Venison Shepherd's Pie in a pinch...

Do you see the trend here?  Are you catching on?  Venison!  We have a freezer full of it, and baby I'm cooking it!  But here was my dilemma the other night.  A package of straight ground venison was defrosting.  Original plan had to be aborted due to lack of fresh ingredients at the store.  I took stock of what I had, what I didn't have and BAM!

Venison Shepherd's Pie in a pinch was born.  This came out really good, was semi-quick to make and since it is just the 2 of us, provided a good amount of leftovers.  I'm not a huge fan of shepherd's pie.  Some of you may not even know what it is.  I sure didn't.  Not until I went to college in VT anyhow.  Where at the beautiful Huden Dining Hall they served it up.  At the time I was a vegetarian and sadly missed out on it, but a few years later a friend made it with venison and I enjoyed it.  What's not to like?  Meat, potatoes and veggies all in one dish!  Oh and ketchup!  And you know, I love my ketchup.

Venison Shepherd's Pie in a Pinch...

1 pound ground Venison (we do not get ours mixed with anything)
1 onion
1 tablespoon flour
2-3 tablespoons ketchup
Frozen Peas, Carrots and Corn
1/2 cup water
1 tsp thyme

6 cups of boxed mashed potatoes prepared.  I add black pepper and parsley to mine.

Shredded Cheddar Cheese (or whatever blend you have.  We used Fiesta for this.)

Brown venison and onions.  Add flour and ketchup, mix and let thicken up a little.  Add thyme.  Then add water and veggies and cook until heated through.  In a prepared (sprayed with Pam) dish, place in meat/veggie mixture and top with prepare boxed mashed potatoes (I prefer homemade, but we didn't have any potatoes).  Then sprinkle with cheese.  Place dish in a preheated over to 425 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes or until crisp and golden on top.

Served with homemade biscuits. 

Grilled Venison Steak with Smashed Red Potatoes!

I realize it has been awhile since I've blogged, and I'd love to say I'll be better, but who knows!  Recently I have been cooking and baking more, thanks to cooler weather and lots of venison in our freezer.  We are almost exclusively a venison household at the moment, which has been a lot of fun to experiment with.  Part of the reason I wanted to start blogging again was because there seems to be a lack of healthier recipes for venison. 

Grilled Applewood Rubbed Venison Steak

Venison Steak (these were bone-in)
McCormick's Grill Mates Applewood Rub

Pre-heat grill, rub the rub on both sides of the steak, put steaks on grill (4-5) minutes on each side. 

Smashed Red Potatoess
6 Medium Sized Red Potatoes
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Butter
1 packet of Potato Topping (usually found in the produce section)

Place potatoes in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and cook until tender, but not mush with a fork.  Remove potatoes from water, cool.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In the meantime, mix olive oil, butter and Potato Topping in a small bowl.  Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.  Place potatoes on parchment paper and smash with a fork.  Top each smashed potato with olive oil, butter and topping mix.  Cook in oven approximately 20 minutes.

Served with corn and some low-fat blue cheese dressing.

Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad

A trip to the farmers market inspired Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad. Everything I used in this recipe I bought at our local farmers market on Saturday.

I diced up some plum tomatoes, an orange tomato and red onion. Added some red wine vinegar.
I mixed melted Smart Balance with garlic powder (not from the farmers market). Grilled the corn...

De-cobbed (is this a word?) the corn and mixed.

Visually stunning and VERY tasty. Super easy and a great side dish to any summer meal.