eat: Curried Coconut Chicken
pray: for unemployed friends who need jobs
love: this video showing a couple with love and spunk and teamwork after 62 years of marriage
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
A Year of Deer, Episode 7: Potato (Etc.) Chowder
I wasn't sure about including yesterday's lunch in my year of deer endeavor, because it kind of feels like cheating. It wasn't from scratch (I made soup from a mix) and threw in some venison sausage (which meant no actual cooking of venison was involved). However, as Travis pointed out, "We just ate venison, didn't we? Why wouldn't that count?" And so, here we are.
One of my favorite ways to throw together a quick, hearty meal is to doctor up a Beer Creek Soup Mix. For the meal in question I started with a 4-serving pouch of Creamy Potato, and added some frozen corn, green onions, carrots, and some diced venison summer sausage (from the 2 lb log we've been working our way through for several weeks now). The extra veggies made the soup heartier and a bit more nutritious. The venison sausage added an interesting salty component to the flavor mix. The final product was pretty tasty for a spontaneous "what can I find to throw in the pot?" meal.
Friday, February 19, 2010
A Year of Deer, Episode 6: Venison Goulash
The recipe for this meal came from my sister-in-law, Jamie, who made the dish for us (albeit with beef) when we were over to their house for dinner a few weeks ago. Jamie is pregnant, and one of her strongest food cravings has been for tomatoes. With diced tomatoes, tomato juice, and ketchup, this recipe definitely hits the spot! If you're not pregnant, and just happen to love tomatoes (like me), it's still a very satisfying meal. I made it with a pound of ground venison and served it with cheddar chive biscuits.
The Ingredients:
The Finished Product:
The Verdict: Delicious! I will definitely make this again, either with ground beef, venison, or turkey. The only downside is that I now have half a can of tomato juice left to use, and I have no idea what to do with it. Maybe I'll just have to make another batch and freeze it for later!
Bonus: For dessert we had the last two servings of the apple cranberry bread pudding I made Tuesday evening (isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!) as a way to use up the rest of the Hawaiian bread that had come to our SuperBowl party with spinach dip (which I meant to send home with Jon, but forgot - sorry Jamie!). This was my second bread pudding in recent months, and I think my appreciation for bread pudding is now rivaling my affinity for trifles. (It's a dessert duel! Which sweet will win!?!)
The Ingredients:
The Finished Product:
The Verdict: Delicious! I will definitely make this again, either with ground beef, venison, or turkey. The only downside is that I now have half a can of tomato juice left to use, and I have no idea what to do with it. Maybe I'll just have to make another batch and freeze it for later!
Bonus: For dessert we had the last two servings of the apple cranberry bread pudding I made Tuesday evening (isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!) as a way to use up the rest of the Hawaiian bread that had come to our SuperBowl party with spinach dip (which I meant to send home with Jon, but forgot - sorry Jamie!). This was my second bread pudding in recent months, and I think my appreciation for bread pudding is now rivaling my affinity for trifles. (It's a dessert duel! Which sweet will win!?!)
Valentine's Getaway, How Do I Love Thee?
Let me count the ways.
As are many of our shared activities, how we would spend Valentine's Day this year was a surprise (for me) and an event lovingly planned with great relish (for Travis). Going into it, all I *officially* knew was that we were going away for two nights, and that I should pack a couple casual outfits, a couple dressy outfits, and something warm for cross-country skiing. (Unofficially, I had a pretty strong hunch that we were headed to Galena for the weekend; at dinner with friends a few weeks back, Galena came up in conversation and I noticed how Travis perked up, tuned in, asked questions, and offered opinions like someone VERY interested in the quaint little town).
