Shelby

😂 I love sharpies, too. I think you've hit the nail on the head.....I like the folding of the paper and the taping. Using the VacMaster would probably save room in the freezer though.

I dunno. Habit I suppose. ☺️ Or maybe I was a butcher in my past life and I have a strong attachment to that white butcher paper.......

Oh believe me, she did. She got some for her and then snuck around the side of the garage and got the outside cats portion 🙄I was worried we were going to have an epic throw-up but all was well lol.

I'm back from the big city. Had a periodontist appt. Got my stitches out after over a month of having them! *happy dance* and I have a little break before a next yucky appt. So, yesterday we did the grinding. I know I've posted about it before, but this leg of the blog seems incomplete if I don't do it again Pot of meat that I dumped into cold water in the sink--the guys did a really good job of cleaning it up so there really wasn't much for me to do. Beef fat to grind with. We have a big pork roast too. The next deer we will grind with that. First run through the grinder Second run through Wrapped in cling wrap Then butcher paper Got about 30 lbs now in the freezer I'll go ahead and post last nights dinner here since it ties in. We're always hungry for fresh burger after we're done so I saved some and made mozzarella stuffed meatballs Again, thanks for keeping me company this week and I'll see you back here maybe in the spring , for sure next fall

Hi hi!!! Sorry I haven't finished up today. Did the grinding and packaging this afternoon but am pressed for time. I'll post tomorrow afternoon I promise

About 20 glasses of wine.

Hot wings, blurry fries and salad with some more of that cilantro lime dressing

I've not had that problem......but then again, mine are the most basic things ever lol. Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage and puff pastry.

The really bad part is that was the first thought that I had (to look inside the dishwasher) but I thought "Nah, they would have done that".

This new dishwasher actually washes the dishes 😳

Hi Paul!

Montrose!! I used to live about 80 miles from there in Lake City, CO! Montrose and Gunnison were the "big cities" to us Our big city is about 400,000.

Every single one of you guys have made my day Thanks to all who read here. You guys keep me motivated. We decided to make burger out of the rest of the deer--we've been going through last years like crazy so need to re-stock. There is another week of deer season plus a doe season in January so another one will probably be gotten. I'm going to go get the bag of meat here in a bit and begin cutting and cleaning it up. Might grind this afternoon. I know I've shown it before, but I'll take pictures and post here of that process. Back to yesterday: After the dishwasher installation issues (ahem....they drove all the way to the big city to get parts and come to find out, the parts they needed were inside the dishwasher 🙃) the decision was made just to hang out here and watch football. So, I poured a wine and started on dinner. The guys wanted Mexican. I rummaged around the freezer and found a piece of pork loin. Not my fave to make enchiladas out of, but oh well. I did that in the IP along with some chicken broth and some orange juice and cumin etc. then mixed it with some sour cream and diced onion. Easy peasy because I had some Hatch chile sauce made and in the freezer. Threw some RG beans in the other IP and dinner was double easy. Rotel cheese dip Oh and I also tried a new recipe for lime cilantro dressing. A keeper Plates The guys were going to go out this morning before our friends flight, but the wind is blowing a zillion miles and hour and nothing will be moving around. It's blustery, just how I like it . I'm going to finish my coffee and then attack some venison meat. Be back later or tomorrow with grinding pictures

They do! The filet is the tenderloin and a KC strip has the backstrap in it.

I say this every time I see your dining room. I adore it. Food looks great too.

The tenderloin is inside the body cavity near the pelvic region---it is a lot smaller than the backstrap. It's exposed to the air after you gut the deer so that's why one should take them out so they don't get dry. The backstrap is outside of the body cavity on both sides of the spine and is much longer and wider than the tenderloin. Both cuts are the most coveted part of the deer. The tenderloin is just as it says, very tender. Well, this year we cut them up into chunks and our wonderful outdoor cats are enjoying them immensely . I have a few ziplock full in the fridge and have been doling out snacks. I sous vide the heart either last year or the year before....didn't care for it very much. I think I posted about it in this thread somewhere???

