Venison Bolognese & Eggplant

This recipe dates back to 2014 when I still kept a whole bunch of venison in the freezer. After being diagnosed Type 2 I still longed for my Bolognese on at least a weekly basis, and with pasta having been taken off the menu I had to find something besides zucchini ribbons to compliment the sauce. Enter.... the eggplant :-) Granted, it's not quite as colorful as the zucchini, but it sure packs a plateful of flavor!

For anyone who does not like venison for whatever reason,

this dish works quite well with ground beef, too. ENJOY!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs ground venison or very lean beef
• 1 28 oz can plum shaped tomatoes in puree
• olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 yellow onion, cut up
• 1/2 tsp salt
• fresh ground black pepper to taste (I like about 6 twists on the grinder)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• dash of oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 lge eggplant

Preparation:

Start by frying up the chop meat in a large skillet with a bit of olive

oil until fully cooked and a nice shade of brown. Set aside. 

Add a bit of olive oil to your sauce pot and sautee the chopped garlic. As the garlic JUST gets brown add in the cut up onion and sautee til slightly transluscent and shiny.

Place canned tomatoes in a bowl and cut into quarters or bite-size pieces... Not too small as they will cook down some in the pot.

Add tomatoes and puree to sauce pot and stir. Add in salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano and dried parsley. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Finally stir in the fried chop meat. The mixture will seem very meaty and not at all liquid.... that's intentional as our base for the sauce is very different from pasta.

Peel the eggplant and cut into bite-sized cubes

Heat some olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat and add the eggplant. I like to use the large pot for this purpose as it makes it easy to do the frequent toss and the eggplant cooks without getting splatter or the occasional cube on the nice shiny stove  *smirks*

Once the eggplant is tender, plate as you would pasta and add the meaty sauce on top. Add some grated parmesan or Pecorino-Romano if you like :-)

Blessed be... and happy cooking!

Sunny's Pot Roast

My dear friend Sunny was a total foodie. We could talk about food for hours and shared many recipes, processes and kitchen hacks. She taught me all about "free scallions" and introduced me to up-to-your-elbows-in-butter Dungeness Crab feasts on newspaper covered tables at crab shacks in Florida. Unfortunately my dear friend is no longer with us, but she did leave me with the recipe for her coveted slow cooker pot roast. Sunny, like me, never shied from sharing as she was one of the most giving people I was ever honored to know. To that end, here is my friend Sunny and her delectable pot roast... pretty much the way she gave it to me. Today is her birthday, so if you do make this dish, please be sure to let her know how good it is. :-) Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 pound beef roast, the cheaper the better
• 6 peeled carrots in chunks
• 4 peeled onions, cut up
• 4 unpeeled potatoes, cut bite sized
• 2 ribs of celery sliced bite size
• 1/2 pound of button or baby portobellos, scrubbed and whole
• Fresh garlic
• Roasted garlic
• 1 can of beef broth
• 2 cans of reduced fat condensed cream of mushroom soup
• About 1 cup Marsala wine
• 1-2 cups Cabernet or other red wine
• 1/2 envelope onion soup mix
• Adobo seasoning (regular)
• Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of butter

Preparation:

We're going to start this around 10:00 AM and you’ll need at least a 6 quart slow cooker minimum J Drizzle some olive oil into a hot heavy sauté pan. Place your roast in the oil, sprinkle it with Adobo and brown the meat on all sides. Once that's done, remove the roast and place it in a slow cooker that's been coated with cooking spray.

Add the butter to the pan, then the onions and some roasted garlic. If you aren't keeping roasted garlic in the house, you're missing out. Sauté until the onions are just a little tender, and then pour them over the roast in the slow cooker. Deglaze the pan by pouring Marsala wine into it and scraping the bits off the bottom. Add this to the slow cooker as well. Add the carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, the celery and the tablespoon of fresh garlic, the onion soup mix, the beef broth and Cabernet to taste ...then cover and set on high.

After 6 hrs add the mushroom soup, give the whole mess a good stir, set to low and go turn on a movie. It needs about two hours more to blend the flavors. If you don’t have room for the two cans, scoop out some of the gravy into a saucepan and add a dash of the mushroom soup. You’ll add this back to your main gravy after the meat is removed from the slow cooker.

Blessed be... and happy cooking!

Ground Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry

  Credit for this dish goes to Gina Homolka, owner of Skinnytaste.

This easy Ground Beef and Broccoli stir-fry is perfect when you need a quick weeknight dinner! By making it from scratch, as opposed to ordering take-out, you avoid unwanted ingredients like MSG. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce, or gluten-free tamari
• 1 tbsp honey
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 lb ground beef, 93% lean
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 lge head broccoli, cut into florets and blanched
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 3 medium scallions, sliced on the bias
• Cooked barley or cauliflower rice, for serving (optional)

Preparation:

In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, and cornstarch. Set aside.

Add the sesame oil to a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is just about cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Pour in the reserved sauce, stir to combine, and cook for 1 minute. Add the broccoli and cook for 1 more minute.

Divide mixture evenly among 4 plates or shallow bowls, layering rice first, if using.

Top each with sesame seeds and scallions.

Blessed be... and happy cooking!

