Savory Venison Skillet

Hi all!

Fall is right around the corner (yay or nay?) and that means lots of us will be (hopefully) enjoying venison soon. You might have heard that venison tastes game-y, or that it's tough... well, I had a package of ground venison tonight to use and let me just say, either this venison was not game-y, or this recipe just did a really, really good job of covering up any game-y taste. I think it may have been the later. It was really, really good.

Enter... the Savory Venison Skillet. 

So easy to make... and even though it looks like a hamburger helper dish, I used real cheese (not powder), and the taste is completely different from what it looks like... much less "cheesy" and more savory from the ketchup and Worcestershire. Because this only uses 7 basic ingredients, it's a great "clean out the fridge" meal, using what you most likely already have on hand.

You'll need:
1 pound ground venison

1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Condensed Cream of Celery Soup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups frozen hash-brown potatoes
3 slices cheese (The original recipe called for process cheese, I call for sandwich slices of reduced fat 2% milk sharp cheddar. Mmm!)


First, cook the venison in a skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Drain any fat and return it to the pan. I had very little fat... an awesome venison benefit.

Right on top of the meat, add the soup, water, ketchup and Worcestershire in the skillet, mix together and heat to a boil. 

It looks a bit like glop and eggs, but bear with me here.

Stir in the potatoes. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Top with the cheese and serve! I added a hint of salt and pepper on top of mine and it was delicious!

I really am a fan of venison, and there actually are some health benefits - a few to touch on is that wild harvested deer have no added hormones, it's actually lower in fat than even a chicken breast (only 2% of it is fat... hence why not much of it was in my pan after browning!) AND lower in calories - a 4 oz. serving of venison has roughly 95 calories whereas a 4 oz. serving of pork or beef has well over 300 calories per serving. Check out Michigan Venison for more health benefits. I didn't know most of them before I looked them up for this post!

Did you enjoy this recipe? Or do you have any other venison recipes? I have some venison sausage and venison steak in the freezer that I can't wait to try out!

Happy 4th of July and Rhubarb Pie

Hi all and Happy 4th of July! Where has this summer gone?

Around the middle/end of June, I spied that my rhubarb plant had taken off and had given me a bunch of nice, new stems. Both of our rhubarb plants caught some sort of blight-like disease last year and we ended up not having rhubarb very long. So when I saw that the plant (only one came back :( ) had given me enough for a pie... I ran out there with kitchen scissors like a mad man (not really, running with scissors is not recommended. But I did get out there pretty darn quick.)

Now I haven't always been a fan a rhubarb, although like many children, I never gave it a chance either. In our first summer of living here, I gave it a shot and I was hooked. This is the recipe I never waver from because it is that good.

Rhubarb really can shine alone without the help of strawberries or other fruits. When you pack it with enough sugar, it evens out the extreme tart of rhubarb and creates a sweet and slightly tart pie that is really good warm, but even better cold in my opinion... which makes it the perfect pie for picnics.

Ready to make your own? You'll need:
• 4 cups of chopped rhubarb. (This is where I waver only a little... I think I had only about 2 3/4 cups of rhubarb when I was all said and done. This makes for a still tasty pie but 4 cups would definitely make for a thicker pie.) This requires a LOT of stems to get to 4 cups - pictured below is roughly 2 3/4 cup.
• 1 1/3 cups white sugar
• 6 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter (real salted butter, not margarine)
• A 2 pack of premade pie crusts, you'll use both.

You'll also need:
• a pie plate
• a large measuring cup (up to four cup)
• cutting board/knife
• mixing bowl

First, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Chop the leafs off and the wide bottoms off as well. Make sure to discard the leaves properly, especially if you have pets and small children as they can be quite poisonous if ingested... but the stems are good to go.

Rinse them off, pat them dry. Chop the rhubarb into small slices - the smaller the better, as they'll cook down the best this way.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and flour. In in your pie plate, unroll a pie crust and set in the bottom of the pie plate. The pie plate doesn't require greasing before you put your crust in.

