Shelby

You're very right. I think deep down I enjoy making things harder on myself 🙃

It's like you're in my kitchen 🤣. The cast iron is a complete mess. It's soaking as we speak. I HATE cleaning it, but clean it I shall. They've gotten bigger ones and they try to always get bigger than before. Plus, yeah, I really want a nice dry doe. Bucks are SO tough. It's been years since I've had some really good steaks and roasts because I turn the tough guys all into hamburger.

Happy Saturday! It's another frosty kinda foggy morning. I'm trying to decide if I want any of my mostly cream and sugar coffee.....it seems like a monumental decision for some reason 🤣 I think I really just want something warm for my hands to hold. So I should just do a mug of hot water lol. I knew yesterday was going to be a long one and it was lol. I started frying a little after three and got done a few minutes before 5. I had 4 trays of chicken gizzards which I knew I wasn't going to do all 4 because that would be too much. Then I had a long panic because I hadn't thought far enough ahead about how I was going to fit all of these guts into pressure cookers. I have a big IP which is what I had initially thought I'd use for the chicken gizzards and then I'd use a normal size IP for the duck/goose gizzards BUT it hit me that I don't have a large sized rack of any kind for the big IP. I need to rectify that but there was no time to do it yesterday. So, I finally decided to do the goose/duck gizzards right away and then keep them warm in a steam boy. Thankfully that worked! PHEW. Like @Smithyand I were talking about yesterday, you do need to clean gizzards very well. Store bought ones should be pretty clean already but I go through them all just in case. More often than not I run across this: You don't want that yellowish piece of tough whatever-it-is on there. It peels off easily though. Chicken gizzards Taking a swim in buttermilk Goose/duck gizzards In their buttermilk pool Frying Chicken gizzards fried and ready to pressure cook for 40 mins Inside the IP with a cup of water below I split the chicken gizzards between two regular sized IPs. I used this tray thingy for the other batch--I didn't use the middle tray. All done! Goose/duck gizzards all done and keeping warm Chipped beef cheese ball, leftover deviled eggs and meats and cheeses for appetizers Once the guts were all merrily pressure cooking I started on scalloped potatoes. I used my mandolin and thinly sliced potatoes (I listened to @rotutsand left the skins on ). Then I buttered the hell out of a cast iron and put a layer of potatoes down, sprinkled with Lawry's and black pepper and then sprinkled with sharp cheddar. Repeat until the pan is full. Pour heavy cream in until you can see it surrounding the potatoes. Cover and bring to a slight simmer. You want to watch because it's easy to burn the bottom of the potatoes. Once the potatoes are tender (poke a knife in to test), remove the lid and let the rest of the cream cook into the potatoes. They're great just like that or you can sprinkle with a bit more cheese and pop them under the broiler: Salad to go with My small plate lol--I was almost too tired to eat Lots of leftovers for today to snack on. No luck this morning but I got sent some good pictures of some nice boys I've gotta clean my stove. You should see it 😮

Sigh. Nothing tonight. They are eating overnight which I don't blame them. It's not the end of the world--there's still another week after our friend goes home...but it's just so much more fun and easier when he's here. There's still tomorrow and he doesn't leave until later on Sunday. I think it was @Norm Matthews that said somewhere around here that there's nothing like a Kansas sunset.

I think yours look perfect. I struggle too.....it's a fine line between not enough filling and toooooooo much. I start with enough room at the end to make a roll over. I first pinch in each side and then roll if that makes sense. I do add salsa a lot but you're right--I use a thicker type salsa and also use a fork to dip it out to make it less juicy. I do a lot better with the spring roll/egg rolls. I guess it's easier to not put as much stuff in because in a breakfast burrito I want ALLLLLL the things lol.

I'm never frying anything ever again. Until a few days from now when I'll want wings. TWO hours of frying. I need a fainting couch.

