Fixing Freezer Burn

Freezer burn. Yuck!

This poor pheasant has been in the freezer too long! Or, and more than likely was hastily wrapped and improperly frozen. I hate waste! So, what do you do now??

The freezer burn turns the meat white. It sucks all the moisture out of the meat. The meat is unusable and cannot be fixed…unless you like shoe leather for dinner.

I found an easy way to remove the freezer burn with out wasting the meat that is still fine.

One of my favorite kitchen tools!

This works like a charm. I can cut off the meat in one thin layer. The electric knife leaves the good meat behind and takes the top freezer burned layer off.

Easy peezy!

Okay people, time to clean out the freezer and get ready to fill it with ice cream and Popsicle! It’s going to be a hot summer!

I would love to hear from you. How much meat do you have left in your freezer?

Coming up next, how to properly wrap meats for the freezer.

 

Ice Fishing Contest…Blue Gill Chowder

This is how I ice fish on a sunny day!

Perfect day for ice fishing. We didn’t catch anything other than a tan! Actually, my son Lee, tried to pull a huge northern up out of the hole. It broke the line before he was able to get it out of the water. Oh well, we had a fabulous time any way.

Good friends came and joined us.  We won a cooler and a t-shirt in the raffle!!

Ice Fishing with friends

Many people turned out this year. The winning fish was a 7 1/2 pound Northern!

Ice fishing Crowds

We needed to have a little fun too! Still can’t believe there were hardly any bites! I was looking forward to Bluegill Chowder or any kind of chowder!

Fun Ride!

I guess it is okay to pull some fish out of the freezer for some yummy winter soup!

This soup is a hundred times better than clam chowder.

Sorry, I don’t care for clams. We used to call them elephant boogers when we were kids. Just can’t seem to get past the rubbery texture.

This recipe is easy to add clams…if you prefer or bluegill( or sunnys ) filets, crappies ( pan fish ), or walleye- but only if you have a small amount that will not feed two people. I do not recommend wasting such a lovely fish like walleye, in soup!

Melt the butter and saute the celery and onion together.

My secret weapon. Clam juice.

Shhhh don't tell....

Here is the recipe…enjoy!

Blue Gill Chowder

Ingredients:

1lb of thawed uncooked pan fish

1 large onion, chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

2 carrots coined

2 potatoes diced

water

3/4 cup butter, divided

1/2 cup flour

1 bottle of Clam Juice

1 quart half and half

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook celery, onion, carrots in 1/4cup of butter for about 5 minutes in a large sauce pan. Add potatoes, clam juice, and enough water to just cover the veggies and simmer until potatoes are tender.
2. Add raw fish to veggies and cook until fish is no longer gray and cooked through, remove from heat. Careful not to over cook or your fish will fall apart.
3. In separate pan, melt butter and add flour. Cook until mixture resembles sand. Stir in half and half and cook until thickened about 1-2 minutes.
4. Stir in half and half mixture into veggies and fish. Return to heat and heat through, being careful not to boil. Serve immediately.

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Wild Venison Burgundy as seen on Minnesota Bound

Minnesota Bound meets Wild Chow in the Produce Section!

 

Hello everyone! Thank you for letting me take a month break from posting. I enjoyed a little vacation and some family time.

In the mean time, I have created lots of new recipes and I am very excited to share them with you all! But first I have some great news to share. We filmed 3 new episodes for Minnesota Bound last week and the first one airs tonight at 10:30pm!

Filming in the kitchen

I love this recipe and our family has been eating a variation of it for 30 years.

Having Fun!

 

Cooking Venison Burgundy

Wild Venison Burgundy

By Lisa Erickson

 

3 lbs venison or beef steak, cubed into 1” pieces

2 cans golden mushroom soup

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 ¼ cups dry red wine, like Merlot

1 Pint Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced

 

In a large bowl combined stir all ingredients together and pour into a 9×13 baking dish. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 ½ hours uncovered, on the middle rack of the oven. Cover with tin foil and bake an additional 2 ½ hours. Serve with egg noodles and green beans!

For more recipes by Lisa Erickson, please visit www.wildchow.com

 

 

New Year Resoultions…Cheers to Smoothies!

