced)

2 T butter

1/2 cup red wine

1 bay leaf

1 turnip (peeled and cut into wedges)

1 large onion of choice (cut into wedges) (I used a sweet onion)

2 cups baby carrots

1 small bag of new potatoes (around 1 to 1.5lbs)

8 oz fresh button mushrooms (whole)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large plastic food-storage bag, combine flour, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper; shake to mix. Add meat and shake to coat.

In a Dutch oven, heat the oil and brown both sides of the meat (about 5 minutes each side).

While that is browning, in a heavy, medium sized saucepan, melt butter and saute the finely sliced onion in it, turning frequently, until golden. We're making a mock French Onion Soup here. Add the water and beef bullion paste, stirring to mix. Simmer about 5 min or until you beef is done browning.

Add what's left of the flour mixture, the mock French onion soup, wine and bay leaf to the meat. Heat to boiling. Remove from heat and cover. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Add the turnip and onion wedges, carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms. Recover and bake until meat and veggies are tender. This will take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours longer. Discard the bay leaf before serving.

My roast was in the oven about 3 hours and 15 minutes total.

Serve with some hot biscuits and a green veggie and you're good to go! I cheated and popped open a can of trader joes biscuits and baked them. My husband asked, "No homemade biscuits?" I said, "Shush and eat your moose!" He's so spoiled!

As far as music goes...it started off as a Ben Folds kind of day

Not The Same

But then progressed to The Cure

A Forest (Deep Forest Mix)

Is this what happens when you get older? You start feeling nostalgic more often than not?

Pumpkin Bread

We've gone through quite the cold snap lately out here in the Great Northwest.  So cold, in fact, our pipes froze! Oh no! Nothing like getting up in the morning to brush your teeth and realizing that there's no running water because you forgot to let it trickle throughout the night.

It was my husband's turn to sleep in, but sleep no more!  Rise and shine, Honey Cakes! Bless his heart.  It's 7:45am and he's under the house with my hair dryer defrosting the pipes.  And after two glorious hours or so...viola! We had running water again and no busted pipes!

"Why is she telling me all this," you ask.  I'm telling you because he wasn't irritated with all the commotion and inconvenience.  He wasn't mad at me even though I was the one who turned off his trickle.  He wasn't upset at all...not even a little.  Why?  Because the night before I had made two beautiful, delicious loaves of pumpkin bread.

So if you're ever in deep, or suspect you will be soon, or maybe you want to show someone how much you love them, or just plain show off, make pumpkin bread.  I assure you, this recipe's a keeper.

I adapted it from a recipe my mother gave me.  I have no idea where she got the original recipe. Hers was always too sweet for me and not quite as soft as I like, so I cut back on the sugar and substituted whole wheat pastry flour for some of the all purpose flour. Then I added vanilla and played around with the spices. Finally...Perfection...for me at least.

Pumpkin Bread

1 15oz can pumpkin puree (or 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree)

4 large eggs

1 cup oil (I use safflower or grapeseed)

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground clove

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup chopped dates

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour two loaf pans.

In a large bowl combine pumpkin, eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir to slightly combine. Add the flours (reserving 1 T of all purpose flour), baking powder, salt, baking soda, and spices. Stir to combine. 

In a small bowl, add the dates, walnuts, and the reserved tablespoon of flour together and stir around so that the flour coats the dates and nuts.  This will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the loaf pans during baking.

Add the date/walnut mixture to the pumpkin/flour mixture and stir well.

Pour the pumpkin bread batter into two greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. 

It takes 55 minutes to bake in my oven, but I have a convection oven, use glass loaf pans, and live part way up a mountain. So check it at 50 and go from there.

This is a quick bread and can be combined in a large bowl in no particular order, but I find it turns out nicer when you do it the way I described. Sometimes I even sift my flour and leavening agents together. Depends on my mood.

Daft Punk's Get Lucky is what I'm listening to today. I didn't even know they put out a new album. I'm so lost in motherhood I've gotten kind of out of the loop. I heard this song on the radio one fateful day when my mp3 player died and I had two choices. Radio or nothing. I'm so glad I picked radio. 

I immediately liked it but thought it was probably just one of those one-hit-wonder songs because it was so catchy. I have a few of those on my mp3 player...a guilty pleasure. I was pretty stoked to hop on the computer and find it was a band I actually dig!

Venison Chili

It's cold and rainy outside and deer hunting season has come to an end in my area. Perfect time for a venison chili recipe!

I use to eat venison all the time as a kid. My grandfather and uncles were big into hunting. My mother enjoyed it a bit as well. Even my sister got her first deer when she was 12, which ended up being her only deer. But hey, I think she still deserves bragging rights.

I was never a hunter. Boring if you ask me. I'm more into cooking the beast brought into the kitchen. That's much more fun! Even though I've had my share of venison roasts and such, I realized (after my husband and his friend scored on the field of course) that I had no experience cooking game and no recipes to speak of. My grandma always handled that sort of thing and she passed before letting me in on her secrets.

