What We Ate for Dinner: Shepherd's Pie with Elk

This is a picture of an elk.  It's not the elk we ate for dinner last night.  I forgot to take a picture of my food again.  It's probably a good thing that I didn't attempt to introduce a camera into the mix.  Kimball was eating dinner without a shirt on (I did make him wear an apron).  Stan was covered in red punch and everything else that was within grabbing range.  Bryce was very well behaved and look just fine.  I wasn't wearing any makeup.  That's right, I went the whole day without putting any makeup on.  I did shower.  It hardly mattered because the only two people who saw me outside of my immediate family were the law guy and my sister, Charlotte (and that was over Skype).

Enough about things other than food.  This shepherd's pie recipe is another favorite freezer meal (although, tonight I made it fresh).  It's adapted from a Rachel Ray.

1 lb. ground elk (or beef)
1 chopped onion
1 tsp. chopped garlic
2 T. butter
1/4 c. flour (I used whole wheat because it was easier)
1 can beef broth
1-3 T. Worcestershire sauce, to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. frozen veggies
5-6 c. mashed potatoes, instant

Brown meat with onions and garlic in large skillet or wok.  Move meat to one side of pan, add butter.  Add flour to butter and mix into meat.  Add broth and Worcestershire sauce.  Add veggies and season to taste.  Mix up instant mashed potatoes.  Pour meat mixture into casserole dish and spread evenly.  Top with mashed potatoes.  You could serve this immediately.  Or your can stick it in the fridge until about 45 minutes before dinner, then heat in 350 oven.  This is what I did today.  Or you could cover it in tin foil and freeze for another day.  If frozen, give yourself at least an hour extra in the oven.

What We Ate for Dinner: Chili

Can you believe it?  I forgot to photograph dinner again.  Jeeze, where are my priorities?  It's not like I'm moving or anything.  Oh wait, I am.

Here is what I threw in the crock pot yesterday at about 1pm:

1 pound ground elk, browned
4 T. dehydrated onion
1 t. garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can black beans, drained
1 can pinto beans, drained
1/4 c. jalapeno jelly (whatever was left in the jar)
1/4 c. diced jalapeno elk salami
1 c. frozen corn (whatever was left in the freezer)
2 T. chili powder (whatever was left in the jar)
1 t. cumin

I cooked on high until it was bubbly, then I turned it to low.  We ate it with cornbread.  I thought it was okay. I've made better chili before.  But I loved using up a bunch of things so I don't have to take them to S.L.

What We Ate for Dinner: Elk Lo Mein

I am calling this dish Elk Lo Mein.  I wanted to use up the rest of the cabbage from the salad on Friday.  I might have used chicken for this dish had it been available, but what I had was ground elk.  The sauce was from the Mix-A-Meal Cookbook.

This may be my favorite mix from this book.  It's a combination of sugar, cornstarch, onion soup mix (another mix in the book), onion powder, garlic powder, ground ginger and black pepper.  To it you add water, vinegar and soy sauce.  It make a sweet Asian-y sauce that is really good with noodles, any kind of meat and veggies.

I was a little worried that it wouldn't be so good with ground elk, but Bryce loved it and Kimball asked for thirds.  In addition to the cabbage, I used up my last real onion and some more of the carrots from last week.  It made a ton of left overs.  Bryce liked it so much he said he could eat it for two days straight.  He just might have to.

What We Ate for Dinner: Meatball Minestrone

This is a family recipe for a delicious soup that calls for Jimmy Dean sage flavored sausage.  Since I didn't have that, I used the rest of the meatballs I made earlier this week.  I think the sausage adds more flavor, but I threw in some pasta shells and we all agreed that this was delicious.  Here is my food storage version:

1 40 oz can tomato juice
4 c. water
5 beef bullion cubes
1/4 c. dehydrated onion
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 can corn drained
1 can kidney beans drained
10 oz frozen green beans
1/4 c. dehydrated  celery
1/4 c. dehydrated carrots
18 elk meatballs cooked (I baked them at 400)
1-2 c. pasta

I threw everything into the crock pot except the pasta.  That went in 1/2 hour before serving.  I served it with garlic bread, since I had one loaf of French bread in the freezer.  I like to buy them day old and throw them in the freezer until I need them.

As a side note, I love Johnny's garlic spread for making a quick garlic bread.  I just sprinkle it over butter and broil until golden brown.  The seasoning is available at Costco.  You can bet this will be a part of our food storage.

What We Ate for Dinner: Elk Meatballs and Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb ground elk (or beef)
1 c. bread crumbs (I made my own from the ends of bread I throw in the freezer)
4 T. dehydrated onions
2 T. dehydrated parsley
1/2 T. onion salt
2 eggs

Mix well.

Form balls.  Freeze extras on a cookie sheet.  I made 32, but with Bryce gone I only cooked 6.

The sauce was home canned.  The recipe was from this book, but you can find it here.  A friend of mine had some canned crushed tomatoes in #10 cans she didn't know what to do with.  We made it into sauce.  This was actually the first time I tried it.  It was good, but I thought the cinnamon was a little heavy.

Kimball liked it.  I still don't know how he got it on his forehead.

What We Ate for Dinner: Elk

Bryce's brother is a hunter.  As a result we get a lot of elk meat.  Tonight I made this recipe from the Pioneer Woman (one of my favorite food bloggers).  I used elk in place of beef, dried onions in place of the green and frozen peas  in place of the snow peas.  We all snarfed it down.  I did take a picture of it, but Bryce told me that it didn't look very appetizing.  (Food photography is not something I am good at.)  So, here is the pretty one by PW.

I know this isn't very food storagy.  But it's what I had on hand.