Venison broth and French Onion soup

I had a few requests today to know how I make Venison bone broth and French onion soup. This is one of our favorite cold weather months comfort foods. Nice on a cold wet slushy day like today was here in Minnesota. French Onion Soup will warm you from the inside out.

Every fall around this time I buy  50# or more of onions to carry us over the winter, I put the onions one at a time into nylon knee highs and tie a knot between each onion. They are then hung from the rafters in the canning room in the  basement. I have had some of the onions remain fresh a year later stored this way. My canning room stays around 60 degrees in the winter months and about 70 in the summer.  I also keep a 50# bag of  potatoes and several squash in the canning room over the winter. I some times keep apples in there as well. But usually keep them on the steps to the uninsulated attic. It is a good feeling to go into the winter knowing I am well stocked and will not have to go out on a cold snowy day, other than to feed and water the rabbits, unless I want to. I am thankful to God that we are able to do this.

Venison bone broth

Venison bone broth is made pretty much the same way I make any bone broth with one exception. I do not add vinegar. If I am making  turkey or chicken broth I do not add the cloves or I half the amount and I do add a couple of tablespoons of white or rice vinegar.  I add the vinegar when making beef broth and the cloves.  

First fill a large stock pot (mine holds nearly 3 gallons)  with Venison bones with or with out meat on them. If there are leg bones I use a hammer, well really it is a 3# hammer, and break all the leg bones to expose as much marrow as I can. All the bones are covered by a couple of inches with water.  I simmer on low for a couple of hours skimming off any foam that forms.

After a couple of hours I add
 4 or so bay leaves,
2 t whole cloves,
4 cloves of garlic crushed
2 t dried thyme leaves
2 t rosemary leaves
1 lg onion corsley chopped
2 to 3 large carrots sliced in coins
6 stocks celery
1/2 c wine, I often use a white wine but a dry red is nice here or a sherry
1 T whole pepper corns
 3 good sized tomatoes chopped
1 T salt 
This is all simmered for  at least 12 hours and as long as 2 or 3 days, add a bit more water if needed if bones start to get exposed. (poultry broths I simmer no longer than 18 hours, usually more like 10 hours or so)

Once done cooking, strain. Reserve any meat pieces if you wish to add them back to your broth. At this point add salt to taste. I can my broths in quart jars for 90 minutes at 12# of pressure (recommended pressured poundage for our area). If I want to make a soup base with the broth I add 1/4 c diced carrots (or less), 1/2 c diced celery, 1 to 2 T diced tomatoes  and 1/3 c diced onions with any meat pieces to each jar before canning. Sometimes I add up to 1/3 c  raw barley pearls for a nice barley soup. 

Nanna's French Onion Soup

3 large onions coarsely diced
1 stick butter
Cook onions in butter till soft and add
1 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
2 t fresh thyme leaves or 3/4th t dried leaves
continue cooking till onions are golden and add
1 quart of venison broth (can use beef broth in its place for a total of 2 quarts broth for the recipe)
1 quart of beef broth  (or 4 t bullion and 4 cups water)
leaves from 1 sprig thyme or heavy pinch dried
1/4 t ground rosemary or 3/4 t dried leaves crumbled
1  1/4 t minced garlic or 2 minced cloves garlic
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t chili powder
1.2 c Sherry (I do not use cooking Sherry but if using cooking sherry please taste as you  may need to omit adding any salt)
1/4 to 1/ 2 t salt according to taste
bring all this to a nice simmer and add
1/4 c corn starch mixed with 1/2 c water
bring to a boil and simmer 1 minute

To serve place a slice of  a nice crusty chewy bread on  top of soup in a oven proof bowl and cover with a couple slices of smoked provolone cheese and place in a 400 degree oven till cheese is bubbly and  starting to brown.

Pumpkin Pudding

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FALL IS HERE!!!!! I love fall! I love the cooler weather and the colors and  the foods! Seems this time of year my cooking changes to more homey, heartier, slow baking to warm the house sort of foods. Plus pumpkins! I love pumpkins! So in honor of fall I am posing my first pumpkin recipe of the season. Pumpkin  Pudding Paleo Style. I have a few additions that are optional that are not true Paleo but makes the recipe more user friendly. This makes a wonderful Sunday morning brunch or a great desert for the holidays with much less calories than a traditional pie but just as tasty or even better! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pudding Paleo Style

1 can pumpkin or 1 qt home canned pumpkin
1 c coconut milk (or 1 c cream for non paleo)
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger
pinch ground cloves
2 T tapioca flour
3 eggs
3 T honey  or maple syrup

Mix well and pour into a 9 inch square pan that has been buttered and bake at 400 for about 50 minutes or till  knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Serve warm or cold with whipped cream if you wish that has been sweetened with a bit of honey or maple syrup but this is not true Paleo.

Green Beans with Bacon

Rain rain Beautiful rain! Coming at the perfect time too. I thought I was going to need to water the garden and now I don't. Beans will be ready to pick in a few days, might have enough for a meal tonight. mmmm Green beans with onion and bacon!

