January Meal Plan: Venison & Homemade Spice Mixes

How is it 2013 already? And better yet, how is it already the FOURTH day of 2013? Yikes.

Since we weren't at home for more than a week at a time during most of November or December, I sorta-kinda slacked off on my meal planning.

I know, I know... *shakes head in shame*

But one of my goals for 2013 is to be more organized in an on-the-ball fashion, so let's get to it.

To start off your new meal-planning binder for the year, you'll need a free printable calendar, right? :) This great lady has several to choose from. I picked this one here: Free 2013 Calendar Printable 

For those who are new to my method of meal planning, here's a basic run-down:

• I make one list of meals to make for the month, using mostly things I have on hand but with a few things we need to shop for. For us this is about 10-15 meals, and we eat leftovers the other nights.
• Each night, I pick what I'll make for dinner the next day. In the morning I'll know what sort of prep I'll need to do for it, etc.
• I keep my meal list and a printed calendar in a binder along with recipes I have printed out. Keeping everything together saves time and fuss.
• Throughout the month, I cross off what I've made off of the list and jot it down on the calendar. It helps me keep track of how many "leftover" nights we get off of certain dishes.

This month I made sure to clean out my binder. It had become overrun with print-outs of new recipes I had tried, and then haphazardly shoved into a pocket somewhere. Not very OCD of me, eh? So I pitched all the recipes I never EVER wanted to try again, saved the "keepers," and thought really hard about what we would actually eat this month. I get tired of throwing out leftovers, so I came up with things that we would eat well the first/second/third time through. So, here goes:

Meals:

• Baked Macaroni & Cheese
• Tacos or Taco Salads
• Mexican Stuffed Shells
• Venison & Mushroom Gravy over Mashed Potatoes
• Venison Roast (Seasoned with Onion Soup Mix) & Scalloped Potatoes
• Venison Fajitas
• Venison Roast (Seasoned with Homemade Italian Seasoning) & Green Bean Casserole
• Homemade Pizza
• Hamburger Soup & Rolls (Rhode's Frozen Rolls)
• Breakfast Night - French Toast, Sausage, Scrambled Eggs

Extras:

• Easy Mint Fudge
• French Breakfast Muffins
• Banana  Bread

Now let's talk about a few things from this list. The first thing that probably caught your attention is the amount of VENISON on that list. The Hubby is a hunter. His family hunts. So this year we have been blessed with a freezer-full of roasts, steaks, tenderloin, and stew meat. I would never be able to pull the trigger myself, but deer meat is actually very delicious when cooked properly, and it is very good for you (very lean!). Plus, now I don't have to buy beef (or much chicken) for a good long while. :)

The second thing - anywhere you see "hamburger" or recipes that call for ground beef, you can automatically assume I'll be using ground turkey. Again, it's better for you, and it is SUPER CHEAP at Aldi. We don't have one in town, but whenever we drive through a place that has one, we bring our cooler and stock up.

Thirdly, I have three words for you... HOMEMADE SPICE MIXES. 

I have been using homemade Taco mix for a while now, and we like it much better than the store-bought packets. I've also found Italian Dressing and Fajita Seasoning mixes that we really like. Here are the recipes I've found online for a few homemade mixes:

Taco Seasoning

Use 2 T and 1 cup water per pound of ground meat

2 T chili powder

½ t garlic powder

½ t onion powder

½ t red pepper flakes

½ t oregano

1 t paprika

1 T cumin

2 ½ t salt

2 t pepper

Onion Soup Mix

Use ¼ cup instead of one packet

4 t beef bouillon

8 t onion flakes

1 t onion powder

¼ t pepper

½ t parsley

½ t salt

Fajita Seasoning

Use 2 T to replace one packet

1 T cornstarch

2 t chili powder

1 t salt

1 t paprika

1 t sugar

¾ t chicken bouillon

½ t onion powder

¼ t garlic powder

¼ t cayenne pepper

¼ t cumin

¼ t crushed pepper

Ranch Dressing Mix

Use 1 T per cup of sour cream

5 t onion flakes

7 t parsley

4 t salt

1 t garlic

Italian Seasoning Mix

1 ½ tsp garlic powder

1 T onion powder

2 T oregano

1 T parsley

1 T sugar

2 T salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp basil

¼ tsp thyme

½ tsp celery leaves (or ¼ tsp celery seed)