Sprinkle about a 1/4 of your flour and sugar mix on top of the crust. This doesn't have to be exactly 1/4 of your mixture, just eyeball it. Heap the rhubarb on top of the mixture in the pie plate, and then sprinkle the remaining sugar and flour on top of the rhubarb.

Take your tablespoon of butter and chop it into little pieces. Dot the butter randomly on top of the mixture. It should look something like this:

Cover with the remaining crust and pinch the sides together. Make some fancy slices in the top to be...well, fancy. (This actually helps some steam escape, but it looks nice too.)

Place your pie in the oven and bake at 450 for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes has completed, reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes. Do keep an eye on your crust... sometimes I have to place some tinfoil around the edges if they start to brown too much. Serve warm or cold, with vanilla ice cream is the best! :)

Thanks for following along! Have you ever had rhubarb pie? Have you had it before but with strawberries in it? Share your stories in the comments and share this recipe with your friends -- or don't and blow everyone's minds with this amazing recipe at your next picnic! Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Apple Walnut Cake

Hi all! It's been a quiet May around here and I hope to be posting a little more in June as I get into more of a routine.

Today I am making Apple Walnut Cake, a recipe that I found originally in the Glycemic Index Cookbook. This cookbook is actually one my mother picked up for me at a yard sale, and man, there are some gorgeous low GI recipes that actually look pretty do-able and don't have a million ingredients, AND look yummy.

This recipe was good - just enough sweetness to silence that sweet tooth, but not enough to leave you craving eating the rest of the pan. Does that make sense? Sometimes I feel "I can't get enough!" when something is ultra sweet and I want more... where this recipe is just enough. It's not ultra rich where you feel "bleckk" the rest of the night, either. Although, I highly recommend just a HINT of vanilla ice cream... :)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups chopped sliced Granny Smith apples (they said that's two large apples, it took me four.)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar substitute. (I mix my regular sugar with my Splenda-like sugar substitute, so I didn't use just straight up sugar substitute.
4 1/2 tablespoons of margarine or butter, melted. (I used margarine, next time I would use butter.)
3/4 cup fat-free/skim milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

You'll also want:
A large mixing bowl
An 8x8 glass pan
A large Pyrex type measuring cup. I used the 4 cup version.

First, preheat your oven to 350. Just a heads up - this recipe takes 50 minutes to cook, so don't make this recipe if you want "instant" results ;) While you're at it, spray a 8x8 glass pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, apple pie spice and salt in a bowl. Use a larger bowl, as you'll be mixing in this later.

Slice your apples and dump them in the prepared baking pan. Using the large Pyrex measuring cup, beat the brown sugar, the sugar sub, and melted margarine until well blended. My suggestion: once you've got the apples out of the measuring cup, melt the margarine in the measuring cup, then add the sugars. No sense in getting other dishes dirty!

Now, once the margarine and sugars are mixed, whisk in milk, eggs and vanilla, mix until smooth. Then, dump this mixture into your awaiting flour bowl from earlier. Stir until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the apples. Sprinkle the walnuts over the batter.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes when it comes out. Serve warm, and refrigerate leftovers.

Hope you enjoyed! This makes 9 servings and has 204 calories per serving, 23g of carbohydrates, 12g fat, 2g Saturated fat, 2 grams of fiber. Thanks for following along!

Homemade Parsley and Garlic Croutons

If there is nothing I like more, it's a big flipping salad. Sometimes it just sounds so good, especially if I've been eating a lot of not-so-good for you things.

When my husband and I make salads, we make 'em big with lots of toppings. The toppings are (not surprisingly) my favorite part. A while back, I really wanted croutons on my salad and we had none. Thus, homemade parsley and garlic croutons were born.

