Another "First".....

Today is my Birthday.  Today is also my sister's Birthday.  And today we are passing another "First" and that would be my first birthday without my mother. 

We are actually going to celebrate this weekend with the whole family.  I'm cooking a brisket, Chickie is cooking sausage and ribs and the rest of the menu is divided up between everyone.

I think this will be the first birthday in a very long time that I have not had a Lemon Meringue Pie as my birthday dessert. 

Mother always used to make me a pie because I'm not a big fan of cake.  I just don't have the heart to make it myself so I'm just making the "traditional Peach Cobbler" that is as much a part of Texas Bar-B-Que as catcus is to the landscape here. 

I'm a little sad...but not about age.  Heck, age is nothing to me.  I'm healthy and fit and creeping every closer to that 60 degree mark but that doesn't bother me.  I'm just sad because my mom (who is the reason that I am on this earth) is not here to celebrate.  I'll get used to it...I just need time. 

 

Venison Stroganoff

This is the time of year for comfort food and Venison Stroganoff is just one of those in our household. 

It all starts with Venison.

  I normally use parts of the shoulders and parts of the ham for stroganoff because it cooks low and slow and that helps break down all that connective tissue that is in the shoulder.  The pieces that come off the ham are pieces that are too small to be used as steak bites. 

 

So cut up about 1lb. of venison.

 ** Note to the reading audience.  I don't think that deer or any wild animal tastes "wild".  I've heard that expression used most of my life and just hate the term.  Deer tastes like deer.  If you want it to taste like beef then eat beef.  The only "wild" taste that I can decipher would be if a deer or any other wild animal is not cleaned and dressed properly.  For all you non-outdoor people...that simply means, skinned, gutted and cut up.  Deer have a lot of glands all over their body and if you happen to cut through one of those it will definately taint your meat if you continue to butcher without cleaning your knife.  Good knife skills matter and if you watch where you put your knife you will never have any problems.   Sorry about the rant...it just one of those things that bug me, because I can't understand why you would choose to eat something and want it to taste like something else.  If you want to eat something else then eat that.  I'm done...sorry.

 

O.K. where was I...Oh yeah, cut up about 1 lb. of venison.  You can cut up the meat in strips or cube it, whatever floats your boat.

Toss the meat in a little flour till it's completely covered.  This step will help thicken the sauce as it cooks.
Take 2 Tablespoons of butter or olive oil and melt in a heavy stockpot or dutch oven.  I prefer butter in this instance but you use what you like. 
Brown the cubes or strips on all sides...slowly, slowly...remember we want to break up that connective tissue.  And we'd like to get some of that dark goodness on the bottom of the pot that will help with flavor later on.

While the meat is browning cut up about 1/2 a large onion and a couple of cloves of garlic.  Add them to the browning meat and stir all together until the onions are transparent and limp.

Once the onions have cooked add 1 can of tomato paste.  Mix throughly through the meat and onion/garlic mixture till it looks throughly combined.

Then add 1 cup of beef broth and some wine.  I prefer a white Zin but you use what you like to drink.  I'm not much of a red wine drinker although I do use it in my spaghetti sauce but I also use the white Zin as well.  As to how much to add.....it's up to you.  I add at least 1/2 cup but if you feel like you need to add more then add more.

Once all this stuff is added and mixed well together, put on the lid and let it simmer for about 1/2 hour.  Check several times and stir to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.  About 15 minutes before serving add a cup of sour cream or if you are looking to make it a little healthier then you can add the same amount of Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream. 

 

 Mix in the sour cream well and let it all get nice and warm.  Don't let the mixture come to a boil at this point.  Just make sure it all gets mixed in together and all warm.

While the mixture is getting warm start to cook your pasta or rice.  Some people prefer rice in this dish and I can eat it either way but my hubby prefers pasta.  I use extra wide egg noodles.

 

Once the noodles/rice has cooked then just put noodles/rice in your bowl and spoon the stroganoff over.  I serve this with a green salad and some Rustic Rolls.

 

Recipe: 1 lb. Venison
flour to coat
2 Tbls. butter or olive oil (you might be need another 2 Tbls. later on)
1/2 large onion chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup wine
1 cup sour cream

Cut 1 lb. venison into strips or cubes.  Coat meat with flour.  Melt 2 Tbls. butter in Dutch oven or heavy stockpot and when it's melted add the meat.  Cook still it's brown on all sides.  You want to cook it slowly but you want to hear it sizzle.  Remember the idea here is to melt all that connective tissue. 
Then when browned add the onion and garlic and cook 3 or 4 minutes till onion is translucent.  Now if the pan is a little dry you can add a little more butter or olive oil.  Sometimes I need to do it, sometimes I don't.  Depends on how fatty the dear is...sometimes some deer have more fat than others.
Now blend in the tomato paste and mix well with meat.  Stir in the beef stock and wine and cook gently till thickened and bubbly.
About 1/2 hour before serving add 1 cup of sour cream and mix in well.  Cook gently till all is warmed and serve with egg noodles or rice.