1 # fresh green beans
1 large onion sliced
6 strips of thick cut bacon
pinch of pepper
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1 rounded t of Nanna's seasoning mix (Recipe is on my blog page)

Snap tips off of the beans and place into a kettle and add about 1 1/2 inch water. Plae onions on top of the beans and sprinkle seasonings and sugar on top of the onions. Add diced raw bacon on top of the onions and cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Simmer with lid till things are starting to get tender, remove lid mix well and simmer at high simmer till water is nearly gone and beans are good and tender of not nearly over cooked. Mix carefully as not to mash and serve hot.

Lemon aid Stand

My 8 year old grandson asked me the other day if he could do a lemon aid stand. I asked him what he planned to do with the money he earned. He said  he wanted to buy a toy with it and it would be fun. I told him I thought it would be better to earn   the money to give to a need instead of for a toy when he is overflowing with toys already, He thought  that was a good idea. So I told him of  cause I thought would be a good one to consider and he agreed. He will be earning money for the Quinn Seymour Chapel at University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital. http://www.quinnscrusade.org/quinns-story-2/ 

Epidermolysis bullosa (ep-ih-dur-MOL-uh-sis buhl-LO-sah) is a group of skin conditions whose hallmark is blistering in response to minor injury, heat, or friction from rubbing, scratching or adhesive tape and baby Quinn had one of the worse forms of it, "Herlitz junctional epidermolysis bullosa (H-JEB) is an inherited disease that causes severe blistering on the skin. Infants with H-JEB frequently also have internal blistering on the lining of the nose, mouth, esophagus, trachea, rectum, stomach, intestines, and eyes. These symptoms are present from birth. Occasionally people with the disease survive into their teens, however 87% die in the first year of life." *

Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa – Herlitz

Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa – Herlitz

. Quinn spent most of her life in the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital. You can read her story here http://www.quinnscrusade.org/quinns-story-2/ Please consider to this worthy cause. We will be letting you know the date and time of the lemon aid stand if you prefer to give that way. I believe this will be a good experience for my grandson (and the neighbor kids who are helping him) on giving of themselves on behalf of others. I am  happy to think of how this chapel will bless so many ill children and their family and friends.


We are going to start baking cookies for the sale this week while it is so nice and cool out. The cookies we have chosen to make so far are Chewy Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodles (he choose that one due to  the fun name, had no idea what they were, lol) and Ginger Snaps.



Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies 

2 1/4 c flour
1/2 t baking soda
2 eggs
1 c butter
1/2 c sugar
1 c packed dark brown sugar
1 t salt
1 t coffee ground to a  powdered
2 c chocolate chips

mix all ingredients together well and  drop by even sized spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes.Remove from oven and whack the bottom of the cookie sheet on the counter to flatten the cookies.  Remove from the cookie sheet and cool on a rack. Better to under bake the cookies a bit  than over  bake if you want a softer cookie.


Snickerdoodles

1 1/2 c sugar
1 c butter (or 1/2 c butter and 1/3 c coconut oil)
2 eggs
2 3/4 c flour
2 t cream of tarter
1 t soda

1/4 t salt

 Mix well and then roll into 1 1/4 inch balls and roll into a mixture of 

1/4 c sugar

2 t ground Cinnamon

Place on cookie sheet  and bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Ginger Snaps

1 c butter softened

1 c packed dark brown sugar

1 c sugar

1/2 c molasses

1 egg

3 c flour

2 t baking soda

2 T ground ginger

2 t cinnamon

1/2 t ground alspice1/2 t salt

heavy pinch of ground cloves

1/4 t ground black pepper

Mix dry ingredients together first then add remaining ingredients and mix well. Form into small balls (less than an inch) and roll into sugar before baking. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes (they should puff up and then start to deflate that is when they are done) cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Aid made ahead of time

2 c sugar
1 c water
Cook till sugar is dissolved and bring to a boil. Cool to room temp and add
1 c lemon juice
zest of a lemon
 let sit over night and strain out lemon zest and add 1 gallon of water, mix well and serve chilled or over ice.



* https://www.counsyl.com/diseases/herlitz-junctional-epidermolysis-bullosa-lamb3-related/

Epidermolysis Bullosa

Flowers

Tonight when my hubby got home from work he stopped the car at the end of the driveway and started to honk the horn. I asked my grandson Devin to see what Pappa wanted thinking maybe a bike was left in the drive. Devin came back from the car with a lovely bouquet of flowers!!! This was such a unexpected surprise as it is not my birthday, anniversary or anything! When hubby got in the house I gave him a big hug thanking him for the lovely unexpected gift and asked him the reason for the surprise. He then informed me they were leftover funeral flowers and he thought I would like them. Hummm, it's the thought that counts right?

