Food Rules

Venison provided by Mr. John Lee

Today's post is inspired by two sources. First, by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and most recently, Food Rules: An Eater's Manual; and by our friend, Juliet Summers, who has taken it upon herself to follow and document her experiences eating whole foods. Essentially, she's following the Pollan mantra: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Over the weekend, we took a trip out to Rapid City. Katey had a conference about her National Board Certification, and TIE put us up in a hotel for the night. While we were there, I used my Borders Gift Card, also courtesy of TIE, to pick up the three Pollan books mentioned above. I've been thumbing through Food Rules, and I have to say, eating that way is appealing. But is it possible in rural South Dakota to find the variety of foods we really like? I realize that the fact that we live in a rural area and can't find good, wholesome, fresh food is a paradox of sorts, but the reality is that processed foods have become staples, even in the country.

We didn't plan it this way, but tomorrow's dinner would pass all of Pollan's tests. We're having venison stew with carrots, celery, and onions. Toss in a few spices, a splash of red wine, and water, set the crockpot to low, and let it simmer for 8-10 hours. No additives or preservatives, no HFCS, no unpronouncable ingredients. I think we can be happy about this meal, and if we really try, I think it can become a way of life for us.

Rabbit Food

We're raising our wedding diet plan to a whole new level this week. Nothing but salads for dinner. But in order to make it tolerable, there were rules.

Rule Number One: Never eat the same salad twice.

That meant salmon caesar salad on Tuesday; spicy chicken and spinach on Wednesday; chickpeas with romaine, spinach, and chopped peppers with a homemade vinaigrette on Thursday (ok, technically we're having split pea soup, too, but it's still all green!).

Rule Number Two: Ok, so there was really only one rule, but we figured out that having a more filling breakfast was critical for success. That's oatmeal with walnuts and dried cranberries, a hard-boiled egg, and a banana. Sounds like a lot, but it definitely makes a difference in my energy level throughout the day.

We'll do some game cooking this weekend after we get back from Rapid City.

Catchin' Up

Katey liked this meal. Steaks, marinated cumin and ancho chili powder; guacamole, prepared in the Magic Bullet; refried beans and cheddar cheese. I know, it isn't wild game, but it was pretty good anyway.

Speaking of game, we did an inventory of the deep freeze, and I figure we've got enough in there to get us through until March. After that, well, I'm not sure. We'd like to at least eat local meat. We can get grass-fed buffalo from Sinte Gleska University, and we can buy beef from the locker down in Valentine. I'd like to go ice fishing soon and supplement our diet with some fresh fish, but sadly I don't have the gear for that. If anyone's going, feel free to invite me.

Some Scrumptious Selections

So I was told to write a blog entry. I'm compiling some photos of some delicious meals we've made in the last week.

Can you really take this guy seriously?


So we both cooked last week on this one:




I made some green bean casserole.
-Fresh mushrooms
-Canned (unfortunately) green beans
-Cream of mushroom soup
-Croutons

Dave used the electric skillet for the venison chops. We didn't have any bourbon on hand for the sauce so we used some Crown whiskey - classy I know. It comes in a purple velvet bag!

Tonight we worked together again. Of course I was in charge of the simple things: salad and sauteing peppers and onions. Dave took on venison burgers filled with cheddar cheese sans buns.

In the end, I'm convinced that I'll stick to easy stuff :)

Bourbon Venison Chops

I really look forward to trying out new recipes for game, and Katey's parents got us an electric skillet for Christmas, which I love using. Thursday evening's meal allowed us to use both. I've never made venison chops before, but the recipe I found in the A Taste of Something Wild cook book looked pretty good, and we happened to have all of the ingredients on hand. Katey made a green bean hot dish to go with the venison, and we threw together a spinach salad with dried cranberries and walnuts. The sauce for the venison was really rich, but when paired with the casserole, it was great. We made enough for the next day's lunch.

Here's how we did it:

Brown 4 venison chops in a little oil (350 degrees in the skillet). Add a chopped onion and a cup (or more) of sliced mushrooms when you turn the chops. Reduce the heat and add a cup of water, beef bouillon, 1/4 cup of bourbon, and salt and pepper. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the meat to a plate, and then stir a 1/2 cup of sour cream into the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Spoon the sauce over the chops, and dig in.

The Dogs

Clementine

Zero, Queen of the Mountain

Katey and Al

These are our three babies. Our lives pretty much center around them. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Black and White Pheasant Chili

We had two pheasants available for consumption this week. We've been wanting to eat more beans lately, so chili seemed like a good choice.