I made my sister a set of spice mixes for Christmas. Don't they look so much cuter than those paper packets from the store? I simply doubled or tripled the recipe and put them in half-pint canning jars. The labels were just printed on brown cardstock (in a free font I found online that looks like an old typewriter!), and cut out in an oval shape. A dab of hot glue, and voila! Adorable spice mix jars. :)

Well, that's all for today. Please leave comments or questions you have about anything!

Closing out 2012: Christmas, Crochet Hats, and 1000+ Views

How is it nearly 2013 already?

I apologize for my 'absence' over the last several weeks. I have no other excuse than the simple fact that life got in the way -- Thanksgiving week, 1st Birthday parties, a funeral, and a trip to NY for Christmas. I will be very content to stay home for a good long while once we get back!

Even in the absence of new material, my blog has gotten over 1000 views -- so THANK YOU to all of you readers. :) Be sure to check back often, and leave comments or questions.

This holiday season for me has been focused on one word:

homemade.

Every year we spend so much money buying things for others... Things that they don't necessarily need. Things that add up to quite a lot of mulah when you tally it up. And things that they really don't have a place for at home.

So this year I decided that if I was going to give presents, I wanted to take the time and effort to make something special for everyone. Something unique that you couldn't just pick up at the store. I should have started the process months in advance, but here is what I managed to "whip out" by Christmas time:

Crocheted scarves for the sisters (infinity scarves, from this pattern)
Crocheted hats for the kiddos (pattern here)
Crafty canister set for my mom's bathroom (see post here)
Candy jar for my dad (see blog here)
Homemade spice mixes
Felt Bible Story Quiet Book for the niece and nephew

Now, I spent all this time crocheting things for other  people, and just in the last few days I've had time to finish a hat for myself. :)

Here it is...

I found the pattern here. My sister and I scoured the web trying to find the hats we liked the best. The one downside of looking on Pinterest is that not all those hats come with a free pattern... so we found one that we really liked, but alas, the link was broken. This is the closest I could come to it. What do you think?

The pattern called for a bow on the brim instead of a flower, but it looked terrible. So here's a closeup of the flower I made instead:

Now, a few words about crochet.

I'm 100% self-taught. My oldest sister and I decided one winter that it would be fun to teach ourselves how to crochet. Boy, were we in for it... I'm pretty sure what we did back then was not even a second cousin to actual crochet... we have quite a collection of "scarves" that we made back then. Mine always came out really tight and skinny, and my sister's always came out chunkier and looser. Needless to say, we gave up crochet quite easily.

When my niece Cheyenne was born, though, I decided to make her a baby blanket. From then on I got slightly "better" at it. I bought myself some more hooks, a reference book, and plodded along. She is now almost 5 years old... and just this year I decided to put the time and effort into learning how to fully follow crochet patterns and *GASP* learn to crochet "in the round" as it were.

Let me tell you, a little dedication, a lot of patience (pulling out hours worth of work and restarting it), and countless hours of working on it at night after the munchkin went to sleep has truly paid off. :) I started crocheting nearly 10 years ago, and it has taken me this long to get "good" at it.

So, I guess my point is... if you have a hobby that you really want to try but just don't think you are "good enough" at it, put in the time and effort it takes to master the skill. Be patient with yourself. "Good things come to those who wait." In the end, you will feel a well-earned sense of pride. And perhaps you'll even have a few awesome hats to keep you warm in the winter!

First Birthday Sneak-Peek

My little Munchkin turns one year old on Saturday.

How did that happen!?!?!?