Thanks SO much for the encouragement--I'm not feeling like such a great hostess right now lol. I've decided to do the apple galette tomorrow. I need my steam boys for other things tonight. Besides...it will be a good finale (that's what I'm telling myself lol.

Sent to me just now: I think this gal is going to get in the blind with them

Good morning! It's a frosty, foggy morning over here. The guys are of course out doing their thing. They saw lots of deer yesterday but nothing tripped their trigger (haha). These are nice bucks And oh man was the moon bright last night. I would suspect that a lot of feeding went on overnight because it was almost like a bright sunny day lol. Super moon before it got dark last night And early this morning So...hopefully a nice dry doe will be gotten today. I'd like to have venison steaks for dinner tomorrow. But, if not, I have some nice choice beef steaks I'll sous vide. I got my Misfits boxes yesterday, thank you FedEx for not screwing up lol sigh. So we have a decent array of vegetables for a while. Anyway that took a bit to get everything put away and before I knew it it was time to put out some kind of snacky stuff. Not fancy but enough to take the edge off. Then I got busy on the ducks. I put paper towels over them to get them as dry as possible and then rubbed them with a ton of butter. I forgot to mention that we brined them before we froze them. After the butter I sprinkled with Lawry's salt and fresh black pepper. Then I stuffed them with a lemon wedge, and sprigs of thyme, rosemary and sage. After that they lounged on the counter for a while. Then I sorted through the tomatoes and got out the ones that needed to be used and peeled them. Next I did chopped onion, garlic and celery in butter, added the tomatoes and seasoning and let that simmer for a while. Right before serving I tore up a piece of toasted sourdough bread and added that. No picture...stewed tomatoes are boring lol. Next I fried a few strips of bacon, removed those and added trimmed up Brussels sprouts to the pan along with more onions and garlic and got those nice and roasted. Seasoned with yep, more Lawry's and black pepper, added a few glugs of chicken broth, put the lid on and let them get nice and tender. Just before serving I added shredded cheddar and the crumbled up bacon. I started the steam boys on 450 F about an hour ahead of time to get them nice and warmed up. Pintail and teal were done in about 15 mins. Mallards I did for 25--they were in the slower oven. Our hunter friend said they were just like an excellent steak so I think he liked them Today will be a busier day for me--sooooooooooooooooo much frying to do. I've already prepped my cast iron so it's all ready to go at least. I'm also thinking of making an apple galette out of the last of the apple pie filling I made from the apples on our tree. I was toying with making a lemon posset because I have a ton of lemons but I'm not sure I have room in the fridge for 3 dessert cups sigh lol. Anyway, we'll see what I get up to today. For right now I'm going to enjoy my hot cup of coffee that is mostly sugar and cream and bask in the quietness of the house.

The one time I tried it that way all of the breading slid off during frying. Maybe I'm missing something?

Yeah they do need to be cleaned well. The ones I buy are either from the grocery store or the Asian Market--the Asian Market ones are always nicely cleaned. I rinse them all in cold water and comb through them to make sure, though. I'll refer again to my hero Hank Shaw--he has a tutorial on cleaning gizzards here . I always soak mine in buttermilk for a while before frying, too. I believe it helps tenderize them a bit. I dump a bunch of flour in a gallon ziplock and add a copious amount of Lawry's salt and black pepper. Like really dump a lot more than you think. Mix that all together well. I don't dump all the gizzards in at once because it becomes a gummy mess. Just dredge a few at a time. I use a cast iron pan. Fill with enough veg. oil so that it can fry but not a ton. I probably do 1 1/2 to 2 inches? Then heat up the oil and fry turning over once to do both sides. You don't have to worry if they're done enough--just get a nice crisp like fried chicken. Once fried, drain on a paper towel--I put paper towels on a big square pan. After frying they can wait a while until you're ready to pressure cook them if you wish. When ready, I fill the instant pot with a cup of water and place the gizzards on a stand--I'll take a picture tomorrow. I might actually use two IP's just so they aren't so packed full. Pressure cook for 40 mins quick release. These won't be crunchy but they will be tender and delicious. KFC back in the day used to make these and they were wonderful.