I boned out the two birds and cut up the meat into roughly 1" chunks. I chopped an onion and a rib of celery. I sauteed the veggies for a few minutes with garlic powder, salt, and a few pepper flakes. Tossed in the birds and added some chili powder and a little more salt and browned it up. Then, in went a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles.

Now, we had to decide what we were going to do for beans. Some chili purists assert that beans don't belong in chili, but we like 'em for the fiber and the flavor. Katey likes black beans, but I was thinking more along the lines of navy beans, based on some chicken chilis I've had in the past. The compromise was to add a can of each to the pot, along with a little more seasoning.

End result? Katey thought it looked "wierd." But it ended up tasting pretty good. I was happy with it.

A quick note about the dogs: They clearly miss Mom and Dad being at home. Al completely spazzed out on us when we got home today, and the other dogs were pretty excited, too.

Venison Meatballs and Tomato Sauce

Last night, we had venison meatballs for dinner, simmered in tomato sauce. As part of our wedding diet plan, we're limiting our refined carbohydrate intake, so that means no pasta (or at least not very often).

The venison came from my first deer, shot within the first half hour of deer hunting season in November of 2009. We had quite a bit of ground meat from the deer, so we haven't had to buy any ground beef in quite some time. We've actually found that beef tastes a little weird now that we've been eating so much venison.

Anyway, we made the meatballs with venison, onion powder, garlic powder, and some "Miracle Blend" (a spice mixture from Northern Michigan). These were browned on all sides with a little olive oil.

While the meatballs were browning, I started the sauce. While I prefer to use fresh tomatoes, it just isn't the season for that. Usually, I would use canned whole tomatoes and seed them myself, but my mom sent a few cans of ground tomatoes home with us after Christmas. She said they were sweeter than she liked, but since I wanted to have dinner ready when Katey got home from town, I figured that would work in my favor. I only planned to simmer the sauce for about 30-45 minutes. So, I used two cans of the ground tomatoes, and one small can of diced Italian-style tomatoes, and seasoned it with onion powder, garlic powder, two bay leaves, a dash of pepper flakes, and basil.

Once the sauce was simmering, I dropped the browned meatballs into the sauce to finish cooking. We topped the meatballs with a little shredded mozzarella and some grated pecorino romano cheese, and served it alongside a spinach salad with dried cranberries and walnuts, dressed with homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

It was a decent meal. I think Katey missed the pasta a little more than I did, but it wasn't too bad. We both agreed that the meatballs might have benefited from the addition of some Italian sausage mixed into the venison.

We have some sauce left over, but no more meatballs. We might saute' some chicken and top it with the sauce at some point next week.

"They're going to have THREE DOGS!"

When we got engaged this summer, our lives changed pretty dramatically. We had to figure out how to merge our two families. This blog is the story of that process.

When Katey moved out to Rosebud in 2006, she adopted Al, our little American Eskimo Dog. As an "only dog," he was the king of the house. "Big Boy" loves other dogs, but isn't so crazy about new people. Once you win him over, though, he'll love you forever. He's a little snippy, and maybe a little spoiled (it's not his fault; he's tiny).

Dave adopted Zero, an American Bulldog, 5 years ago. She's our athlete. She's pushy, and likes to get her way. Dave thinks she's an excellent judge of character--she's only growled at a few people, and they're usually pretty shady characters. Katey calls her "Big Booty Z."

Clem, a purebred Rez dog, wandered into Dave's classroom in March of 2009, and quickly cemented her place in our hearts. She's content to lay on the couch all day long, and will contort herself into any position, as long as you pet her. She often has a vacant look in her eyes, which has earned her the nickname, "Special Chicken."

Clem and Zero sorted out their differences awhile ago, but Al and Zero are still working on it. They've had a few scraps, but right now, they're laying together on the floor sleeping.

In addition to teaching three dogs of varying dispositions how to get along, we started taking advantage of Dave's hunting hobby. We rarely buy meat anymore; instead we get by on pheasant, grouse, and venison. It's nice to know not only where our food comes from, but we also know pretty much how it lived.

Since we're getting married this summer, we thought it would be fun to document the merging of our lives, and also to catalog our culinary adventures cooking and eating wild game. Expect to see lots of pictures and stories involving our dogs, as well as recipes we've tried. Sometimes we'll post individually, sometimes together. Feel free to comment, offer advice, or share ideas for the kitchen.