Tag Archives: carrots

Venison Stew

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Some people won’t eat venison simply because it’s deer meat. We conjure images of Bambi and just can’t comprehend using this beautiful creature as sustenance.

The meat I used to make this wonderful stew was a living 160 lb. doe just two days ago. I received this harvest from a co-worker who is an avid hunter. He shot, gutted and butchered this animal with respect and I am grateful for the many meals it will provide. This stew is very easy to make. It is flavorful and nutritious.

Place 2 Tbs olive oil in a stock pot or dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat. Coat the stew meat with flour and drop into pot. Brown on all sides. You might want to do this in batches so as not to crowd the pot.

I make this stew in a crock pot but you could continue with the pot on the stove.

Place the browned meat into the crock pot. Pour a 48 oz. can of beef broth and 1 cup of water over the meat. Place the crock pot on high.

Into that same pot, place 1 chopped onion, 3 chopped celery stalks, 2 diced potatoes and 2 large chopped carrots. Saute for a couple of minutes and transfer to the crock pot.

Add a tsp of pepper and a tsp of garlic powder and stir. Cook for 4 hours on high, stirring every hour or so. At the end of four hours, add a Tbs of cornstarch or flour that has been dissolved in about 1/4 cup of water to thicken the stew.

Marcy was hanging around for a while, hoping I might drop something :)

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Chicken Soup with Rice

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My boy has gotten his first cold of the season. With the beginning of school a few weeks ago, I knew it wouldn’t be long before the sniffles and coughing started. One thing that is comforting when we’re sick is a steaming bowl of chicken soup. I make this particular recipe regularly in the winter as it’s an easy and nourishing meal in just one dish. Sometimes I make it in the crockpot and other times on the stove top. With just six ingredients, you might even have them all in your pantry right now. Cooked chicken, carrots, onion, celery, stock and rice.

This book here, Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak is the inspiration for the soup. He authored over twenty books and illustrated maybe four times that. He has received a number of honors, including the Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are. He has received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the National Medal of Arts, and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He died this year at the age of 83.

The ingredients:

  • (2) 32oz. cartons of chicken stock
  • 2 cups of cooked chicken
  • 3 large carrots, chopped
  • 3 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 cup of brown rice
  • salt and pepper to taste

Combine everything in a crockpot and heat on low for 7 hours or high for 3 hours. You could alternately place everything in a pot and cook on the stove top for a couple hours.

Ready to enjoy :0)

Carrot Cake Muffins

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Family, friends, church, camping, fishing, swimming…the past week has been full of fun. Summer is in full swing. We are trying to pack in as much merriment into each day as possible. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for baking and experimenting with various recipes. But, I have been craving a carrot cake lately…one WITHOUT cream cheese frosting. I’m aware there are many fans of cream cheese frostings out there. I am not one such fan and fortunately neither is my immediate family.

The carrot cake recipe I am going to share today is from the book, CAKE SIMPLE by Christie Matheson. My Gram gave me this book for Christmas last year. It’s full of recipes for bundt-style cakes. I have tweaked it slightly and this one in particular calls for mini-bundt pans. I’m using a muffin tin instead. I am also omitting the Maple Cream Cheese icing that is paired with them in the book.

I planted carrots in my first ever garden this year. Ethan has been hounding me to pick them because he is so sure that they are ready. Well, they aren’t and I don’t think they ever will be. I’ve been told carrots are especially hard to grow your first time around. Here is my attempt…

It’s a good thing that we always have a bag from the grocery store on hand. Carrots contain vitamin A, giving you 200% of the daily recommended allowance. They are also high in vitamins C, K and B6; and contain potassium, manganese and calcium.

Carrot Cake Muffins

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups peeled grated carrots
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Cream the sugar with the oil. Add the eggs, one at a time, and whisk until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and whisk until just blended. Fold in the carrots and walnuts. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake 20 minutes. Let the muffins cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before enjoying :-)

Homemade Chicken Pie {made with love}

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chicken pieMy son has had some trepidation about the launch of this blog. His biggest gripe, “You can’t just give all your best recipes away for free!” I let him in on a little secret, the reason they taste so superior to him is because of the love I bake right into them, especially for him. He seemed to accept this theory of mine. I explained to him that recipes are all over the internet and that anyone can find just about anything they are searching for. But when he saw the title of this post, his exact words were, “How dare you?!”  I hope he will feel nostalgic about his momma’s cooking when he is older :)

When my husband and I were just starting out, I would make the Bisquick recipe for chicken pot pie. I think it’s still right on the back of the box. We always liked the idea of a balanced meal in one dish. Over the years I have tried many chicken pot pie recipes but this is THE one. I make this probably three times per month. It is and will always be one of my “signature dishes.” I hope it becomes one of your family’s favorites as well.