The Front Yard Project

 I've wanted to post these pictures of the Front yard project for a while now but life sometimes get busy and complicated.  My normal time to be on the computer is early in the morning when I get up and the house is quiet but my job these past couple of months require me to be out of the house by about 7:30 and so getting some quality time on the computer has come to almost a standstill.  And then when I got home there were other things that required my attention so no computer time for me.

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Up until now we have been a one computer family and it's worked just fine.  I mean we are only two people so one computer seemed to work just fine...that is until my job changed and I couldn't get to the computer during the day.  I'm sure you are asking yourself why didn't I just use the computer at night....there are several reasons for that.  1 is that my husband is usually on the computer in the evening and it's how he winds down after a hard day of work.  Another reason is that I gather my thoughts best when I don't feel like I'm under a time constraint and even though my husband would be just fine with me using the computer all evening....I'd just rather do it at my leisure.  

So I'd been tossing around the idea of a laptop for a while now and I'd done some homework on them and I bit the bullet and bought one.  For someone who has always been a desk top person there is a bit of a learning curve but I am getting used to it slowly .  

That was a bit of a long way of getting around to posting these pictures but if you look back at the first post about the front yard project you can see we've come a long way.  We still have some work to do but you can see the direction that we are headed.   I will be very excited to get this project done and finally have the front garden that we both want and can be proud of.                                              

I'll post more pictures when there are more to show and I'll keep you updated on the backyard as well.

Fire and Rain

As you can see by the rain gauge, we have received 3 3/4" of rain this past week.  It's a wonderful thing in this drought stricken part of the country.  It isn't a drought breaker, (we'd need this amount every week for at least a couple of months before we could say that)
but it is a step in the right direction.

So when we have a chance at a few days of drizzle and the county lifts the burn bans we get to work on much needed chores...which are burning burn piles.
Let me just say this for the record.....I am skeered of fire...very, very skeered.  A wild fire through here, with the conditions such as they are could do an incredible amount of damage (look at the reports of the Bastrop Fire a year or so ago ) in a short amount of time.

One reason is that when you live rurally like we do you are only covered by small independent Fire Stations.  We don't live in the city limits so we don't have the infrastructure (fire hydrants) that a fire truck could pull up to and start spraying water.  We are limited to trucks that can carry their own water.  There are not roads everywhere and the terrain can be treacherous so fighting the fire is just altogether difficult.

IMPORTANT NOTE HERE:  I'm having trouble posting pictures....but wanted to publish this so I'm just going to continue this post and maybe add the pictures later...although it won't nearly be as interesting without the pictures of FIRE!

 

Even though we have an established road and driveway....vegetation continues to grow...even in a drought and we do have to do some trimming from time to time.  What usually ends up happening is that we do a fair amount of trimming and put it in a pile or two and then when the conditions are right we burn it. 

It's always a little scary for me in the beginning...even though we've done this a time or 10.  When that first bunch of branches finally catches on fire and it's on it's way.  And for some unknown reason...even though it's been dead calm...the minute the match lights the first branch on fire...the wind begins.  Maybe it's because fire creates wind...I don't know that to be true but it sure does seem like it. 

So we got the rain and the burn ban was lifted for a couple of days and we thought that we'd take advantage of  it all and burn, baby, burn.

We actually had two piles to burn but decided that we'd just do the biggest pile for now and wait until we had more rain to do the second.

The whole process took around 3+hours from start to the ash pile.    

Christmas without Mom

This was our first Christmas without mom.  I don't think that Christmas is ever going to feel the same again.  We had the people, we had the food and we had the decorations and presents but the most important element was my mom's presence and she's not here.

My mother had such a way with Christmas.  It was her most favorite time of the year and she was completely in her element. 

 

From my first memories of Christmas in our home it was a time of happiness and anticipation of presents yet to be opened.  The tree would be bought and ornaments would be brought out and hung with care.  And tinsel had to be strung just so....there was no getting around just throwing the tinsel on...you had to ever so carefully place it just so.  As children we could not appreciate the careful placement but as we grew up it began to take on a new meaning and it was a time when we were all together as a family doing something together. 