Want to make your own? You'll need:
• 2 TBSP of butter (you can use less)
• 1 slice of bread (I used whole wheat, it's great with white too)
• a generous dash of parsley flakes
• a generous dash of garlic salt

You'll also want:
• A cookie sheet & oven
• A microwave safe bowl or measuring cup

1) Preheat your oven to 350. I use my toaster oven. Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup. Add a generous dash of parsley and garlic salt. (I probably "dash" the spices 5 or so times into the melted butter)

2) Cut your bread into 1/2" size or so cubes and dunk them in the butter. I use a butter knife to scoot them around and mix the bread so it all gets a nice coating.

3) Your oven should now be at about 350. Arrange the cubes on the tray and let them cook for about 5-10 minutes. Keep your eye on them and move them around so that all sides get crispy and toasted, not just the bottom side burnt (I speak from experience! :)

  

4) Remove them carefully and let them cool for a bit. Add them to your big flippin' salad with other toppings (in this salad, I used chopped chicken, cranraisins, a bit of celery, a boiled egg, cucumber, tomato...) and enjoy!

BBQ Bacon Turkey Calzone Recipe

Bacon makes everything better, doesn't it? :)

That's what I thought when I was trying to figure out what the make with a half package of bacon and about 3/4 of a pound of ground turkey a few nights ago. I combined those with some BBQ sauce, some cheese and a pizza crust.... and came up with the "BBQ Bacon Turkey Calzone" - and it was so good Mr. LOC requested it again ASAP! :) This post was my second time making it and I think it was even better than the first!

This makes a great splurge meal! ;) It's got all the makings of a classic comfort food. If you've got a BBQ lover in your life, you've got to try this out.

Ready to make your own? You'll need:
• Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle BBQ sauce - we think that this is a big part of why this tastes so good, so I highly recommend grabbing some of this.
• 10-12 oz of ground turkey (about half the amount of turkey in the package above)
• Half of a package of bacon
• About 1/2 - 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• a packet of easy prep pizza crust
• A dash of onion powder
• A dash of garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

You'll also want:
• A cookie sheet
• Some flour
• Some Pam-type spray
• A rolling pin
• Kitchen shears
• Large saucepan
• A cutting board
• A colander

Start by preheating your oven to 450. Follow the directions according to the packet of pizza crust and prepare your pizza crust to the point of letting it rise in the bowl, and let it rise while you work on the next steps of the calzone. You could also use a pre-made dough ball crust too.

Next, start browning your ground turkey in a large saucepan. Add a dash of salt, pepper, and onion powder. Once it's browned, put it in a colander, bowl underneath to catch the grease. Set it aside for now.

In that same saucepan, cook your bacon. Cook it until it's just cooked - you don't want it ultra crispy (which is tough for me, as that's the way I like it...ultra crisp! :).

Move the bacon once cooked to another plate. Using some kitchen shears, cut the bacon into pieces. Set aside.

Add your BBQ sauce to the meat. Add just enough so that it will cover the meat completely once stirred. I probably added about 1/4-1/3 cup of BBQ sauce. Stir so that the meat is coated. I do this right in the colander.

Now, add some flour to the pizza dough (not a lot, just so it's not so sticky) and kneed the dough. Take a rolling pin and roll the dough out to fit your cookie sheet, I usually do this on a separate cutting board. Spray your cookie sheet with Pam spray and move your stretched out crust carefully and quickly to your cookie sheet (having them right next to each other is recommended.)

Now, add your toppings. I add my ground turkey first, bacon, cheese and then a layer of BBQ sauce.

Now, start at the bottom of the pan, closest towards you and begin rolling. You have to be quick and do this pretty carefully, otherwise it will get explode-y or not want to roll correctly. Roll up the pan until the roll is at the top of the pan, then scoot it (carefully so you don't tear it apart!) back to the middle of the pan.

Then, take your garlic powder and dash a little down the calzone on top. This cooks up really nicely and gives it a great flavor.

