Friday Food: Elk

Friday 

Short version: Elk steaks, mashed potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: A. took the youngest son elk hunting the previous week. Son successfully shot a cow (female) elk, and A. managed to pack out around a hundred pounds of it. Because of the crazy hilly terrain, he could only do one trip with the meat, but he still got a lot.

We left it in the cooler, covered with ice, for four days and cut it all up this day. I kept some of the steaks we cut from the tenderloin for dinner this day.

And they were tough. 

Boooooo.

I guess it needed to be aged a lot longer. It tasted really good, though. So I think most of this elk is going to be ground into hamburger meat. Which is what I actually prefer to have on hand anyway.

Saturday

Short version: Chicken taco soup, garlic bread, canned peaches and cottage cheese

Long version: I had a container of chicken stock and meat from the bones I had cooked down earlier in the week. I also had some pureed roasted tomatoes in the refrigerator, so I used those, a can of kidney beans, a can of black beans, some frozen corn, spices, sour cream, and some leftover rice to make a very tasty soup.

I even remembered to use some of the lambs quarters I dried, um, two years ago and have yet to use up.

The soup hater was very displeased with this meal, but he was somewhat mollified by the canned peaches. They were store peaches, which are still pretty good as long as they're the ones in heavy syrup.

Sunday

Short version: Braised elk steaks, carrots, rice, cucumbers with salt and vinegar, apple and rhubarb crisp with vanilla ice cream

Long version: This time I made the steaks more like grillades, cooking them in a tomato sauce for a long time. Still kinda chewy and dry. Definitely needs to be ground.

I threw in the rest of a bag of frozen blanched carrots in there with the meat, too.

This is halfway through serving, which is why there are only a few small pieces of meat.

I had five green apples left from a bag I got at the store. I used those, plus frozen rhubarb and the juice left from the two cans of peaches and extra sugar to make the crisp.

The topping got partially submerged because of the very juicy rhubarb.

Still delicious, though, even if not entirely crisp.

Monday

Short version: Spanish rice

Long version: One of those meals in which I dump a bunch of things in a skillet. This time it was some ground beef that I browned, to which I added leftover rice, the last of the pureed tomatoes that had been in the refrigerator, the last of some cheese sauce I had made over the weekend for a macaroni and cheese lunch, more grated cheddar cheese, taco spices, and frozen corn.

Definitely not fancy, but it gets everyone fed.

Tuesday

Short version: Sausage, chicken-y rice, various leftovers, grape tomatoes

Long version: The day I had made the trek to the dentist with one kid. I bought some smoked sausage at the store, which half the family ate along with rice I had cooked in chicken stock.

One kid had a sore throat and had the last of the chicken taco soup. One had the last of the Spanish rice. One had an iffy stomach and just had some of the rice. 

Wednesday

Short version: Beef and bean burritos, beans and rice, radishes

Long version: I had taken out a container of pinto beans cooked with ham to thaw. I had also taken from the little freezer a bag of random beef that I think I pulled off soup bones when I had made stock awhile ago. So all I did was simmer the beef pieces with some of the beans and their liquid, and then season it further with spices and salsa. That's what went in the burritos.

Some people also had the plain beans over rice.

Thursday

Short version: Pork chunks, biscuits, green salad with vinaigrette, crispy rice treats

Long version: Some of those pork loin chunks, fried and then I used the excess liquid from the beans on them. The beans had been cooked with onion, tomato, garlic, and ham, so they were pretty flavorful and the liquid made a good sauce for the pork when it had cooked down a bit.

The biscuits were just my standard baking powder ones. Everyone ate them with butter and strawberry jam.

I made the crispy rice treats as a thank you for the guy who gives us permission to cut our Christmas tree on his ranch every year. We're going this weekend, and his wife had mentioned awhile ago that he loves my crispy rice treats. So I made a half batch of them, set some aside for him, and used the rest for dessert after dinner.

Refrigerator check:

A lot of tortillas at the moment.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?