1. The private villa Travis reserved for us at Eagle Ridge Resort was the perfect setting for our romantic retreat. We had a one-bedroom town home all to ourselves. The first floor had a kitchen and dining area, living room with fireplace (where we enjoyed a fire each evening), and (hurray!) a washer and dryer. Now, some people might think that taking along several loads of laundry on a romantic weekend getaway is, well, pretty unromantic. However, my understanding husband knows that coming home to all of that laundry, with no time during the following week to get it done, would have stressed me out, and that I would find a great deal of satisfaction in getting it done (with machines all to myself, no less!) over the weekend. So, three baskets of dirty laundry came with us, and three baskets of clean clothes, towels, and underwear came home. Happy day. Upstairs was bedroom, along with a nice big bathroom and a tub with spa jets. Ahhhh...
2. The weekend included my first attempt at cross-country skiing. In general, I panic when an activity involves strapping things to my feet and moving with any degree of speed and any uncertainty of stopping (downhill skiing, ice skating, rollerblading, etc.). This was no exception, but I still really enjoyed myself, and being out there getting some good exercise with my husband was a gift. Yes, I screamed on a few of the downhill parts, and fell down several times (a few times on accident, more times as my only recourse for stopping my momentum), and still had sore muscles several days later, but overall I can honestly say that I had fun, and would do it again.
3. Both Sunday and Monday afternoon were spent ambling up and down Galena's Main Street, popping in and out of all the different little shops and browsing the variety of wares. Highlights included a wine tasting at Galena Cellars (we decided on a bottle of their Bubbling Blanc for later that evening), admiring the unique jewelry and artistic presentation at Vintaj Earth, and four delectable pieces of gourmet chocolate from Chocolat.
4. Saturday evening we got "all dolled up" for our Valentine's dinner at Woodlands, the restaurant at the resort. I had salmon, while Travis enjoyed the prime rib buffet. Seeing the sheer happiness on his face as he surveyed (and proceeded to rapturously eat) the meat in front of him was precious. You say prime rib, I say chocolate mint truffle.
5. Cuddling while watching the season premier of The Amazing Race, which is still my hands-down favorite TV show.
As are many of our shared activities, how we would spend Valentine's Day this year was a surprise (for me) and an event lovingly planned with great relish (for Travis). Going into it, all I *officially* knew was that we were going away for two nights, and that I should pack a couple casual outfits, a couple dressy outfits, and something warm for cross-country skiing. (Unofficially, I had a pretty strong hunch that we were headed to Galena for the weekend; at dinner with friends a few weeks back, Galena came up in conversation and I noticed how Travis perked up, tuned in, asked questions, and offered opinions like someone VERY interested in the quaint little town).
1. The private villa Travis reserved for us at Eagle Ridge Resort was the perfect setting for our romantic retreat. We had a one-bedroom town home all to ourselves. The first floor had a kitchen and dining area, living room with fireplace (where we enjoyed a fire each evening), and (hurray!) a washer and dryer. Now, some people might think that taking along several loads of laundry on a romantic weekend getaway is, well, pretty unromantic. However, my understanding husband knows that coming home to all of that laundry, with no time during the following week to get it done, would have stressed me out, and that I would find a great deal of satisfaction in getting it done (with machines all to myself, no less!) over the weekend. So, three baskets of dirty laundry came with us, and three baskets of clean clothes, towels, and underwear came home. Happy day. Upstairs was bedroom, along with a nice big bathroom and a tub with spa jets. Ahhhh...
2. The weekend included my first attempt at cross-country skiing. In general, I panic when an activity involves strapping things to my feet and moving with any degree of speed and any uncertainty of stopping (downhill skiing, ice skating, rollerblading, etc.). This was no exception, but I still really enjoyed myself, and being out there getting some good exercise with my husband was a gift. Yes, I screamed on a few of the downhill parts, and fell down several times (a few times on accident, more times as my only recourse for stopping my momentum), and still had sore muscles several days later, but overall I can honestly say that I had fun, and would do it again.
3. Both Sunday and Monday afternoon were spent ambling up and down Galena's Main Street, popping in and out of all the different little shops and browsing the variety of wares. Highlights included a wine tasting at Galena Cellars (we decided on a bottle of their Bubbling Blanc for later that evening), admiring the unique jewelry and artistic presentation at Vintaj Earth, and four delectable pieces of gourmet chocolate from Chocolat.
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