 

My mother had a way with Christmas presents as well.  I cannot tell you how many times that I could not for the life of me think of something that I wanted other than a cookbook or a novel and my mother would find something special for me and put it under the tree.  She had a gift for gift giving.  She knew us so well that she knew what we wanted even when we could not think of it ourselves. 

 

I was not looking forward to the annual picture taking around the tree.  We've done it every year with my older brother making the sign with the year on it.   But no one mentioned it this year and I have to say "Thank You" as I think I would have been reduced to tears at that point.  

 

My father said the blessing before the meal this year...something he has not done in decades and he choked up when he mentioned the woman who was responsible for this family.  It was a moment. 

 

We are creating new memories and we are learning how to deal with our loss. 

 

I knew that this Christmas would be the hardest but we were able to celebrate it and we were able to even have a few laughs.  It doesn't mean that it won't hurt every year...but this next year I'm hoping it will hurt a little less. 

 

No, Christmas will never be the same and I will ALWAYS miss my mother not being a part of it anymore but we will pull together as a family and make the best of it that we can. 

The Stray Table

Today I made homemade marshmallows.  If I was a better blogger and thought about things in advance I would have taken pictures of the whole process...but as it is...you will just have to be happy with a picture of the finished product. 
Marshmallows are a relatively easy thing to make.  Bloom some gelatine, make a sugar mixture, add the two together and presto you have marshmallows.  It's fun...simple, fast and they are really, really good.  And when you do this....you can make changes to the taste. For instance...if you wanted a peppermint flavored marshmallow then all you have to do is add peppermint flavored extract.  Do you get my drift?  Varieties are endless.
I'm not all that concerned with Thanksgiving and being without Mother.  That's because years ago when we all started getting married and started to have whole other families involved...Mother decided that to make things easier on us...they (she and Dad) would travel to Vegas to have Thanksgiving with my younger brother and his wife.  This worked out wonderfully for us not having to decide whos house to go to or worse..have to eat two meals.  And like I say...it worked wonderfully for years...then there was the year that Bob's mother got sick.  I kept asking her to allow me to do Thanksgiving dinner.  We had the room and the time and all she would have to do is sit back and enjoy.  She staunchly refused and then called us the night before and told us that she would not be able to do it.  We'd been invited to several other Thanksgiving dinners but had turned them down because Polly was going to do it.  I don't feel like it's proper manners to call someone up the night before and say..."Hey, our plans have changed...do you still have room".  To be honest...most people probably wouldn't bat an eyelash at that and they'd all have enough for us to eat...but it's still not polite and so we decided that we'd just do our own thing...
So with the weather being pretty nasty...cold and wet....we headed out in jeans and sweats to see what was open.  We had to travel down the interstate into the next town and we found some sort of family eatery....not cafeteria style but something similar and we had what had to be the worst Thanksgiving Dinner EVER!!!! 
I swore up and down that this was never going to happen again and that Polly would just have to give up and I wouldn't take no for an answer.  Not 4 months later Polly died and I said to Bob..."I don't care who you invite, just start inviting people and we'll feed them.  And so he did and that is the beginning of what we like to call "The Stray Table". 
So this is for people who would rather not go to families (for whatever reason) and it's for our friends, and it's for people who don't have anywhere else to go. 
We've had as many at 22 and we've had as little as 10.  All different people from all walks of life.  The conversation is always lively and interesting and I work my butt off...but it makes me happy. 
So Daddy heads to Vegas tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and his family and today I began the initial prep work for Thanksgiving. 
If you celebrate...Have a wonderful Thanksgiving...if you don't have anyplace to go...come on by...we'll be more than happy to feed you. 

Sunday I Race

For the past 12 years I have raced in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Austin, Texas.  And for the past 12 years I have raced in Celebration that my mother was alive and seemed to be cured of the breast cancer that she was diagnosed with 16 years ago. 
This Sunday is different.  This Sunday I will have to race in memory of my mother who lost that fight and I've been emotional about it all week. 
As I have done in the past two years I will post the following to my facebook page.

Tomorrow I Race.
Tomorrow I Race in Celebration of all those who have fought and won the battle against Breast Cancer. 
Tomorrow I Race in Support of all those who are fighting Breast Cancer.
Tomorrow I Race in Memory of all those who have lost the fight and tomorrow I race with the hope in my heart that a cure will be found and I will never have to race again.  

This time my post will be.....
Tomorrow I Race.
Tomorrow I Race in Memory of my mother who lost her fight against Breast Cancer and all those who have gone before her.
Tomorrow I Race in Celebration of those who have won the fight.
Tomorrow I Race in Support of all those who are fighting and tomorrow I race with the hope in my heart that a cure will be found and I will never have to race again.