Your oven should be preheated at this point, so go ahead and put it in the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes in the oven, your top will get golden brown.

Take it out and let it cool for a second (the sugar in the BBQ really stays hot for a bit! whew!) and then enjoy!

Thank you for following along! I hope you enjoy my BBQ bacon turkey calzone recipe. Let me know how this turned out for you! :)

It's Pinspired Friday! {Skinny Chocolate Chip Banana Bread}

Hi all! It's Pinspired Friday!

Today, I'm inspired by this pin from Skinnymom.com.

Skinny Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from Skinnymom.com

And here's what I came up with:

It all started when I had a banana on my toast with some peanut butter this morning and I realized the bananas were starting to look a little sad. And brown. Which only means one thing... it's banana bread time.

But I wanted to continue eating healthy, so off to Pinterest I went in search of a recipe and found this one by Skinnymom. So I gathered my ingredients and gave the recipe a once over to make sure I had everything, or could substitute things that I didn't have.

At first glance, the recipe seemed a little... off. First, we're cooking at 330 degrees, which... okay. It's just an odd temperature. As I'm mixing though, it feels like I'm making a lot... then I notice in direction #9 that it's because the recipe is for 2 loaves. Oy. That's what I get for skimming! (In the end, the mixture really only made enough mix for about a 2/3 full size loaf pan. So if you want two short loaves, go for it, but I put it all in one.). Then... as I'm skimming, I'm making a metal list of the gadgets and bowls I'll need... and I read it as needing four separate bowls for mixing all of the ingredients!

This is kind of how I felt at that point.

Luckily, I actually read (reading is fundamental!) and realized she called for three separate bowls. But, if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, I'm not a fan of extra or unnecessary bowls and dishes when prepping food. So I got it down to two. I could have probably done even just one bowl... but I was photographing it for the blog and wanted to make sure it turned out. Ha!

So let's make some chocolate chip banana bread, shall we?

You'll need:

• 2 1/2 - 3 very ripe bananas (I used 2.5)

• 6 oz of vanilla fat free yogurt

• 1 tbsp of I can't believe it's not butter spread, or similar

• 2 egg whites (I used one full egg and 1 egg white)

• 1 1/2 cup unbleached flour (doesn't matter if bleached or unbleached, but has to be all purpose)

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup splenda granulated sugar (I use about half and half real sugar and splenda, or 1/4 cup of each)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

First off, preheat your oven to 330 degrees, if you're making two small loaves. Otherwise, preheat your oven to 350 for one big loaf. I did the 330 for 1 big loaf and it ended up taking about 45-50 minutes for it to (finally) cook through, along with about 10 minutes using the convection cooking option on my oven... toooo long.

Grease up your loaf pan (or two) with non-stick spray or Crisco.

In a bowl, mash up your bananas. Make sure you're using a bowl big enough for other ingredients. Once you've got them smashed, kind of push them up on the side of the bowl. I'm helping eliminate an extra dish to wash here. ;)

Add the butter/spread, yogurt, vanilla extract, brown sugar and splenda/sugar. Mix those together, trying to avoid mixing in the banana mash initially.

Then, mix the bananas in, along with the egg whites.

Now, in a separate bowl (you can be a rebel here if you want and use the same bowl, I would imagine), add the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix.

Now, add the flour mix to the liquid mix. Mix together until blended, but take care not to overmix as it is a very heavy, dense mix. Then, add your chocolate chips.

Transfer the mixture into either a) two loaf pans, which will probably be about 1/3 full in each loaf pan) or b) in one loaf pan. I'm doing one loaf, and you'll see that the loaf pan is about 2/3 of the way full.

For one loaf - bake at 350 for 25 minutes, checking on it in the last 5-10 minutes. You may require more time or less.

For two loaves - bake at 330 for 30-35 minutes, checking in on them in the last 5-10 minutes.

When a butter knife comes out clean, the banana bread is done! :) Sometimes you'll hit a chocolate chip, so it may take multiple times to figure out if the bread is actually done.