Quick & Easy Beef/Venison Chili

I found this recipe more than ten years ago on the back of a can of Progresso kidney beans. It looked so simple I just had to try it. It has since become my base for many fun chili dishes. Everyone should make chili their own... This recipe is a good jumpstart and you can add just about anything you like to suit your flavor pallet! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb ground beef or venison
• 2/3 cup chopped yellow onions
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 15oz cans dark red kidney beans, undrained
• 1 28oz can whole tomatoes in puree, cut up
• Tomato paste (if needed)
• 3 tsp chili powder
• 1.5 tsp Chef Michael's The Good Stuff Seasoning 

(2 parts kosher salt, 1 part black pepper, 1 part garlic powder, 1 part onion powder, 1 part smoked paprika)

• 2 tsp or 2 cubes instant beef bouillon
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• Scallions for garnish

In chili circles this one is flavorful, but considered quite mild. Add seasonings of your choice for more heat.

Preparation:

1: Brown chop meat with onions and garlic over medium heat with a bit of olive oil until meat is fully cooked. Drain.

2: Stir in all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

3: Simmer over medium low heat for 20-30 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally.

4: Serve with pearl barley cooked in beef stock and garnish plates with scallions or any of the fun things you enjoy. Parsley, cilantro, cheese, sour cream, avocado… In other words, make this dish your own. 

Blessed be... and happy cooking!

Stuffed Peppers with Meat & Barley

This is a diabetic friendly version of stuffed peppers I used to make years ago using a slow cooker. There is still quite a bit of prep work so allow yourself more than an hour to get this dish on the table. The end result is absolutely worth the effort!

The main change is the swap to barley instead of rice. I use venison in my stuffed peppers but you can absolutely use lean beef as well. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 12 oz lean ground venison or beef
• 1 cup pearl barley - long cook
• 2.5 cups beef stock
• 1 cup yellow onion - chopped
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 3 oz baby portobello caps - chopped
• 1 scallion - cut to 1/4" pieces
• 1 tbsp The Good Stuff - Click here for recipe
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 bell peppers - your choice of color - choose flat bottoms
• shredded mozzarella - as needed
• 3 medium tomatoes - cut up
• salt & pepper - to taste

Preparation:

Bring the beef stock to a boil. Thoroughly rinse the pearl barley, add to boiling stock and simmer for ~40 minutes, covered, until almost all liquid is gone. Set aside.

Heat a large skillet and fry the meat in a bit of olive oil until cooked through. Add The Good Stuff and blend well. Remove meat from pan and set aside... keep warm.

Add more oil to the pan and saute the garlic, onion, scallion & mushrooms, adding ginger, parmesan and salt & pepper to taste. Cook until onions are just translucent.

Add the meat back, blend well and adjust seasoning to your liking.

Cut the tops from the peppers and remove insides as best you can.

At this time add the barley to the pan with the meat mix. You will not need all of the barley. The quantity made allows you to gauge how much to add to the pan so you'll have enough to comfortably fill your 3 peppers.

At this time start a gentle saute on the tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and some garlic powder. Cook for a minute or two and transfer to the pot you will use for steaming.

Fill the peppers with meat mixture, gently pressing mix to make sure the pepper is fully filled. Place upright into pot on top of tomato base.

Simmer/steam over medium low, covered, for ten minutes. Add mozzarella to tops of each pepper and cook for another 10 minutes.

Give each person a whole pepper for plating beauty. Have them cut the pepper in half and then top each half with some of the tomato base.

Serve with a green vegetable of your choosing.

Blessed be... and happy cooking!

Minestrone Chili

My plan to empty the fridge to make room for groceries for a large holiday gathering brought about this wonderful chili that Carolyn decided should be called Minestrone Chili. As you know, a minestrone was originally put together with all of the week's leftovers in Italian families so nothing went to waste. Paired with some coarse ground venison as a special treat, this chili turned out so good that it deserves a spot on the blog. Feel free to use beef, of course, if you're not a hunter. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Except for the base of beef or venison, tomatoes and my seasonings, the composition is largely dependent on what is in your fridge. I will list the things I added, but I really just grabbed what was there without regard for quantity. Rule of thumb: just cut everything to bite size as this will be a spoon dish. 

• 1.5 lbs lean ground venison or beef
• 2  28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes in thick puree
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp Chef Michael's "The Good Stuff" Seasoning - click link or see below 
• 1 red bell pepper
• couple stalks celery
• asparagus
• 1 leek stalk - dismantled and thoroughly washed
• broccoli
• 2-3 scallions
• 1-2 shaved carrots - I just use the veggie peeler

One tablespoon “Good Stuff”:

• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Preparation:

Fry the chop meat in a bit of olive oil. Add the canned tomatoes. Carefully break each one open and then coarsely mash with potato masher. Leave them chunky. :-)

Next add red bell pepper and celery, and then the asparagus. Blend.

Take your time cleaning the leek to remove all dirt. Cut up and add to the pot.

Next up I found some broccoli and a few scallions, so they went in.

I was on a roll so I decided on some shaved carrots just for fun.

Finally one can plus some leftover cannellini beans were blended into the mix along with the "Good Stuff" and the chili powder. I let it all simmer for about an hour before serving.

Blessed be... and happy cooking!