Venison Sausage Chili on Garlic Toast

I recently came home from spending a week visiting and hunting in Haida Gwaii, I had a great time, and was able to bring home some meat as well! I was given a few packs of sausage, which led me to chili!

For this chili, I started with cooking chopped onions and garlic in some canola oil on med heat. I then added chopped carrots and continued to cook for 5 mins. I then added the venison. I cut the sausage up in bite sized pieces, cook until mostly done.

I then added some tomato sauce, heinz ketchup, salt and pepper, frozen local corn, 1 double can of brown beans and a tbsp of maple syrup. I like a sweet chili, and the syrup adds just that!

The nice thing about chili is that it doesn't take a long time, I simmered it for 30 mins and served on a toasted french bread with home made garlic butter.

Very tasty, very hearty, the venison has a wonderful taste, no smell when cooking, and was incredibly lean!

Enjoy

Cory

Cream of Asparagus Soup w/ Cheese toast and Garden Salad

I am so stoked for asparagus season! This is my favorite spring/summer vegetable. We are so lucky to live in an area that grows an abundance of asparagus. It is very healthy for you, and tastes 10 times better then imported asparagus! So go out and buy some today! Quality Greens, Swan Lake, Askews are some of the places that sell local asparagus, all for around $2.99lb, but....go direct to the farm and it is usually $2.25lb.

I made this soup the other day when it was rainy and cold. Simple flavors make this a tasty soup hot or cold.

Soup:

1lb asparagus
1 head of bok choy
1 small onion
1 Tbs minced garlic
8 cups of chicken stock
2 cups of milk
4 Tbs of flour
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Start by chopping your asparagus, bok choy and onion into small pieces. Saute in olive oil with garlic. Cook for 10 mins or until asparagus is soft. Remove and set aside in bowl until later. In same pot, add butter until melted, add flour, salt and pepper, stir around and cook for 1 min. Add milk and whisk over med heat until soft boil. Once boiling, add chicken broth and cooked veggie mixture, return to boil, once thickened and boiling, remove from heat and use submersible blender or do in batches in blender. Blend until smooth.

Serve with Bread and Salad. I made quick cheese toasts with epicure herb and garlic sprinkled over top cheddar and feta on Shelbys home made 9 grain whole wheat bread.

Enjoy!

Cory

Pork Hock Soup w/ Cheddar Biscuits

It was time for the old fridge clean out soup today....I know it doesnt always sound great...but it was!!

A simple soup of fresh and frozen veg, with some yummy flavor.

I had a couple of pork hocks...I know they sound so appealing....and some pork soup bones. Covered with water, I added onion,   cabbage, carrots, corn, peas, green beans, salt and pepper, 1 tbsp of curry powder, 1 tsp of parsley flakes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hr.

Once veg are soft, remove hocks, cut fat layer off, and remove meat. Add back to soup. I brought back up to boil and added some mini Gnocchi's, very good! Cook for 4 or 5 mins more. Re season to taste and serve.

You need some sort of bread with soup. Its a given in our house....So Whole wheat Cheddar biscuits it is!!

Biscuit recipe:

3 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup of milk
3/4 shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp garlic powder

Mix all dry ingredients, cut in shortening, add cheese, beat egg and add to milk, make a well in dry, add half liquid, mix with a fork, add the rest of liquid. Should be sticky. Knead on a lightly flowered surface. Handle very little, the more you handle it, the tougher your biscuits will be. Pat out to 3/4 in, cut and place of a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 425f for 12-15 mins.

Don't be afraid to use up ingredients in your fridge. You don't need to go shopping to get special soup ingredients....use what you got!! A healthy soup, and dirt cheap!
Enjoy!
Cory

Turkey Meatball Soup

I love ground up turkey, we have made burgers and stir frys and meatballs. So I tried some meatball soup!!

So simple to do, great flavor, the turkey stays nice and moist and retains great taste. A simple soup to make and quick!

You will need:

1lb ground turkey
2 or 3 stalks and leaves of Bok choy
3 stalks of celery
1 handful of cilantro
3 green onions
1 carton of chicken stock
2 carrots
1 handful of bread crumbs
2 minced garlics
salt and pepper to taste

Start by mixing your turkey with 1 of the green onions finely chopped, salt and pepper, garlic and breadcrumbs. Make into any size meatball you desire. This pot is a 7qt dutch oven, I just made them about inch by inch.
Brown these on med high heat turning once or twice in a dash of olive oil.

Next, you want to add chopped bok choy, celery, green onion, carrot and chopped cilantro. Season well with salt and pepper and cook on med high heat for 10-15 mins. Then add your stock and 2 more parts water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hr. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Once soup was done, I added some fresh Gnocchi  click here. I bought them at askews. They are really tasty. They take minutes to cook. I brought soup back up to a boil, added Gnocchi, and they float to the top when done. Serve up and enjoy!

The broth tastes similar to a won ton. Very tasty. The cilantro adds a wonderful flavor. The boys ate the soup right up...except they refused the Gnocchi. Ha we had some fun teasing them....Gnocchi's for supper all week we told them! These kind were made mostly of potato, very light flavor, We enjoyed them....Enjoy!!!