I have quite a few tablecloths passed down from my Grammy. I'll have to ask my mom but I'm sure some are from my great grandmother. Quite a few are what I'd call vintage 50's patterns. Some beautiful lace ones like @SLB's. I'll have to dig around and see what I have. I like tablecloths, I just rarely use them because I'm messy lol.

My favorite are teal and pintail--mild flavored and tender. Coming in second are mallards. Mallards are a bit stronger tasting and can sometimes be a bit a bit tougher but sometimes not. I don't notice a difference in fat content except mallards are bigger so they have more of course. I'll roast the mallards together in one oven and the teal and pintail in the other. Teal and pintail take 15-20 mins. Mallards 20-25 mins. My oven on the right doesn't get as hot as the other so I have to watch it lol. I've decided to go with stewed tomatoes and cheesy Brussels sprouts. Maybe I'll do some more bread. I'm trying to be less carby because tomorrow and Saturday I'm doing something with potatoes for sides (spell check keeps changing "carby" to "crabby"--I'm trying to be less crabby too 🤣). Tomorrow I'm going to do the fried and then pressure cooked chicken gizzards--I'll also do the duck and goose gizzards I've saved up in the freezer. Probably a salad and French fries to go with. So, tomorrow will be a looooooooooong day of frying. But, once that's done it's easy from then on. We'll talk more about that later though. Just thinking about it is giving me anxiety lol.

She says thank you 😊 She's 6. I can't believe she's already 6. We got her in Jan of 2020 right before the pandemic. LOL yeah.....same. She got in the duck pond and it's now a dirty pink. I love balsamic vinegar with duck.

That looks delicious Patti! I also have saved the salad recipe. I don't have the cranberries or I'd make it tonight to go with duck....I do have fresh cranberries but I don't think I'd like that as well......... edited to say I don't think I have enough slaw mix either. But I WILL be making this soon.

Our hunter friend requested ducks so I've been hoarding these in the freezer. And I think that was the smart thing to do because this cold weather seems to have sent them further south. A few weeks ago Ronnie and Scout were getting tons of them though. (I got Scoutie a new collar. It's pink much to Ronnie's dismay but she and I love it 😁) So I have 3 teal, 2 mallards and a pintail to roast tonight. I may also do some guts....... Side dishes are always a challenge it seems like. My two steam boys will be in use for the ducks and I really don't want to unload all the pans stored in my normal sized oven so that leaves the stove top as the only option. I might do stewed tomatoes. Maybe I could do scalloped potatoes and then while the ducks are resting I could throw them in the steam boy to brown on the top? The guys got up about 4:30 this morning and are out at the shooting house. It's really cold but the wind has layed down so they might see something.

As we all know, time gets away from me and every year it seems to get worse. Our friend got on his connecting flight--just barely. He like 10 mins between the time the first flight landed to get over to the second one. I think he's decided that it's worth it to pay a bit more for direct flights from now on and I don't blame him. I made breakfast burritos early in the day--I never can seem to make enough scrambled eggs the first time so it took even longer because I had to go back and make more. Ronnie found a breakfast sausage mix that he really likes so he seasoned up some venison burger with it for me. Just eggs, venison breakfast sausage, cheese, a bit of salsa and some jalapeños. I left out the usual tater tots that I love to make it less carby. So that's done. There's enough for every morning so they won't go hungry but I will offer to make breakfast sandwiches if they get sick of these. I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner (I get a carb pass when our friend is here lol). I've probably talked about these before but I LOVE Hank Shaw's Venison Meatball Recipe. I deviate a bit and use a tablespoon or so of Italian seasoning from Sam's instead of the fennel. And I use Lawry's salt instead of regular. OH and I used Italian bread crumbs to roll them in in place of plain. I neglected to take a picture but after you roll the balls in the bread crumbs you just fry them in a skillet using oil. Easy peasy. They had stopped for lunch and by the time they got home from hunting yesterday it was about 6:30 so I just made a mess of deviled eggs and put out some spicy dill pickle pretzels and every thing bagel cashews from Nuts.com. I have a very bad addiction to that place now. I threw together a salad (you'll probably see a lot of those this time) , boiled the pasta (I had fleeting thoughts of making pasta but that was quickly put out of my mind lol), buttered and wrapped up some of my homemade French bread and warmed it and dinner was done!

