SPRING CLEANING

ABOVE: Sorry, Stinky Lighting=Bad Pictures

Ah, the first day of Spring has come and gone here in Ohio...too bad it is still stinking cold and gloomy out! Since the sun refuses to shine, I am staying indoors and cleaning. Yes, how exciting. If someone were to make a movie of my life, it would be so absolutely boring since I swear I spend most of my time picking up the house, doing laundry and cleaning. I don't now how two people can go through some many clothes and dishes....it is insane!

I decided to clean out the refrigerator and freezer today. I am always amazed at the things you find when doing this task. Forgotten about frozen unmarked containers, the salad dressing you opened and decided you didn't like, the half bottle of beer that got pushed all the back with the baking soda--I ended up filling up an entire garbage bag with these kinds of things. It made me disgusted with myself for this type of food waste. So I've promised myself to make an effort to be more conscious of using up things before I buy more (regardless of how pretty the package is or if I am getting the deal of a lifetime!).

The one thing also I have to use up is all this DEER MEAT! Ugh, I am just not a big deer meat fan. I've tried to make it in chili, casseroles, etc--but it just never tastes right to me. The only thing I can do is trail bologna. My grandma has made this for years for all guys who hunt on their land. She gave me her original recipe, which I have tweaked for our tastes. Eric eats about 4 pounds of this in two or three days---always with crackers and spicy brown mustard. At least it is high protein with virtually no fat. Oh so very Adkins-Friendly--if you follow that crap:)

TRAIL BOLOGNA

3 pounds ground venison


1 pound ground sirloin or lean ground beef


2 teaspoons coarse ground pepper


2 tablespoons liquid smoke


2 cups water


4 tablespoons quick curing salt (morton's)


1 teaspoon garlic powder


1 teaspoon marjoram


1 teaspoon fennel seed


2 teaspoon dry mustard powder


1/2 teaspoon Lawry's seasoned salt


1 heaping tablespoon McCormick's Hamburger Seasoning

Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to meld.

Place a wire rack over a baking sheet and preheat oven to 350 degrees. While oven is heating, shape meat mixture into several 1 1/2" diameter logs. Place on wire rack and bake for approximately one hour. Flip logs halfway through baking time.
Allow logs to cool. Wrap each log in foil and refrigerate until ready to use.

I highly recommend this recipe if you have deer meat to use up. I have played around with different mixes, ratios, and seasonings and this by far is my "keeper" recipe.

Frito Crack

I love snack mixes. Savory ones, sweet ones, salty ones---the combinations are endless. It is so fun to see what you can throw together and come up with. This little ditty I made is an adaptation from the Cookie Madness website. Glenn loves Fritos. I, on the other hand---could really care less about them. But put them in the ring with some salty pretzels and peanut butter cups---well then, count me in.

I actually took this last night to our friend's surprise 40th birthday party, and surprise---they were gone in a flash. The original recipe posted on the website calls for spreading a bag of chocolate chips on top, but I found myself trying to pick out the pieces that didn't have any chocolate on them last night---so I adapted this to my tastes. If you desire, instead of sprinkling the white chocolate on the end, as I do here, you may instead spread an entire bag of chocolate chips on top then spread evenly over after they melt. Don't get me wrong, the semi-sweet chocolate version is really good, and I recommend that you try it both ways! Next time though, I will make it as I did below but add in Reeses Pieces.......oh my god. I will become a cow!

FRITO CRACK

1 Cup Waffle Pretzels
1 Cup Rye and Pumpernickel Pretzels
1 1/2 Cup Fritos
1/2 to 1 Cup Peanuts
8-9 mini reese's peanut butter cups, chopped up
1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 Cup White Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break up the pretzels and fritos to they are broken into smaller pieces. Line a 13x9 pan with foil, so that it overhangs on the ends. Spread the pretzels, fritos, peanut butter cups and peanuts on the the foil. In a microwave-safe bowl melt the butter for a little over a minute. Once fully melted, stir in brown sugar. Microwave one minutes. Stir and put back in microwave for another 30-40 seconds until nice a bubbly:) Now go ahead and pour it all over the pretzel mix. Mix it all up so it is nice and coated. Bake for 9 minutes.

Pull it out of the oven and sprinkle the white chocolate all over it. Stick it back in the oven and bake another minute or two. Then mix the chocolate into the mix to coat a bit. Let cool. Store in an air-tight container.

Yummy, Yummy!