Salty baked potatoes

Coach and I have been pretty much doing the Paleo Diet. Easiest way to explain it is it is a low carb diet where you eat no grains, mainly eat veggies, meats and limited fruit.  The best veggies are high density nutritional ones such as sweet potatoes over white potatoes. Problem is Coach would eat white potatoes for every meal and as snack in between, he loves potatoes. Keeping that in mind and knowing you also need to enjoy your food or you will not succeed on any diet, I have been serving potatoes once a week. . 

Tonight we are having steamed broccoli, baked chicken with salty baked potatoes. I learned the trick of Salty Baked potatoes many years ago, I do not remember who or where I learned it from so can not give  credit. To make them I wash the potatoes (I am using a sweet potato for me as I prefer them) and while wet I poke with a fork to keep them from blowing up  in the oven. While still wet I heavily sprinkle the skins with salt. Next i place a half a pat of butter on a piece of tin foil and place the potato on top of that and the remainder of the butter on top of the potato and wrap the foil around that. Place on oven rack with seam side up and bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Check to see if they feel squishy. Once tender remove from oven and serve. The skins are wonderful to eat this way. You can use a seasoned salt and even pepper them as well.

The chicken I poured some soy sauce on top before sprinkling it with minced onions and some of my Nanna's Seasoning mix. Nice simple, tasty and easy. To steam the broccoli I will place in the top of my steaming pan  with water below and drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top and some Nanna's seasoning mix with some salt and pepper. This is wonderful this way.

The left over chicken bones with be placed into a freezer bag with other chicken bones till I have enough to make broth. I love to make a good chicken stock and can it for easier quick meals with high density nutrition. It is great for making soup, cooking veggies in, as a hot drink, for when some one is sick and  needs a light meal, add some scrambled eggs for a egg drop soup.... so many possibilities.

Kraut Making (old post from a old blog, about 3 years ago)

Today was such a lovely day I decided to make a batch of kraut in my outdoor kitchen. My outdoor kitchen consists of a long table, lawn chair, the hose and my trusty 2 burner wood cook stove. I had my lovely assistants helping me.


Making kraut is fun and easy. I like to make a verity of krauts such as the ones I made today. Carrot and onion kraut and Apple onion kraut. There are endless things you can add to your kraut such as caraway seeds, peppers, Dill, fruit and herbs.

To start I peeled 2 # of onions from my garden.

I cut them in half and sliced them thin. Now there is a myth out there that the cabbage needs to be sliced as thin as a dime, not true. You can chunk, slice or dice your cabbage. I just like to have nice sized pieces, not too big and not too small.


I next peeled and shredded 2 # of carrots.


Next I cut 2 large heads of cabbage into quarters and remove the core.
For this batch I sliced the cabbage into thin strips.



As I finished slicing each quarter of cabbage I added it to my pot and tossed in a handful each of the shredded carrots and onions and about 2 t salt over it all. I repeated this layering with each quarter of one head of cabbage then I mixed well.


Once I had one cabbage worth done and in the pot I mixed well with my hands. I slice and layer the remaining cabbage using the same method. Once I have the last of the cabbage, onion, carrots and salt in the pot I mixed well again.

Once mixed well cover with a cloth and let it sit a good hour or two. At this point it will be moist and you can squeeze water out of it easily.

While I let the cabbage mix sit, I peel and shred 8 apples. I add a couple of teaspoons of salt to the apples and mix well, cover and set aside. Now it is time to start packing the cabbage mix into the jars. I add a couple of huge handfuls of the mix to the jar and then push down firmly with my fist. This releases lots of juice. I add in a couple more handfuls of the mix and press down firmly again. I repeat this till I have used half the cabbage mix.

By this time there is a lot of juice on top of the cabbage. This is what you want.

I add the apples to the remaining cabbage mix and mix well.
I do the same method of packing this batch as the previous one.
I now fit a quart sized zip lock bag so the bag is in the jar and the top is open. I add 2 teaspoons of salt to this bag and 2 cups of water. I zip it closed removing as much air as I can and then smooth the bag over the top of the cabbage. This will help to weigh the kraut down during the fermentation process as it tends to like to rise and needs to remain under the brine.

The bag is weighted down with a glass of water.


I cover a cookie sheet with sides on it with plastic garbage bags. This is in case the brine over flows during the fermentation process. Not a fun mess to have, much easier to toss a bag then do all the scrubbing.


I cover the jar and glass of water with a gallon food bag that you use a twist tie with and secure with a binder of sorts. I use a rubber band.
The finished jars are placed on the covered cookie sheet and then covered with a towel to keep light out ( I have thicker towels under the light weight one)

This is left for 2 weeks to ferment. At that time you can place it in the fridge and it just tastes better with age (6 months is wonderful!) or you can can it.

To can heat kraut in a stainless steal pan until l nice and hot (add water if there is not much brine). Ladle and lightly pack into sterilized jars. I use pint sized jars as it is just me and hubby here. Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Recipe I used:
9.5# cabbage
2# onion
2# carrots
about 8 T salt
8 apples

I'll do a picture post of the canning process in two weeks! LOL