These days have flown by. No deer yesterday. The guys got home pretty early to watch football and bone out the deer that was hanging. As usual, I putzed around in the kitchen. Had enough breakfast burritos left that I didn't have to make any breakfast for this morning. The guys wanted venison steaks for dinner so I decided to get the backstraps and tenderloins out of the fridge and get them cut up. Backstraps After getting the silver skin off and cleaning them up The cats LOVE venison. I can hardly keep them out of it. I cut off little bits for them and they purr very loudly. Cut into nice thick steaks Tenderloins Tenderloin steaks Snacky stuff to munch on I had a package of doves in the freezer from September, so they grilled some of those up too. Scalloped potatoes Stewed tomatoes Brussels sprouts My plate--my steak was perfectly done and so tender Sooooooo, Christmas is coming early for Shelby. My existing dishwasher is disgusting. It's too embarrassing to even post a picture. I've tried cleaning it with citric acid....etc. it's just simply time for a new one. I asked for one for Christmas, not really expecting it to happen. But, the guys pulled in with one yesterday! They are now trying to install it. Of course, we are missing a key part so they are off to the big city. Nothing is ever easy around here . I will be majorly cleaning my kitchen after this ordeal is done lol. I so appreciate it. It's so shiny and pretty I don't even want to use it. Our friend also raised a cabinet in my laundry room so I can actually open the washer and put clothes in without having to hold the lid with one hand. I won't know what to do with myself after all of this Anyway, hopefully they will be done with this chore in a couple of hours and then they are going out to deer hunt late afternoon and evening. I'm pondering dinner. Mexican sounds good. I'll think on it longer..... I gotta do some cleaning real quick while the coast is clear

Jaymes!!! So great to see you!!! I love love love that squash. We probably eat that squash at least once a week and I always think of you while making it No. You don't want to do that. It would be very strong in a bad gamey way. It's too bad because there are a lot of bones, but it wouldn't taste good. Yes! Thank you BD, that is the recipe

The guts and tenderloins take about 10 minutes--but we've done zillions. Had a lot of practice. After that we bone the deer out meaning that we get all the meat off. That probably takes 45 mins to an hour. We usually put all that in huge, clean trash bags and put them in the outside fridge (that's what happened this time too). Tomorrow I'll bring it all inside and soak the meat in a sinks full of cold water. That makes sure to get any hair etc. off. Then I clean the meat up for packaging meaning getting tendons, silver skin off. Then wrap in cling wrap and then butcher paper. That probably all takes an hour or so. Depends on if I stop for sips of wine 😁

Yeah these are super cool!