And there you have it! As you can see, the middle of mine caved as it was not cooking as evenly as the outside - but it still tastes awesome. :) The yogurt is such a great idea for dropping almost all of the butter and you truly cannot taste the difference. I was pleased that this had such a great taste, especially with using Splenda, as I have had little luck in getting my "desserts" tasting like anything besides plastic when using Splenda only. Of course, because I used half splenda, half sugar it brings the calories up just a bit.

Enjoy!

I'm linking up with these parties!

Weight Loss Using Bob Harper's "The Skinny Rules" - Chili Lime Tilapia Recipe

I know I've only touched on weight loss here before once or twice... but it's something I have dealt with for a long time. Who hasn't, really? I think we all struggle with weight loss, even if it's 100's of pounds to lose or just a few to look better in a bikini.

Our good friends embarked on their weight loss journey together and have found success. Mr. LOC and I could not be happier for them, as we know what a struggle it can be. So MAJOR congratulations to them (if they are reading! :). Mr. LOC and I had to know how they did it, and they shared their secret weapon...

Bob Harper "The Skinny Rules" - easy to follow rules for getting skinny, it's chock full of recipes, and has a full month's worth of meal plans, along with advice and things that make you realize it maybe, could be that easy if these rules could be followed.

We decided to get a copy. Yesterday we finished our first full day, and we're past breakfast on the second day. *fistpump*.

Last night's dinner was to be fish, cauliflower, and green beans. One of the benefits of this diet/lifestyle change, which is similar to other lower calorie diets, is that you can have any kind of seasonings/herbs to jazz up your food a little. Well, if you know me, I have a tendency to spice things up by adding a little extra (maybe that's how I got in this situation... whoops), but I realized I could do this the "skinny rules" way.

He has a great recipe for Roasted Fish in his book, but it was pretty basic. Salt, pepper, olive oil, roast and eat. Frowny face. After a quick flip through the rest of the book to make sure lime juice was okay, I rounded up some herbs and seasonings. May I present...

Today, I'm going to touch on the fish, but keep your eyes peeled for a post about the cauliflower!

Let's gather our ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Lime juice
• Garlic powder
• Black pepper
• Red pepper
• Sea salt
• Parsley
• Two tilapia fillets, completely thawed (I made this for Mr. LOC and I, and we only had one fillet each... you may want more for your family.)

You'll also want:
• A roasting pan or cookie sheet
• An oven
• Tinfoil

First, preheat your oven to 475. While your oven is preheating, stick your empty cookie sheet in the oven. Obviously, this pan is going to get pretty hot, so be careful when you put your fish on it in a later step.

To avoid extra fat, we're going to coat the tilapia using the lime juice instead of coating it in olive oil.

On one side, drip a little lime juice on the tilapia, or if you want, put the lime juice in your hand and coat the tilapia that way. Remember, that lime juice will have a bit of natural sugar so don't go crazy. Extra points if you use actual limes.

Then, take your garlic powder, black pepper, red pepper flakes, parsley, and sea salt and dash a little of each on the fish. Again, don't go nuts with the sea salt as we're also avoiding a ton of sodium here too.

Flip the fish over and repeat the process. Once your oven has heated to 475, tear a piece of tinfoil and give it a little bit of olive oil. Then place the tilapia on the foil. Carefully move the foil with the tilapia on to the hot cookie sheet in the oven. You can move your oven racks out carefully to make this step easier by sliding them out and then back in.

Roast for about 13-15 minutes. Watch the time on this one, I needed about 13 minutes, but the original calls for 8-10.

Get excited, you just made low calorie chili lime tilapia! :) The key here is to keep your modifications within the rules. Herbs and spices can really take something blah and make it great!

Keep your eyes peeled here for other Skinny Rules recipes and recipe modifications. We'll be back in a few days with roasted parm cauliflower! Thanks for following along!