Every year, I think about making a New Year resolution. Usually, they are in the realm of self improvements. Apparently, I’m not alone. Many of my Face-Book friends posted their New Year resolutions for everyone to see on their home page. I like the idea of a public proclamations to help keep oneself accountable, but then again, I’d have to attempt to live up m, “ sometimes” unattainable resolutions!

This year, I read the normal phrases like; lose weight, go on a diet, eat better, or to eat once a day with my family.  Many of my own resolutions in the past have resembled those same statements and some of my resolutions in the past have included; to be a better mother (ongoing), better wife (love is all you need? Right?), and to be a better daughter (Mom and Dad, I’ve come along way!), have a cleaner house (note to self, hire a cleaning lady), to work harder (really, is that possible for most of us?), read more books (I need more hours in the day). All are admirable goals, but not really a resolution that can be accomplished in a year, more like a lifetime. I think I will make a list of goals in the back of my 30 year planner.

Resolutions frustrate me. They always seem a tad out of reach or require a complete lifestyle change. I’ve also found by focusing on one area of improvement, all other areas of my life seem to suffer. Like reading more books for example, that would require more time and rearranging my life to accommodate that resolution. I could give up making dinner for the family so I have more time to read (Can you say anarchy?)? I could quit exercising, then I would have about one extra hour a day (I don’t need any more health issues). I could take a shower once a week…okay that’s not really an option. But you get the point; it requires more that I have to give at this point in my life. Instead, I could make a choice to ride a stationary bike while exercising instead of running, and then I would be able to ride and read!

So, this year as far as the healthy eating resolution goes, I’m going to commit to eating one healthy meal a day. I am picking breakfast, mostly, because it’s easiest to make healthy and requires the least amount of planning. Smoothies are super easy and healthy! You can make all kinds of smoothies too! Some good and some that are not so good. Lately, my husband is into the veggie smoothie thing and has been known to add carrots and broccoli to our standard mixture of blueberries, almond milk, yogurt, bananas, raw eggs (not for the faint of heart) and walnuts. I can handle just about anything, but when he started dumping green peppers and cauliflower in there too. I had to wave my white flag and ask for something a little more palatable because it was starting to resemble Gazpacho and not a smoothie.

You can slough off spinach in a green smoothie and maybe carrots but cauliflower would taste better in an omelet! I love the idea of getting all the benefits of healthy fruits and nuts in a quick fix like a smoothie. Here are my 2 favorite smoothies. Remember you can change them to fit your tastes and even create your own flavor combo. I hope to hear about some of your new smoothie ideas!

Happy New Year!

Coming soon! All new super easy Wild Game recipes!!

Green Smoothies

2 cups yogurt (plain or vanilla flavored)

2 cups frozen sliced peaches

1 cup frozen mango

1-2 cups fresh spinach

1-2 cups of milk (dairy, soy, rice, or almond)

Place all ingredients in a blender and slowly pulse until all of the spinach is incorporated and the smoothie has a beautiful green color to it. Feel free to add more milk to get the desired consistence you like.

Healthy Nut and Berries Smoothie

1 cup of frozen wild blueberries

1 cup frozen cranberries

1 cup greek yogurt

1-2 cups Almond milk

1 Banana (frozen)

1/4 cup walnuts

Place all ingredients in the blender and mix/pulse until it is the consistence you like. Add more milk if you like. This smoothie is thick and I have been known to eat them with a spoon!

 

Venison Stroganoff

The smile says it all!

I lost the deer hunting competition this year. Not only did I lose, but so did my husband. The competition was really between the two of us. I forgot that our son Lee was going hunting this year too. I made some pretty big claims but you actually have to go hunting in order to fulfill them. I know it’s an excuse that I took a new job but I was just too tired to hunt this year.

Look at my little dog wantings piece of the action

I am thankful Lee did go hunting this year or I would not have any venison to create new recipes with. I was so proud of him, he even gutted his own deer all by himself!.

I asked Lee what he wanted to do with his buck. He said he wanted to make jerky. I am very excited to try some new jerky recipes that I have been hanging on to for a couple of years (we need to work on our hunting skills and find a spot with more deer). I asked him If I could have the back-strap to cook with and he gladly let me cook some of his favorites.

The first night we made venison stroganoff. I love this recipe because it is very simple and I can cook it after work in a short amount of time. Everyone loves the back-strap. Tastes just like beef tenderloin.