*Pause to consider the passage of time and how old I now feel.*

Since half of the week is going to be spent out in the woods, and the other half is going to be spent eating Thanksgiving goodies and hanging out with family and friends, I've done a lot of the party planning ahead of time. I'm sure I will post pictures of the party (parties, actually), but I want to share some of the "fruits" of my puttering over the last few weeks. :)

Thanksgiving, Brewer-Style: Hunting Camp and Sausage Biscuits

In just under 6 hours the Hubby, the Munchkin and I will be packing ourselves into the truck and heading off to the woods of West Virginia (wild and wonderful) as the festivities of Thanksgiving Week begin to unfold.

And since the woods does not have Internet access, my "Thanksgiving" post needs to be up before Thanksgiving. I'm sure you'll forgive me. There are several other luxuries we'll have to do without this week, like extra space (cramming 8-10 adults and 5 children into a small space is a trick!) or running water, so I made tons of food to bring with us (the women folk and the kids) to snack on while the men-folk hunt.

The last few years for Thanksgiving (minus LAST year, in which the Munchkin decided to make his first appearance and I spent the holiday in the hospital) I have made one of the special treats that my Mom makes for Christmas every year....

Sausage biscuits.

Since Thanksgiving is the "big" holiday in the Brewer family, I decided to bring my own little bit of tradition into it and make these a yearly treat. They are usually gone within a few minutes, so I guess everyone likes them. :) 

Even if people comment that they would be better with cheese, or even gravy. 

Let me set you straight, people -- these are NOT "sausage biscuits and gravy" sausage biscuits. These are just plain old "sausage biscuit" sausage biscuits. They stand very well on their own, thankyouverymuch. 

I have strayed from tradition insomuch as to use spicy or maple-flavored sausage, and they taste just as delicious.

(You are welcome to make them however you like, and use whatever you like to serve them with -- I just like to stay true to the original). 

This year I made a quadruple batch. I hope it's enough! :)

So, I give you the recipe and share this one small piece of tradition that makes this holiday special to me. What recipes make Thanksgiving special to you?

Sausage Biscuits

Makes: 36

1 lb. sausage

2 2/3 cup flour

2 T. sugar

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 cup shortening or butter

1/4 cup warm water

1 T. dry yeast

1 cup buttermilk

1. Cook sausage into crumbles, drain well, and set aside. 
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. 
3. Cut in shortening (or butter) until mixture resembles small peas.
4. Combine warm water and yeast in a small bowl, stirring until yeast is dissolved. 
5. Add buttermilk and yeast mixture to dry ingredients and mix well. 
6. Stir in drained sausage and drop by teaspoon on to lightly greased baking sheet. 
7. Brush with melted butter (optional - they are great without it!)
8. Bake at 450F for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Note: You can freeze them before baking (after dropping the biscuits onto a baking sheet, pop them into the freezer to harden for 1 hour, and then place them in a large Ziploc bag). When ready to bake, just place them on a baking sheet again and add one or two extra minutes to the baking time. 

Frankenstorm

So I apologize for the nearly-month-long-silence on here. The rest of October got pretty busy, and just about when I was getting ready to post some wonderful things (felt-book how-to's, November meal plans, first birthday party ideas)...

...Hurricane Sandy dumped over 2 feet of snow in our area of West Virginia and knocked out power in 90% of the county.

*Sigh*

Call it the Frankenstorm, the Octoblizzard, or whatever you like. It stinks.

Our house is on a side road off of a side road, several miles down the 'main' road from town. So when power goes out, we don't get it back for a LONG time. Last July it was out for about 10 days. We have a well pump, so when the power goes out... so does our water.

It was easier to "handle" in the summer, but in the winter it gets pretty chilly without heat. Especially when it is FREEZING and SNOWING outside.

So, the Hubby and I packed our perishables into coolers, gathered up a few days worth of clothing, and squeezed into the cab of his Ford Ranger with the Munchkin and his enormous car seat. Oh, I should also mention that the truck is a stick shift, so the person sitting in the middle seat (*ME*) gets absolutely no leg room whatsoever.

