Ronald Reagan's Hamburger Soup

I decided it was time for some hearty soup with the falling leaves, and colder nights! I'm so bad about cooking soups in the summer because it's one of those things that warms your bones and when it's 110 degrees outside, it's hard to get in the mood for that! So, I looked through Tasteful Traditions cookbook put together by Fellowship Bible Church here in Tulsa, and found this recipe which was submitted by Connie Athens.

It is delicious, it is hearty, and it is easy....so here we go!

The ingredients you will need for this are as follows:
2 lbs. ground beef (we used venison)
2 T butter
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/4 tsp pepper
1 (10 oz) can Hominy (I used white hominy)
1 c diced green peppers
12 c beef broth or water with bouillon cubes (I used 10 cups of water (because I ran out of room in my pot) and 10 bouillon cubes)
16 oz Chopped tomatoes, canned or fresh (I used petite diced)

The portions of this I omitted are:
1 1/2 c sliced carrots
2 c celery
Only because I couldn't wrap my brain around carrots, and celery on a hamburger. The hominy....well, I just love hominy! So it stayed!!

You are going to brown the beef in a 6 quart sauce pan (I used an over-sized skillet) in the 2 T butter.
Next you will add onions, garlic and green peppers-Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Next add your beef broth or water with bouillon cubes. Then add the chopped tomatoes (I drained mine first), and the pepper. Simmer the soup on low for 35 minutes and then add the hominy and bring the soup back to a boil for another 10 minutes. (I boiled it for 10 minutes and then I put it back on low/warm and covered it until Dee Jay got home about 30 mins later).

To top off our bowls we added a small handful of shredded Cheddar cheese (so I guess we actually had cheeseburger soup) and that really put it over the top on the greatness scale!

If you're looking for a quick meal, I had most of these ingredients in my pantry already! 

The only thing I would have to leave out was the hominy (::sigh::) but use what you have and get creative! We hope everyone is having a great week so far (it's almost over)!! Stay tuned! 

New recipes are coming soon!! 

~Happy Eating~

Stew for those colder Fall nights

Well, I don't know about where you are, but here at home the nights are getting pretty chilly outside! It's so nice to finally have some crisp, cool air to make us forget about those sweltering summer days! We had some leftover stew meat in the freezer before all the new venison got added to the mix, so we decided to try out a new recipe I have in my new cookbook I got from a friend for my birthday! You can find the cookbook here! I must admit, I have already sat down and began to read this cookbook like a book! It is chalked full of great ideas for almost anything you want/need in your kitchen! So, thanks to Martha Storey (author) and her friends, we got to work on her venison stew! Again, if you don't have wild game meat on hand you can always substitute it for whichever stew meat tickles your fancy!

Here are the ingredients we decided to use:
1/2 c (+ 3 TBS) all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2-3 lbs. venison coast (cut into 1 inch cubes) or ready to go stew meat
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 c boiling water
1 bay leaf
2 beef bouillon cubes
1/2 lg onion, diced (recipe calls for 12 small whole onions cut into chunks but we both prefer onions in our stew a little smaller) 
5-6 small carrots thin sliced, (recipe calls for 6 medium carrots, cut into chunks but I'm not a carrot person)
1/2 c of cold water
1 lg. green pepper diced (again it called for 2 large green peppers cut into rings...I don't like a lot of "chunky" vegetables in my stew)
3 small potatoes sliced into rounds, then quarter each round (we added this)
Note: We left out the frozen package of lima beans (again...not a fan)

Here's what you're going to do with all these fantastic ingredients:
1) Mix the 1/2 c flour with the salt and pepper. Take the meat and cover (dredge) the meat in the flour mixture. Make sure each piece is coated on all sides. Place the coated pieces aside on a plate.
2) We used a large skillet and added the 1/4 c of vegetable oil, then browned the meat on all sides.

3) Add the boiling water and bay leaf to the skillet with the meat. Cover it up and let it simmer for about 30 minutes!
4) Discard the bay leaf and add the bouillon cubes. (NOTE: We added 2 cubes to the water that we were boiling and then added one more cube after we put it all in the skillet.)
5) After it has simmered for half an hour add the onions and carrots (and potatoes if you so wish). 
6) Simmer for another 45 minutes or so. I think we left ours on there about an hour!
7) Serve in a bowl and ENJOY!

We left out a part of the original recipe where you remove the meat and vegetables and thicken the sauce with the left-over flour and cold water. We wanted more of "liquid soup" instead of something thick! It turned out just as hearty and we both loved it!

You'll see in the picture which I forgot to add that when we added the vegetables 

we added a can of fire roasted tomatoes to give it a kick. 

And seriously...I couldn't make stew without adding tomatoes :)

I hope ya'll had a great weekend! 

December will be here in just a few short days, and I can't wait to cookin'!!

~Happy Eating~

 

 andertoons.com

Jalapeno Dove Poppers from Deer Camp

So, I'm back!! It has been a crazy last month and a half with traveling, work and hunting season starting back up! We had the opportunity to get some vacation time with some great friends of ours at Grand Lake here in Oklahoma! The guys did a lot of hunting, although I did get to go sit in the blind with DJ for the first time this year!

Of course "deer camp" would not have been the same without all the wonderful food we cooked up and shared with the Copes! So the next couple of posts will be me sharing with you everything we got to eat! Let's all be real here...I LOVE to eat and I LOVE to be outdoors! This girl was HAPPY!! Also, in honor of the holiday we just had I want to say thank you to all the men and women who have sacrificed their lives and their time to serve this wonderful country. Sitting out in the woods surrounded by nature, peace and quiet, and the man who has my heart makes you suddenly very aware that we are lucky to get to have these experiences and live in a country like the good ole' US of A!

 Beautiful sunrise coming up over the field

So, let's get started on these dove poppers!!

He started with 15 dove breasts (bones removed) and marinated them in a Ziplock bag in the fridge for 2-4 hours in Allegro game tame! (We love Allegro...although it is a bit salty so if you're cooking with it you may want to hold back on the salt until you do a taste test)!

Luckily Dee Jay's best friend, Eric was there with us to share a couple of his recipes with us! Truly, all I had to do was stand by with the camera and learn as he cooked! Ladies...can we say SPOILED???!!! He started by soaking some toothpicks in a glass of water like so..

Next, he took 8 jalapenos and cut them in half (length wise) and dug out the inside (core and seeds)!
NOTE: If you like your poppers a little more spicy, leave a couple seeds in there!

Now he took 8 pieces of regular bacon and cut them in half (to make a shorter piece of bacon not two long pieces)! He put one piece of dove breast into a halved jalapeno and wrapped that goodness in bacon. Skewer with the toothpick and place on a grill over medium heat until bacon is done and golden brown!

Eric preparing the poppers

Here they are all ready for the grill! The extra meat was just leftover

 dove breasts we had that they grilled up after it had been marinated!

Hot off the grill (insert drooling face here)

That's about it! So easy and incredibly delicious! Get ready for some more great recipes!! Hope everyone has a safe weekend and as always...

~Happy Eating~

I almost forgot: I have to brag a little here about Dee Jay :) He harvested an 8-point buck with his bow over the weekend and got a doe! This is the nicest buck he's dropped since he started hunting! Eric's wife Tara owns her own photography business and you can find here at Full Feather Photography! She does really awesome work and is just getting started (that's how amazing she is)! Luckily we not only had a great guy cooking for us this weekend (who I might add harvested a really nice doe) but we also had an incredible photographer! Here is a shot she got of Dee Jay's buck! GREAT JOB GUYS!!! Can't wait to start cooking all this meat we now have in the freezer!!