I could eat these every night. I am not even kidding

TACOS. Or fahitas. Fajitas. Or whatever you feel like calling them. I love them. They are so easy and fresh and tasty and make me happy. I make a few different varities for "vehicle" (holding the delicious filling) and the filling itself. I will break it down into the different ways we make them, all equally delicious, so you can mix and match how you choose! It is purely personal preference. Ok, shall we continue? VEHICLE I rotate between a few things. -Iceberg lettuce leaves if I am trying to be food. -Fresh flour tortillas (the kind you find uncooked in the refrigerated section at the store. They do not have them in the little store in our town, but I usually find them when we go to the "big city" of Lander, Riverton, or Jackson.) -Or the mixed grain tortillas you can find at most stores now, I usually go with the ones with flax seed in them. MEAT FILLING More often than not, I use either chicken breasts, ground elk mix, or elk or deer steak. They are all prepared the same way! Or I will use a mixture of two of them. But not in the same taco. That would be weird. For your chicken, I cut it into thin strips, throw it in a bowl, add garlic salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and onion powder. I mix it all around with a little olive oil, and then fry it up! Same exact thing for steak, and the ground meat! With the ground meat I always make sure to let it get the nice carmelization on it, it makes everything better. TOPPINGS Sliced black olives (a MUST) Tomatoes (or fresh homemade pico de gallo) Cilantro Guacamole (I have two versions. My easy version is simply mash an avacado with lime juice and garlic salt to taste. If I want to be fancy, I all some cilantro, minced onion, and tomato) Fresh shredded cheddar cheese (not the bagged stuff) Sometimes I will also saute up some sliced onions, bell pepper, and mushrooms, for a more fajita type experience. These are your oyster. Do with them what you wish but they are a favorite in our house! Next time I make them I will take some pictures to post

Elk Tenderloin with Port/Cranberry Sauce

I made this wonderful dish for St. Patrick's day. I cannot take credit for writing it, I found it on epicurious.com and it is a recipe from a restaurant in Ireland (although they use deer loin) Here is how to make it! 1/2 pound elk loin steaks per person salt and pepper whiskey worchestershire sauce Marinade the elk steaks for at least 8 hours in a combination of the above ingredients! The whiskey, I have found, is GREAT for marinating wild game. It cuts through any gameyness and also tenderizes. I always marinade my game steaks in whiskey mixed with whatever! Sauce: 1/3 cup whole cranberry sauce 1/2 cup ruby port wine 1/2 cup chicken stock 1/2 cup beef stock After the steaks have marinaded for the desired length of time, take them out, and thoroughly dry them with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Let them rest while preparing the sauce. To prepare the sauce, bring the stocks to a simmer. Once reduced slightly, whisk in the cranberry sauce. Let the sauce simmer to reduce a bit more, and then whisk in the port. Allow to simmer. Meanwhile, heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoon olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter, enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Once hot, add elk steaks. Cook about 3-4 minutes per side (depending on thickness). You want a nice seared crust, and about medium doneness. Serve with the sauce on top, and some mashed potatoes and cabbage or a nice salad for a delicious "special" meal.

Welcome?

I decided to bite the bullet and start this blog at the urging of a friend. I follow some other cooking blogs, but the challenge myself and my boyfriend face is our lifestyle. We live in a small town in Wyoming, the smallest town in the Lower 48. We live out on a ranch with our 4 dogs, and 6 laying hens. We are both hunters. I myself am new to this whole hunting thing, and after my first hunting season last year, I am HOOKED. My first year hunting elk, and I was fortunate enough to get a beautiful cow elk. 300 yard shot with my .270. I will never forget that experience, but along with that, the mixture of emotions. My man also got an elk- a nice raghorn bull. This was a very successful hunting season for us, and left us with a lot of wonderful meat! Cooking with wild game is, in a lot of ways, very different and very similar to cooking with beef. It is a learning process for me, for both of us, to utilize this wonderful meat and incorporate it into some healthy, delicious, easy, and budget friendly dishes. Being that we both work full time, this is often a challenge. We have also recently taken on a new "lifestyle", based on paleo/primal. We have eliminated most carbs, althought we do allow a "cheat" every now and then. We avoid processed foods as much as possible, and rarely drink pop. I will compile some recipes and pictures to post on here soon, and get this thing rolling! Hopefully also some explanation on wild game processing and making sausages, jerky, etc.