willsfamilyacres

Making soup is often an all day event, allowing the flavors to slowly marry. As nice as that sounds, the reality can be quite different. Sometimes it is a Wednesday night, everyone’s hungry, and you have yet another ripe head of broccoli in the fridge.

The trick to quick soup, is to cook all of the individual ingredients separately.

Chop the onions and carrots into small pieces and sautée them in butter, with some salt and pepper. Use butter instead of the usual olive oil, since it works better for making a roux. When the onions/carrots are almost cooked through, add a few chopped mushrooms to the mix.

After softened, add 3 tbsps of flour. Cook on medium until flour starts to brown. Slowly add milk, stirring as you go. You can also add in some chicken stock for flavor.

Steam the broccoli – taking the cooking time to under 20 minutes. I had great luck with romanesca broccoli this year – a very tasty and beautiful variety.

Cook a few red potatoes in the microwave. Once cooked, cut them into bite size pieces.

I defrosted some previously roasted, frozen turkey.

Once the soup is thickened,  add the broccoli, potatoes, and turkey, and shredded cheese until everything is heated through.

Serve with crackers or bread.

Read Full Post »

Fried rice is one of my go-to recipes. It can be made with any number of ingredients, it just depends on what I currently have in the garden. This version used  cabbage, carrots, peppers (frozen), and onions. I also have been known to put in kohlrabi, greens, peas, roasted chiles  – you name it.

The basis for the recipe is the same. Dice up the veggies and add them to a medium-hot pan of heated olive oil. Add salt/pepper to taste.  I chop the veggies in size based on how quickly they cook. I cut the carrots in smaller dices / thinner slices than the onions. The cabbage I cut in slightly larger chunks. Cook until soft.

I used smoke chicken, that I had previously frozen, but fresh chicken, pulled pork, or brisket also work great.

Once this meat is cooked, mix it in with the veggies.

Separately cook eggs. I like to pan scramble on med-high heat. I tend to cook scrambled eggs to a little drier texture for the fried rice.

At the same time, cook the rice. Once cooked, add in soy sauce and optionally a little siracha. I like to add the soy sauce before the veggies, to keep the fresh flavors of the dish.

Stir rice, veggies, and eggs together and serve.

Read Full Post »

Zucchini Marinara

Dice onion and mince carrots and garlic.

Chop squash and basil and oregano. I used tatume squash since it is less susceptible to the squash vine borer.

One can of crushed tomatoes.

Saute onion, garlic and carrots. Once softened add 1 lb venison (or beef) and season with salt and pepper. Once the meat is cooked through, add squash, herbs and tomatoes.

Cook through until squash is softened and sauce thickens.

Add tomato paste to get desired thickness.

Cook spaghetti noodles separately and add to sauce.

Lamb and Venison Patties with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Chop onions, bell peppers. Mince carrots and garlic.

Saute veggies in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Start with 1 lb each lamb and venison

Add 2 eggs and ketchup. I used whataburger spicy ketchup this time.

Crush saltines, add salt and pepper

Add sautéed veggies and mix all ingredients.

Cook to desired doneness on med-high heat.

Large chop sweet potatoes

Mix with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Cook in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Serve patties and sweet potatoes with butter-balsamic green beans.

Roast Duck & Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Quesadillas are one of my go-to meals. You can use any veggies you have in the garden (or fridge) and any leftover meat.

Saute onions, squash, mushrooms and garlic. Once these are softened, add chopped squash blossoms and smoked duck. We pre-smoke several ducks at a time and freeze ready-to-eat packages.

Put tortilla in non-greased, nonstick pan on med-high heat. Layer cheese, meat/veggie mixture, and a second layer of cheese. Cook each side until golden brown.

Serve with your choice of salsa.

Read Full Post »

When we processed our last round of ducks we decided to piece them out (breasts, legs, wings) and save the carcasses for stock. Today was the Detroit Lions bye week, so I took the opportunity to make duck stock.

The first step was to coat the bones with canola oil and salt. I then roasted them for an hour at 400 degrees. I used 6 the bodies and necks of 6 ducks.

After roasting, I put the bones in a very large stock pot and covered them with water. I simmered the bones for about 3 hours.

While the bones were simmering, I tossed chopped onion, celery, carrot, and garlic in the duck fat and roasted the veggies in the oven for 45 minutes. After roasting, I added a few cups of water to scrape up the bits stuck to the pan.

Next, I stirred everything together, along with sage, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper. I cooked this for another 2 hours.

Once cooked, I removed the bones and strained out the veggies and herbs. I used paper towels in a sieve, replacing the paper towels several times.

After straining, I simmered the stock for a while longer, concentrating the flavor.

Finally, I put the stock in canning jars, let them cool a bit, and put them in the freezer. I don’t have a pressure canner, which is why I did not can the stock. I ended up with 10 pints!

I used the recipe from Hank Shaw’s “Duck Duck Goose” as a guideline.

Read Full Post »