I wish I had a picture for you, but I don’t. Trust me this recipe is wonderful!

Venison Stroganoff

6oz of back-strap cubed per person, this recipe serves 4

Strong beef broth 10oz

2 T. oil

3 T. flour

3 T. butter

1 cup sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Before you start this recipe, I want to tell you it will taste best if you do not over cook it. I like to think of it like a steak done medium rare. I know this is hard for some of you and you can cook it longer if you like, but it may not be as tender.

Completely dry off the meat. This is the key to moist and tender meat. In a heavy bottom or cast iron pan, heat until very hot. Add oil, I like to wait until I can see some wisps of smoke. Put enough meat in to saute it, with out the meat touching. After the meat has formed a crust on the bottom, turn the pieces one by one. when the meat is all browned, set it aside on a plate and continue cooking the rest of the meat.

Reduce the heat. Melt the butter with the remaining flour and cook for one min, working up the bits of browned meat on the bottom of the pan. Add the broth to the pan and whisk until slightly thickened. Add salt and pepper. Add the 1/2 sour cream and return the meat to the broth mixture. Serve over egg noodles or with boiled potatoes. Dollop the rest of the sour cream on top of each plate full. Enjoy!!

Related articles

• Answering a Listener’s Question on Venison (wildchow.wordpress.com)
• World’s Easiest Venison Recipe (wildchow.wordpress.com)
• Fall Comfort Foods: Beef Roast (wildchow.wordpress.com)

 

Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey

Gobble, Gobble

A couple of years ago I roasted two turkeys for Thanksgiving. I put both of them in a brine for about 12 hours. One, I put in a simple bath of 1 cup of kosher salt and one gallons of water.  The other, was with molasses, brown sugar, garlic, onion and many more spices in addition to the kosher salt and water.  Both birds were very large, somewhere in the ball park of 20-24 lbs. Oh, and no they are not wild turkeys, they are too tough!

We only had around 30 people, but we eat twice. Yes, sadly we have two Thanksgiving meals (Scandinavian tradition?). We eat at 1pm and then again around 6pm. So, we needed the 2 huge birds. This gave me an opportunity do a little experiment. I only told my husband what I was going to do. His relatives are very much traditionalists and the thought of some one putting unusual spices on their Turkey was going to be too much. I wanted to see if the bird really did taste better with all the added spices and stuff.

I poured about 6-8 cups of water in a large sauce pan and added the sugar and salt and warmed the water up to melt the brown sugar and salt. Then, I poured the salty/sugary water into more water to equal a gallon or so of cold water. I added the rest of the spices and let the bird sit for about 12 hours in the fridge. One year, I decided to leave the turkey outside. To my surprise the next morning, I had a Turkey with a hole in it the size of a soft ball with teeth marks around the hole. Being a cheap-scape, we cut off the bite marks and roasted that sucker for Thanksgiving (sorry everyone)! We later found the culprit to be the neighbors dog-of which I wanted to roast too, because he came and sat on our deck for the next 5 days thinking he was going to get more!

After pulling the birds out of the brine and baking them, I found it was hard to tell them apart. My secret was safe.  When the birds were done, we let them rest for about 20 minutes before slicing them. We sliced them the same, put them on the same platter, on separate sides. I sneaked a little taste of each of them when no one was looking  To my surprise, I could barely taste the difference between the two. The one with the molasses and brown sugar might have gotten a little darker (because of the sugar content) but the flavors were too close to go through all that effort the next year.

At the moment of dinner, after the prayer, I announced that there were two kinds of turkey’s this year and I would like everyone’s feed back. A few may have groaned, but to their surprise, you could barely taste the difference.

Going forward, I don’t bother with the funky brines and other hoopla any more. It’s not worth the time or money. Just, “keep it simple stupid” (the “kiss” method) as Great Aunt Joanne used to say and enjoy the day.

Simple Turkey Brine

1 large Turkey

1 cup of kosher salt

1 gallon of water

Dissolve salt in water and add raw thawed turkey and let it bathe in a bucket in the fridge or out side in a 37 degree spot (outside away from the varmints) for 12 hours. You can brine it longer but it may be too salty. Let the bird sit at room temperature for 1 hour. Pat the skin dry and slather it with butter, cover and roast in a 325 degree oven. Uncover (so the skin can darken) the last hour or so until the internal temp reaches 170 degrees. Remove the bird from the oven and let the bird rest for 20 minutes before cutting.