I cooked a whole chicken yesterday and used about 2 and half cups for this pie. You could cook up some chicken breasts or use one of those rotisserie chickens at the grocery store. Turkey also works well.

Homemade Chicken Pie

Print Homemade Chicken Pie Recipe

2-3 cups cooked chicken, chopped

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped

1 1/2 cups potatoes, chopped

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1/4 cup frozen peas

2 pie crusts

1 cup chicken broth

2/3 cup skim milk

4 Tbs. butter or margarine

4 Tbs. all-purpose flour

salt & pepper

In a saucepan, boil potatoes and carrots.

 

In a frying pan, saute the celery and onion in a small amount of olive oil.

While the vegetables are cooking, line a pie plate with a pie crust. You can make one from scratch or use a ready made crust.

Add the chicken to the dish and drain the carrots and potatoes. Add them and the celery and onion when they have become transparent, then add the frozen peas.

In the same pan that the celery and onion were sauteed in, melt the butter or margarine. Add the all-purpose flour and stir to make a rue.

Let this cook for just a minute. Add the chicken broth and the milk. Stir this mixture until it thickens. Pour this over the contents of the pie plate and season with salt and pepper.

Cover with the remaining pie crust. Flute the edges and pierce the top to let the steam escape. Bake at 400F for 50-60 minutes until it becomes golden brown.
Enjoy!

The pie should serve 3 8 people. One 8 person serving contains 380 calories, 39 g carbohydrates, 8 g saturated fat, 18 g protein and 2 g fiber.

Farmer's Market Muffins

A Whale of a Good Time

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5 things I learned this weekend:

  1. The underside of the tale of a humpback whale is different for every individual whale, like a fingerprint.
  2. Far more people than I thought don’t even give the notion of seasickness a thought until it they are out to sea.
  3. I am a total “tomboy”.
  4. My son is quickly surpassing my reading pace. He read 200 pages of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets in two hours. (Is that even possible?!)
  5. I love my husband even more with each passing day.

Saturday, my husband and I took our son to Boston for a whale watch. We had a little bit of time beforehand to walk around Quincy Market and eat at that place where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.  We boarded the catamaran with 397 other people and tried to get the best position possible for whale viewing. It took an hour and a half at 35 knots to get out to where the humpbacks were feeding at Stellwagen Bank in the Atlantic Ocean. The humpbacks were frolicking in the beautiful weather and the minke whales were showing us their m0ves. We probably saw ten different individual whales. While we were on our way back, I noticed a young woman combing her hair and checking her makeup in a compact. She continued to touch up her “face” and while I was witnessing this, I became aware of just how “tomboyish” I must be. I don’t carry a comb or a compact in my bag. I don’t even call it a “purse”. I carry waterproof matches, a breathing valve for giving mouth to mouth resuscitation and an all-in-one tool among my other necessities. I mentioned this to my husband and he simply stated “I just think of you as natural, the way a woman should be.” Isn’t he sweet?!

Yesterday, I wanted to make a muffin that we could feel good about eating. These “Farmer’s Market” muffins are low in fat and highly nutritious, with zucchini, carrots and sweet potato.

Recipe adapted from American Heart Association’s Low-fat and Luscious Desserts.

Farmer’s Market Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup shredded zucchini

1/2 cup shredded carrot

1/2 cup shredded sweet potato

3 Tbs. chopped walnuts

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 egg

1 Tbs canola oil

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Line your muffin pan. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar and baking soda. Stir in zucchini, carrot, sweet potato and walnuts. Add remaining ingredients and stir just until combined. Fill muffin cups and bake 18-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Each muffin contains 135 calories, 2 grams of protein, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber and 2 grams of fat.