Category: Dinner

Crunchy Cucumber Salad for 2

Posted on by Lisa P

This cucumber salad is made with miniature English cucumbers. They’re not expensive and you don’t have to peel them. This makes a great little side salad, and it’s crunchy enough to hold up til tomorrow so you can have the leftovers lunch.

3 miniature cucumbers or similar amount of pickling cucumbers
1 small shallot or piece of sweet onion
1/2 medium tomato (or more to your liking)
oil and vinegar
Italian seasoning blend

  1. Prep your space:  Get out a medium cutting board, a knife, and a small bowl. If your garbage can is not nearby, have a little plastic bag open next to your work space for scraps.  Grab your steel and give your knife a quick sharpening.
  2. Wash the cucumbers since you’ll be leaving the skin on. Wash the tomato too if you haven’t already.
  3. Cut the ends of the cukes off, and then slice them at a diagonal, very thinly.  About an eighth of an inch or less.  Toss them into the bowl.
  4. Peel the shallot and cut off the hard end. If using onion obviously you can skip that part.  Slice as thinly as possible.  A very sharp knife makes all the difference here.  Scrape the pieces up with your knife and bang them in the bowl as well.
  5. Cut the tomato into smallish wedges.  Into the bowl they go.
  6. Shake some Italian seasoning onto the vegetables.  This is where you have to judge for yourself how much seasoning you like.  If you’re not sure, start with 1/4 tsp, mix it in, and look at it.  That’s about as much as I use, but you might like more or less.  It’s OK to guess, the world won’t end if you add a little too much.
  7. I use olive oil and white wine vinegar, but you could use regular oil and apple cider vinegar.  It’s a different flavor in the end, but we’re not talking gourmet here, we’re just trying to get dinner on the table.  About a tablespoon of vinegar and a teaspoon or so of oil should do it.  Mix it up, taste one, and add more if you like.
  8. Put the bowl (with spoon) into the frig to sit while you make the rest of your meal.  Maybe you could stir it once or twice if you remember.

This is my favorite summer go-to salad.  Hope you enjoy it!

Step 2:
Miniature English Cucumbers

Step 6:
Crunchy Cucumber Salad

Yield: 2 Cups
Prep time: 10 minutes
Calories: Hardly any

EZ Tri-Tip Roast Beef Stew (Slow Cooker)

Posted on by Lisa P

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 pound pre-marinated stew meat
    • (I like the Asada Tri Tip roast from Trader Joe’s)
  • 1 pound baby red potatoes cut in half or quarters
  • 1 pound carrots, scrubbed and cut into large pieces
  • 1 sweet onion cut into large slices
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and cut into 1 inch strips
  • 4-5 garlic cloves, green shoots removed and chopped coarsely

Directions

  1. Prep all ingredients as indicated in the ingredients list.
  2. Place potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, & jalapeno in a large slow cooker (in that order).
  3. Add meat and marinade juices into the cooker, directly on top of vegetables.
  4. Add 1/4 C red wine or water into the roast bag. Roll the open end over to close it, and give it a shake (over the sink in case it leaks). Pour the liquid over the roast and discard bag.
  5. Cover the cooker and turn to high setting. Cook on high for two hours then reduce heat to low and cook another 4 to 6 hours. The vegetables will be just tender, and the roast should be tender but not falling apart.

Photos

Step 1 – Prep Veggies

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Step 2 – Add veggies to cooker.

 

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Step 3 – Add meat to cooker.

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Step 5 – Cook and serve.

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Nutrition

Oops, coming soon!

Venison (Deer) Stew Recipe

Posted on by Lisa P

My husband’s friend at work is a frequent hunter so we were recently the beneficiaries of a three pound bag of this delicious lean meat. Last week we finally took it out of the freezer and let it thaw in the frig for several days. Today we have a huge pot of venison stew.

This big pot of stew cost us all of about $6 in vegetables and miscellaneous ingredients, since the meat itself was free!

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If you find yourself with a hunk of venison from a hunter-friend and you’re not sure what to do with it, give this a try, I really think you’ll be surprised at how wonderful this basic stew is. The meat is definitely the star of the show!

Ingredients:

3 lbs venison meat
olive oil
all purpose flour
2 large onions
4 stalks celery (plus some leaves if there are any)
2 large carrots
2 medium parsnips
4 cloves garlic
2 jalapeno peppers
1 can organic diced tomatoes
1 C red wine
5 C beef stock
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp Herbs de Provence
salt and pepper

Tools:

Large non-stick pot
plastic spatula
large plastic spoon
large santoku-style knife
small paring knife
several small to medium sized bowls
re-purposed scrubber
peeler
wood cutting board

Directions:

  1. First cut up all vegetables and place into bowls. Different vegetables cook differently so I find it helpful to put certain vegetables together: onions and celery, carrots and parsnips, garlic and jalapenos. Then I’ll add the vegetable “groupings” to the pot at the same time.
  2. Cut up the meat into stew sized pieces, cutting against the grain. Place meat in a large zipper bag.
    Add 1/3 C flour, salt and pepper (to taste) to the bag. Seal the bag making sure there’s plenty of air in the bag and shake up the meat to coat it.
  3. Put about 2 Tbsp oil in the pot and turn to medium heat.
  4. Dump half the meat from the zipper bag into the hot oil and brown meat on all sides. This takes about 4-5 minutes. [Don’t worry about doing this perfectly, just toss the meat around every half minute or so and you’ll get most of it browned.] Remove the meat to a large bowl and do the same thing with the other half. Add a little more oil to the pot if needed, about a teaspoon at a time. Remove the second batch to the bowl as well.
  5. Add a tiny bit more oil if you need to, and add the onions and celery to the pot. Saute these briefly until they start to soften.
  6. Add the carrots and parsnips and continue to saute until the vegetables start to brown.
  7. Finally add the garlic and jalapeno and saute for another minute or so.
  8. Add the red wine to the pot and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula to release whatever yummy stuff has stuck to the bottom of the pan. Let that simmer for a minute.
  9. Add the meat, tomato, stock, and seasonings to the pot and bring to a boil.
  10. Reduce heat to a low simmer, cover, and let cook for an hour. Check it occasionally to make sure the simmer is low and that you aren’t losing liquid. You can add more stock to the pot if you like. Just don’t add stock or water within the last 20 minutes or the flavors won’t all have time to blend.

Serve with crusty whole grain bread, preferably home made!
[Note: Most seasoned makers of venison stew claim that slow cooking is the best method. Deer meat is lean but it is not super-tender in general. I would have to agree that if this stew was made in the slow cooker it probably would be a lot more tender. I have’t tried it yet since hunting season is over, but if you do try that please let us know how it turns out! If you’re wondering how, just put everything in your slow cooker at step 9 and cook it on low for 6-8 hours.]

Nutrition Information:

Servings: 6
Calories: 461
Protein: 55 g
Fat: 11 g
Carbohydrates: 24 g
Fiber: 4 g
Sugar: 8 g
Sodium: 646 mg