Lucky for me I have internet access. Spotty internet access because I live out in the boonies and share with my neighbors. But with a little patience and perseverance I was able to dig up a delightfully delicious venison chili recipe. And now, after adapting it to my needs (since I live in the boonies and use what's on hand most days because I don't want to drive to town for just a few items), I can share it with you! Yay internet!

The beautiful thing about chili is its versatility. Throw out what you don't like and throw in what you do. Or just throw in what you have. Just because you live in town doesn't mean you want to run to the store for a few items either, even if it is only 5 minutes down the street. Besides, it's cold and rainy out.

Venison Chili

(or any ground meat you like)

1 lb venison, ground

2 onions, diced (I used sweet walla walla)

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 T jalapeno pepper, chopped

1- 15oz can stewed tomato

1- 15oz can tomato sauce

1 - 8oz can tomato paste

1- 15oz can kidney beans (drained)

1- 15oz can black beans (drained)

2 T ground cumin

2 T chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 C water

1 C frozen corn (optional)

Brown the meat with the onions and peppers in a large frying pan. While that's cooking, put all of the other ingredients except the water and corn into a 4 or 5 quart crock pot, stir, and turn it on low.  

I only have a 4 quart crock pot and it all fits in there.  But I do have to pray to the gods of cookery. Absolutely no worries if you're using a 5 quart.  You'll have plenty of room.

Add the meat mix to the crock and stir. Now add the water. You may have to take pause if you're using that good ol' 4 quart baby. Now stir, put the lid on, and cook on low 5 to 8 hours. I stir it occasionally. Mostly because I like to lift the lid off and get a better whiff. About an hour before you want to eat this vat of deliciousness, add the corn if you have the room and the desire.

Enjoy!

Buckwheat Buttermilk Pancackes

I've decided to start a food blog more out of laziness than anything else.  I'm always talking about food to people and usually end up promising to bring them some kind of recipe.  Now I can just say, "It's on my blog.  Here's the address."  No more copying things, writing things, trying to remember to bring things, etc. It's all here!  Viola!  Well...eventually it will all be here.  I started with the pancakes because I owe this one to two people.  Majority wins!

I don't remember where I came across this recipe, except for the fact that it was on the internet.  I found it that glorious year I kicked all refined sugar out of my diet.  Ok, it wasn't a full year...10 months at best.  Ten beautiful months full of clean eating and natural sweeteners.  I felt great!

But alas, Halloween came and that one piece of candy I was going to have turned into years of that one piece of candy.  Over...and over...and over again.  Perhaps one day I'll get myself together and fully commit to a life sans refined sugar.  But for now, a few healthy recipes here and there will have to suffice.

This is a great basic recipe.  Feel free to add whatever fruit you like.  The most unexpectedly delicious batch was when I added some fresh apricots I needed to use up and orange extract.  Wow!  I'd make it again, but I don't ever think to buy apricots.  Those just happened to show up at my door in this organic produce box deal I was having delivered once a week.

I use an electric griddle so I can cook more at once.  My griddle holds 6 to 8 pancakes at a time depending on the size.  I recommend getting one if you don't already have one.  They're great for heating up tortillas too.

Buckwheat Buttermilk Pancakes

3/4 C buckwheat flour

3/4 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 C milk

3/4 C buttermilk

2 Lg eggs

4 T unsalted butter (melted)

3 T honey

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Whisk together the first five ingredients in a medium to large bowl.  Then slowly add the other ingredients one at a time preferably, stirring after each addition.  If you dump all the wet ingredients in at once and then stir, you're more likely to end up with clumps in the batter.  That's why I say one at a time.  I learned the hard way and would like to save you the irritation and disappointment.  

One cup of berries will suffice if you're going the berry route.  I've also made them with fresh bananas (1 or 2 will do) and walnuts.  Our absolute fav around here is the pumpkin version.

For pumpkin pancakes:

Follow the recipe above but add the following

1/2 to 3/4 C pumpkin puree

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Josh likes to add an extra egg to his batter.  He also likes to experiment with the extracts.  I'm not too crazy about rum extract in my blueberry pancakes.  But I wouldn't know that if he hadn't been playing mad scientist, so there.  Maybe you'll enjoy that combo?  Go for it...no judgement here.  If we're low on milk we sometimes use yogurt.  There are plenty of substitutes you can do for this recipe.  I love it's versatility.  Just make sure you have plenty of pure maple syrup to pour over them once they're done.

Pour them on your griddle in circles 4 or 5" in diameter.  Once they bubble and the bubbles pop and leave holes, it's time to flip 'em.  When both sides are dark brown, they're done.  I usually put my griddle on about 375 degrees.

Enjoy!

Oh!  Don't people put what they're listening to on these things?  

I've been listening to a few things:
Brown Eyes  by Young Jessie
Down in Mexico by The Coasters

Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac

I guess it's kind of an oldie-but-goodie kind of day.