Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Five A Day, plus a recipe or 3

Everybody loves coupons right? Well, if you haven’t noticed I sure do! I’ve been following a blog “Couponing to Disney”. This lady emails 5 different companies a day and let them know what she thinks of their product. Sometimes they send coupons (even for free stuff), sometimes they don’t. I figure I can set aside a few minutes each day to e-mail 5 companies for some possible free products! I will keep everybody posted on my progresses (probably weekly). Let me know if you decide to do it as well! You can check out her blog about it and how she does hers and tracks it. Very valuable information and a great starting point too!
In the past, I never printed Internet coupons, I’m coming to realize how great they can be. I don’t worry if the coupon is already gone, but if it’s still there, sometimes you can get lots of free stuff too! Also, I may be reconsidering my whole stand against Wal-mart. I mean really, they have a huge travel size section that could score lots of freebies! We’ll see. I may even go tonight, wonder if Jr wants to drive me to town? lol

Tonight’s menu (I think I was supposed to make it yesterday, oops) DEER STEW, pinto beans, cornbread

DEER STEW
3lb cubed venison (you could used beef)
2lb carrots
3 celery stalks
3-4 lb potatoes
1 medium yellow onion

I soak my deer meat in salt water for at least an hour (I use canning salt tends to do better). Then I drain that off and coat each piece in flour (I add salt and pepper to the flour for flavor). Next I fry my meat in ½ inch of vegetable oil in my electric skillet (I have a big one I use for this). After the meat is browned I add water and let it simmer for 2 hours. At any time in this, I start cutting up my celery and carrots. They can be added any time (we like our carrots DONE). After 2 hours, I add more water if necessary, diced potatoes (I dice big so they are hearty bites), and onion. Cook till the potatoes are tender (can be an hour, sometimes less). Once all the vegetables are tender, I mix a few tablespoons of flour with ½ cup of water and add if the “juice” needs any thickening.
This serves my family of 5 with plenty of yummy leftovers.  Let me know how yours turns out!

PINTO BEANS
1 lb. dry beans, rinsed - (can be soaked overnight, I never do tho)
Pork fat, or bacon (I have just used bacon grease before as well).
Salt to taste

Easiest way is to put in a crockpot on high for about 6 hours or more. Make sure your water doesn’t boil out. Can be done on the stove quicker, just make sure you keep plenty of water in the pot so they don’t burn.

CORNBREAD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put your cast iron skillet with about a ¼ cup of vegetable oil in to be heated.

Mix in a bowl:
2 cups of self-rising cornmeal
1 egg
½ cup of buttermilk (full-fat is best)

Add the hot oil from the skillet to this mixture and mix well. The consistency should be that of cake batter maybe a smidgen thicker. If you need to add a little more buttermilk, regular milk, or water.

Pour into cast iron skillet and cook about 30 minutes, if it’s not brown on top, turn on the broiler for a minute or two.  After removing from the oven, let the bread set for about 5 minutes, then turn out onto a plate before slicing!  Wipeout your skillet of crumbs, never use soap in your skillet, and it will help keep things from sticking!

ENJOY!

7 comments:

  1. Ive never made corn bread with buttermilk....gonna try it!!!

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  2. are you from around here maria!! hehe buttermik in corn bread is a must

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  3. Maria, my husband put that last post! (but I did ask) lol. To me the buttermilk (especially full fat) helps make the cornbread moist. I only had low fat tonight, and it worked fine too.

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  4. Does soaking the venison make it less gamey?

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  5. I have found to help with the gamey taste (which doesn't bother me). You can soak in buttermilk. Or use Extra Virgin Olive Oil as your cooking oil (that was suggested to me by another person). I have done the buttermilk. It tastes like beef to me. But then again I'm not super sensitive to the wild taste (I've grown very accustomed to it). I hope this helps. Soaking any meat in salt water helps keep the meat juicy (especially chicken). I learned that when I owned a restaurant, and it was confirmed many times on Food Network :)

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  6. Angela, I dont use buttermilk in my cornbread, because noone likes it in my household. I use 2% milk and 2-3 tbls of flour plus the other ingred you listed. It tastes good!!

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  7. Yes, I have done that recipe as well and we love it too (hubby just really likes the buttermilk)lol. Thanks so much for sharing!

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