Cory

Chicken Stew w/ Cornmeal Dumplings

I was so stoked for this meal for 2 reasons!! First being, I love stew and dumplings, Second, my wonderful mother in law got me a 7qt kitchen aid dutch over. It is the perfect one pot item to have. It cleans fantastic, never burns food, and is ideal for browning on the stove, then finishing in the oven. We also have the 3.5 qt size, which for smaller soups and meals is perfect as well!!

It doesn't take much for mild inspiration. Shelby and wyatt bought some broccoli at askews yesterday, but we already had a bunch in the fridge. I had some boneless skinless chicken thighs frozen so this was easy!! My cornmeal dumplings come from Better Homes modified with Whole wheat flour rather than white. The stew was just simply the vegetables we had in the fridge at the time!!

For the vegetables I used carrots, red onion, celery, bok choy, minced garlic.
Sweated them out for 10-15 mins. Removed from pot, Browned my cut up chicken in a little oil, added the vegetables, used 2 cartons of low sodium chicken stock, topped the rest up with water. Simmered for 1.5 hrs. At this point I added cut up broccoli cooking another 30 mins. I then added flour and milk and simmered until thick.

 Dumplings are so simple to make. Almost every cook book has some form of dumpling. These had corn meal, flour, baking powder, cheddar cheese, pepper, oil, milk, eggs. I dropped them in wooden spoonfuls, which filled my whole surface of the pot.

Cooked for covered for 15 mins while simmering. Poke with a tooth pick in the middle of  one, if it comes out clean you are good to go!!

Delicious. The dumplings with cheese and cornmeal were an excellent addition to a tasty chicken stew. Very simple, very easy!! I am surprised at how few of people actually cook soup. It is easy!! And best of all CHEAP!!! Its one meal you don't have to sacrifice money for taste. So make a soup today!!

Cory

Black Bean and Corn Chili

I love chili in the winter time! It is such comfort food!! And there really is no rule to chili, add what and how much of whatever you want!! My dad did not like spicy chili but he loved a sweet chili. He would make his with Heinz ketchup and syrup! Very tasty!! With my boys I did the same for this chili!

This week at Askews they had their 2 for 1 meat sale on. We buy a bulk of our meat there anyway, so we stocked up some more!! We got mainly ground beef, it worked out to 2.26 a lb for extra lean ground beef. Cant beat that anywhere!!! And they were in perfect 1 lb packs!

My recipe was simple:

1lb beef
1 med onion
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cans brown beans in tomato sauce
1 can black beans (rinse and drain well)
2 cups of frozen corn
3 tbsp of Maple Syrup
1 Cup of pasta sauce (leftovers)

Brown meat, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Add remaining ingredients, simmer for 15-20 mins. Voila!

Simple, delicious, filling, CHEAP!!!

Total Cost: 6.50 We ate it for supper and lunch today!! Serve with some toast or fresh baked buns!!!

Cory

Turkey Soup!!

When the air starts to turn cool and the days get shorter, I love having home made soup. It is one of the simplest and cheapest meals you will ever cook for your family!

I did not have any turkey for thanksgiving at all, I felt I was missing something! So on Wednesday I made a turkey and we had the whole family over. It was delicious. And then after the meal you are left with this huge turkey carcass with tons of meat on it....Perfect for soup!!!


When we got Married we received a huge 20qt stock pot! It has made dozens of soups for our family! It fits a whole carcass like none other!


My beautiful wife, made this wonderful soup! She covered the carcass with water, added a whole onion, whole garlic bulbs, the middle leaves of a celery stalk and boiled for a couple of hours.

Remove your carcass, outer skin from garlics (they will be floating, the garlics will already have gone into the soup) and the onion. She then added tons of chopped veggies that we had in our fridge. Soups are a great way to get "rid of" any soft or extra produce in your fridge. Soft spuds or carrots? No worries, chuck them in!

She added 3 rutabagas,Red kuri squash, Carrots, barley, Corn, celery, dried basil, parsley, thyme and sage, salt and pepper, and the meat from the turkey!

Simmered that on low until all the veggies were soft, Delish!!

This meal will feed us for DAYS, or you can grab some containers and freeze it for another day!!!

Turkey is dirt cheap around thanksgiving and Christmas!! Most times you can get turkey for .98c a lb. For turkey!!, White  meat is super lean!

Plus after you have a huge turkey dinner and sandwiches, you are left with a huge carcass to make stock and soup out of!! Very economical!!

The turkey we cooked, we got free from our bank last year, but for numbers sake, I will put a $1 a pound for it.

2lbs turkey: $2
Veggies: $10 bucks worth, and that's generous!

$12 bucks for soup? Our family had 6 bowls full last night, and I would guess there is another 4 meals worth at least. What else can you make 5 full meals of for 12 bucks?

Soup is easy, especially after you have a turkey dinner!! So challenge yourself this winter and make some soup!!

Enjoy