It's almost here!

Currently, I will not be hosting thanksgiving but will have the luxury of attending this year. I will have an opportunity to make my own turkey on Sunday following Thanksgiving when we will be having a trim the tree party. I love all the fixing that go with it too. Nothing fancy, just -green bean casserole, corn souffle(see my recipes for this one), sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and my dad’s famous apple stuffing.

Look for more Thanksgiving posts this week and next (yum, left-overs) and yes, I will toss in some venison too for all you successful dear hunters!

 

Fantastic Side Dishes; Corn Souffle

Cook-in up stuff in a jiffy today!

What I Am Thankful For

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I started thinking about all the things I am thankful for around the end of September. Usually, the first thing that comes to my mind is the cool weather, but my family, house, and good food are always at the top of the list. But this year, I have been thinking a little differently. I usually think about the big things; like my home for instance. My home is a wonderful place but, without running water it would not be the same or, if it didn’t have a bed I would have no place to rest and my home would not be a home anymore. I have found a new appreciation for the little things that help make up the great things.

When I think of Thanksgiving, the first thing that comes to my mind is the turkey. But, what about the sides that make the turkey taste even better? I try to think of what Thanksgiving would be like if there wasn’t any gravy or no green bean casserole. I think my sister would die if there weren’t any sweet potatoes. My kids would not even bother showing up if I didn’t make their favorite corn soufflé. And what if my dad’s famous apple stuffing wasn’t somewhere on my plate-it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it.

It’s all the little things in life that make those special events even greater. So next time you sit down at the table and give thanks for the food, don’t forget to be thankful for the plate that it all sits on, the table that you sit at and most of all the family you are blessed to share it with.

We love this side dish with just about anything!

 

Erickson’s Famous Corn Soufflé

1 can corn (do not drain)

1 can cream corn

3 eggs, beaten

1 box of jiffy corn muffin mix

1 stick of butter

½ cup chopped green pepper

1 onion chopped

2 cups cheddar cheese divided

 

Spray a 9×13” baking pan with cooking spray and pre-heat oven to 350. Sauté onion and green pepper in butter until tender, let cool. Mix corn (do not drain), cream corn, muffin mix, eggs, and 1 cup of the cheese in a large mixing bowl. Add the sautéed onions, pepper, and butter to the corn mixture and stir to combine. Pour it into the prepared pan and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for 40 minutes, until cheese is golden brown. Let it cool for 5 minutes and slice into squares and serve warm.

 

 

 

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Answering a Listener’s Question on Venison

The most important things in life, are the people we love.

Lisa, I listened to you on WCCO radio not too long ago and looked at your wild chow website.  It is very helpful.  I need help with venison.  I have chops and roast left from a deer I shot last fall and I am looking for  help.  Too often the cook books I find and purchase, require me to be a French chef and cook with wine, etc.  Do you have any advise for me and my venison and any advice on how to best prepare it?

Thank you for any help.

Craig

Craig-

Your question is one that I get over and over. Although cooking and baking is my passion and my job, I put my family and friends first. Which leaves me with limited time on my hands. My husband and I have 4 children and usually extra kids hanging around too. Spending time with them has become my #1 one priority in my life. There was a time when I didn’t do that and the result was lots of good food but my home life was chaotic. I since, with the help of my loving husband, got my priorities right and encourage others to spend less time in the kitchen and more time building relationships. As a result, I have come up with lots of recipes that are easy to make, tasty, and are good for you.  They may not be the best you have ever tasted but they are filled with love for my family and wanting to keep my life simple and healthy.

I still make those amazing fancy French out of this world dinners but, only when time allows and I’m not infringing on family time. You won’t find many of those recipes here. What you will find is easy and normal recipes that even my 10-year-old could make.

Here is a very easy recipe that I make frequently during the winter months and my family loves it and is great for using up those left overs in the freezer.

Slow Cooker Stroganoff

2-3 lbs of Venison Chops or Roast cubed into bite size pieces (I use beef when I’m out of venison)

1 can of cream celery soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 envelope onion soup mix

Place all ingredients in the crock pot, stir, and cook on low for 8 hours covered. When the stroganoff is done, thin with 1/4- 1/2 cup of water and stir in a 1/2 cup sour cream. Serve over noodles or rice.  Don’t be temped to add water or anything when you are first adding ingredients to the crock pot. It does thin out and gives you room to thin it out at the end of the cooking time. I also like to use reduced sodium soups.