Thank you so much! Lol....Santa doesn't scare me but I do feel at times he's a bit judgy......... I LOVE your Christmas decorations, too. I hope you'll show us a bit That Coca Cola Santa was my Grammy's and as long as I can remember he was always out. The life size Santa was a gift from Ronnie's mom. She got my sister in law one too. Her's is more of an old-timey Santa with pinks and mauves. She saw them while on vacation with my in laws in Georgia I believe. I can't remember whether they drove them home or had them shipped but either way I know it was a lot because he's very heavy! Awwww I'm happy that you de-lurked! You should do it more often I love your tree idea! I might just copy you!

Hello! What the hell was I thinking up there saying I'd for sure be back on my game by now? 🙄🤣 For reasons I won't go into here Thanksgiving week was..........rough. BUT, time marches on and deer week stops for no woman! And I'm here! For some reason I prodded myself into decorating for Christmas early in November. Which is good because I promise it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't already done lol. I'm glad it's done, though, because I find the twinkle lights comforting . A few pictures of the house to get us in deer season mood lol: My mom and step dad sent me this gorgeous FRESH wreath. It's been years since I've had a real tree or anything so I'm really enjoying the fragrance. It's hanging in the kitchen where I can see it and smell it all the time. It's turned off pretty cold--which is an excellent thing. No worrying about it being too hot to hang a deer. I wrestled with going to the big city to the grocery store and Sam's.....but it snowed a bit on Monday and I just felt like staying home. We have enough food plus I ordered a big Misfits delivery that hopefully will be here Thursday to supplement my fresh veggie stash. Speaking of veggies, before it froze my brother and sister in law gave us about 80 lbs of green tomatoes. I had thoughts of relish etc. but in the end we simply packed them in boxes and let them ripen. It worked a treat! Soooooo...although they aren't exactly as good as just off the vine from the garden, they are miles above grocery store tomatoes. Very grateful to them for sharing (our garden got beaten to a pulp in that hail storm). And yay! Good tomatoes with meals! So, I'm off to finish cleaning a few things. Our hunter friend's flight was delayed from his starting point so fingers crossed he's able to make his connecting flight to get here. In a bit I'm going to start on breakfast burritos and prepping for dinner. I'll be back after a while!

I just love reading your posts.

I still get a box --or boxes weekly. I am rarely disappointed except when FedEx screws up and doesn't deliver. I LOVE those jam grapes. Along with eating them plain I've been making galettes. I smear some heated peanut butter over pie crust dough and then take the grapes and sprinkle them with a bit of cornstarch and sugar and then put them on top of the peanut butter. Peanut butter and jelly elevated.

Excellent excellent job, Patti! SO much work....the cooking the cleaning up. I'm exhausted reading about it. I'd dive head-first into that pan of macaroni if I could.

I also think it's great that you reused those containers. I don't think it's tacky at all! I promise you the people who got the store bought cornbread loved their meals as much as those who didn't!

Well, I don't know if it's just the mood I'm in or what, but I'm really enjoying these shows. I've never heard of any of the restaurants but I'm sure having fun googling and finding out more about them. There is a restaurant in Chicago called Feld. I'm reading that it's very....polarizing. I guess Reddit had some seriously scathing reviews that went viral. The chef serves about 30 dishes from a set tasting menu. They say it's minimalistic. I can't decide if I like it or if it's absolutely ridiculous lol.

Here's a link to @kayb's egg bites