ANYway, we were able to make it "out", dodging downed power lines and hundreds of fallen trees, and utilizing the 4WD. Thankfully, a family from the church here has alternate heat and city water, and they were gracious enough to let us stay at their home.

After several days, though, we realized that it was going to be several more days until even the first customers received power back, and even longer before the 'rest' of us.

So, what did I do? I bundled up the Munchkin, repacked my car, and headed to NY to visit my parents. :)

I tell you what, it sure is nice to be able to wash bottles with warm water again!

Oh, and the Munchkin got to meet my mom's parents for the first time on Saturday. So thankful for that! Their health has been failing lately, so it is wonderful to get to visit with them and have them meet my little guy.

So, I really don't have much to post about other than this long and rambling apology for not posting anything OCD within the last month. Hopefully I'll be able to organize all the chaos that is going on right now, and get something posted soon!

No-Knead Salt Rise Bread

Have I mentioned before that I love Pinterest? Well I do. Since I've joined I spend much more time doing domestic-y things. Just ask the hubby!

Now, I know that not everyone actually does 100% of the things that they 'pin.' If they are honest, in all reality it's probably more like 5-10%.

But when all of your friends are pinning about all of these wonderful crazy things that you never bothered to try before, you start to think, "hey, even I can make my own taco seasoning!" and other such nonsense.

So, without further ado...

Today I was inspired to bake the bread recipe found here.

Now, I have a bread machine. It is one of my favorite things in my kitchen. If I had to choose, I would keep it over my crockpot (and that's saying something!). So I can make bread in an hour, without kneading anything. Why would I need to try any other ways to make bread, you ask?

Because this bread is CHEAP.

Bread machine recipes require quite a bit of yeast, especially if you use the quick recipes.

This recipe only requires

3 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 cups water

And that's IT. Well, there is the additional flour required to keep the dough from sticking to your counter. But it still comes out a lot cheaper than recipes that require cooking oil, butter, or additional yeast. And, even though it takes a long time from start to finish, it's really easy to make. (See end of post for a copy/paste version of the recipe!)

First, mix up all your dry ingredients in a bowl. Add water and mix until dough forms a messy ball. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for 12-18 hours (do NOT refrigerate).

Preheat oven to 450. Once oven is hot, place a crock or dutch oven with a lid into the oven for 30 minutes. (I've discovered that one of my Fiesta Ware platters fits the top of my small crockpot perfectly!)

While your pot is heating, dump the dough out onto a heavily floured surface, shape into a ball, and let sit.

Remove the pot from the oven, take off the lid, and transfer the dough to the pot. Replace the lid, and bake the whole thing for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, and bake the pot and bread for an additional 15 minutes.

Take pot and bread out of the oven and carefully transfer the bread to a cooling rack. Let fully cool before slicing. This part is the hardest, because it smells and sounds (crusty is a sound!) amazing.

Here's the recipe for those who want to copy and paste. Or you can go print off the original directions from this blog

No-Knead Salt Rise Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon yeast

1 1/2 cups water

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add water and mix until dough forms a messy ball. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for 12-18 hours (do NOT refrigerate). 
2. Preheat oven to 450. Once oven is hot, place a crock or dutch oven with a lid into the oven for 30 minutes. 
3. While your pot is heating, dump the dough out onto a heavily floured surface, shape into a ball, and let sit for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the pot from the oven, take off the lid, and transfer the dough to the pot. Replace the lid, and bake the whole thing for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, and bake the pot and bread for an additional 15 minutes. 
5. Take pot and bread out of the oven and carefully transfer the bread to a cooling rack. Let fully cool before slicing.

Homemade Playdough Part 2

Here's the full set of colors after I made a second batch of playdough today. Add some cookie cutters, a placemat, and a case to keep it all in, and you've got a great homemade birthday present for a 2 year old nephew! :)