It's Saturday No deer gotten yesterday. They all came out just as the light was fading and too dark to shoot. Chum and the cats spent yesterday afternoon napping in the sun in the front room while I puttered around the kitchen. Dr. Lecter especially likes this and snuggles up to Chum--which she politely tolerates for a bit and then moves. The alarm went off this morning at the usual middle of the night time lol. Ronnie got up and got downstairs before Chum roused herself...you could tell she was struggling between going back to sleep and getting up to go. Getting up prevailed and she bounded after him. Back to yesterday: Trying to change things up, I decided to make breakfast burritos for this morning. Just the usual sausage, egg, cheese and a few pickled jalapeños. Then I moved on to the pork belly. I like pork belly done about any way you can think of. I usually do it in the IP--easy and melty delicious, but I wanted that crispy crust of skin on top and the IP isn't good for that. So, I looked around the internet and found a recipe. Yes, you shouldn't try a new recipe when you have company, but I did it anyway. The recipe said to poke holes in the skin with an ice pick--don't go through the layer of fat, just the skin. Out of all the utensils I have, I do not own an ice pick. So, I used a knife which wasn't the best, but I made do. Then you turn it over and rub Chinese cooking wine, 5 spice powder, salt and pepper into the meat. Turn it back over onto a tray, pat the skin dry and let it marinate in the fridge. It said 12 hours, but I did it for about 5. I'll get back to the belly later. Appetizers were definitely un-Asian. When I try to find appetizers to go with that type of meal, it always sends me to egg rolls which we eat with the main meal... Anyway, the ever solid Knorr veggie dip in a sourdough bread bowl and @Kim Shook's sausage pimento balls. I over heard our friend saying how much he loves these Next I prepped all the tofu and veggies and sauce for the drunken noodles. I need the veggies to be softer for me to eat, so I did the broccoli in the IP on 0 minutes quick release. Not falling apart, but not crunchy. Success. And, I like to crisp up the tofu in a skillet a bit. On to the baby bok choy. A glug of oil in the IP and sauté a couple chunks of garlic. Wash the bok choy, cut off the hard ends and place in the IP with about 1/2 cup of water or so. Again I needed the bok choy to be soft so I did 10 mins, quick release. Back to the pork belly: When ready to cook, you pat the skin dry again, brush with vinegar and cover the skin with rock salt. Bake at 350F for an hour. I did it in the CSO on steam bake. When the hour was up, I took the meat out until it was about 30 minutes before we were to eat. Then --still following the recipe--I brushed the salt off, put it back in the CSO and broiled at 500F for about 20 mins. I was terrified and I was starting to do that nervous sweaty thing. It didn't puff up like I thought it would...a few places were burned...a few weren't done enough, but I forged ahead. I picked off the really burned parts and cut the belly into strips and placed it on the platter like I was confident. Ha. By then the oil was hot enough to fry the egg rolls ( I made those last week and froze them) And yay, dinner was ready. Drunken Noodles Bok Choy drizzled with a bit of rice vinegar and soy sauce Egg Rolls And pork belly The belly was actually good despite my best efforts to screw it up lol. I need practice. Again, the skin wasn't exactly like I imagined it, but it was ok. I think our friend ate half of this platter lol. The meat and fat were meltingly tender and when you happened to get a bite that had the perfect skin ( I ate a tiny bite with the skin even though I wasn't supposed to ), it was like the angels were singing. The guys really liked the contrast between the skin and the rest. So, the plan is that they hunt for a while and then our friend wants to come back here and watch the LSU-Georgia game while they bone out the deer. I'm having them put all the parts in the fridge and I'll work on that either tomorrow or Monday. I have an assortment of cheeses laid out to "warm" up. Cheese always is better like that I think. I'm going to do a platter of nibble-y stuff for the appetizers and that's as far as I've gotten. Need to figure out dinner tomorrow. But first, I need to go start some laundry and I need to vacuum but I have two sleeping cats in here and I can't bear to wake them up

That's why I was only slightly worried. I have nothing against a good dose of NyQuil or a shot of whiskey to get a kid to pipe down. 🤣

I was slightly worried about a bus full of tipsy nursery school kids until I got to this part.

🤣 I swear on my life, I'm the opposite of energetic. Box 'O Drunk=Shelby's Red Bull Maybe I should start drinking when I get up in the morning.....might get more done. Or at least I'd think I got more done. 😳 I can't tell Ronnie this. He would be in his truck in a hot minute driving out there. It's around 15.99 to 18.99 here. Some places give 20% off when you buy a case.

😂 I was hoping no one would see that. When we go to town we stock up--it's like 2-3 dollars more a box at the closest liquor store to me. It does seem to be a very popular wine--at times we go to buy some and it's sold out. However, it is very sweet. If you like dry wine, this is not the one for you. What can I say? I'm a cheap date Happy Friday everyone! The guys rolled out of bed at 4:45 again this morning. Chum lifted her head up, groaned and went back to sleep. 🤣 I asked her if she wanted to go and all I got was another groan. She does this occasionally when Ronnie hunts a million days in a row. My girl needs her beauty sleep. So, she's now peacefully snoozing on the couch. I'm sure the guys would be very happy with me if I'd bring her out to be with them now, but I think we need a girls day in . A look at the early morning sky Breakfast for this morning. Smoked venison sausage that our hunter friend brought. Appetizers--with special thanks to @gfweb for the sun-dried tomato dip recipe. REALLY good. I used some of the cherry tomatoes that I semi dried and put in olive oil in the fridge. Worked like a charm. I might need some for breakfast. Also put out some zucchini butter. Our friend brought some pheasant breasts out with him too. He doesn't really care for them too much. Always dry he says. I hoped to change his mind with pheasant piccata. And I did All pounded, dredged in flour and fried. Plated with a white wine lemon caper sauce, my canned green beans and a mushroom alfredo pasta. I think I'm going to do something Asian-ish tonight so that means I need to start right now. I am so slow at that cuisine. I'm not sure why lol. I think the guys are doing some duck/goose hunting (don't tell Chum, she'll be sad she slept in) so maybe we can have those for dinner tomorrow. I best get going. Need some coffee first.........it's a cold morning and coffee sounds good.