I have also included three recipes down below high lighted in red you can try too!

Happy Family Time!!!

Related articles

• World’s Easiest Venison Recipe (wildchow.wordpress.com)
• Fall Comfort Foods: Beef Roast (wildchow.wordpress.com)
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Homemade Venison Sauage

That's a lot a meat!

My husband I have some of the best neighbors ever! We have had some great times together and at times, we have supported each other though some very difficult life experiences too. Life would not be half as much fun with out good friends.

John and his family love good food just about as much as I do. We have enjoyed cooking together over the past few years and we recently got together to make home-made brats and Italian sausages. 25 lbs of sausages that is! At the time we had our friends from France saying with us and John and his family do Foster care, so there is always a crew of hungry mouthes to feed.

Do we really have to watch this?

Ok when do we get some?

They waited patiently while we slaved over mega pounds of meat!

Grinding and more grinding...

I'm driving John crazy!

We grind-ed forever! 25 lbs takes a while but you can buy it all ready ground and the recipe only calls for three pounds. We just like to cook big!

Wow...wow it's time to add the spices.

John doesn't need to measure...

This is a work out!

The waiting is killing me...and I'm killing John! I got the look of death!

Here we are getting the casings ready …OK, John is getting the casings ready and I’m screwing around.

Team work!

Done, now for the cooking.

Look out for air bubbles

Here is the recipe for some excellent venison sausage.

Spicy Brats

3 lbs ground venison, Do not add venison fat! That is where most of the wild flavor comes from.

3 lbs of ground pork about 70/30 or 60/40 meat to fat ratio

2 tablespoons of pickling salt

2 tablespoons of onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground pepper

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup dry milk powder

1/4 cup water

Natural hot dog casings or larger ones if you prefer. We even enjoy them made into patties and skip the casings. I also suggest tasting the sausage by frying up a portion before you stuff it. that way you can adjust the spices if necessary.

Mix all ingredients together and let sit for 4 hours or over night to let the spices meld if you are going to eat it soon.

Enjoy!!

Ok, do not eat meat raw!!!

Related articles

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Easy Pheasant Broth

Making broth is easy. Finding the time is another thing. I usually don’t like making two things during the dinner hour. I’m already maxed with having young kids helping me or I’m doing double duty as a homework helper. But, I have found a way to make broth relatively simple and when I about  think about how precious these pheasants are they spur me on!

My Camera decided to take a vacation by itself to college (my daughter accidentally put it in her purse) and make my life difficult.  It’s really hard to take Pictures of the things you are cooking with out a camera. So, here is where I want you to imagine a nice picture here of a pheasant carcass that has all the major amounts of meat taken off. OK, I guess that wasn’t a really nice thing to imagine-sorry. Glad we can skip it after all!

Easy Pheasant Broth

2 pheasant carcasses with most of the meat removed and reserved for the fancy pancy meals

1 onion cut into quarters

1 stalk of celery cut into quarters

1 clove of garlic

2 bay leaves

2 tsp of salt (or to taste)

1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper

Take your pheasants carcasses and put them in a large pot and pour 2 quarts of water over them. Add onion, celery, bay leaves, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring the water to a boil. As soon as the meat is cooked that was left on the bird, about 5 mins, remove the pheasants and let them cool until you can touch them. Remove the remaining pheasant meat and save for another time (I save mine for wild rice pheasant soup). Return the carcases to the boiling pot and continue to simmer covered for 2-3 hours over low heat.

I usually do this while we are eating and cleaning up from the dinner we just had with the pheasant breasts, like pheasant pizza or pan-fried pheasant with pan sauce-the fancy pancy stuff.

When the broth is done, I pour or scoop it into a strainer to catch-all the veggie and bone pieces. Then, I pour the broth into a large cake pan to cool it quickly. Usually, I use the broth the next day in our favorite Pheasant Wild Rice Soup. Or, you can divide it into 2 cup servings and pour them into Ziploc baggies and freeze them for another use. I have found pheasant broth to be much more flavorful than chicken broth, so don’t let your birds go to waste….USE ALL OF IT!

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