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Elk Chili

This has been home for the past 4 days for me while we have been elk hunting with friends. I had to return to work on Wedneday, but everyone else stayed in for a full week. It has been a snowy, fun-filled trip, ending with two nice bulls harvested, many more we were privileged to see, and a week full of great memories. This was the final trip for the horses this year, who are now officially on “vacation” for the winter, and Jade was a good camp dog, even joining me INSIDE my sleeping bag for the first night.

Last week before going out of town on a conference, I made one of my staple cold-weather recipes, chili, knowing there would be a few days of leftovers. Ground elk, venison, or beef all work great in this.

Elk Chili

Serves 6-8

  • 1 lb ground elk
  • 14 oz. can red beans (around here they are called “chili-ettes”)
  • 4 oz can diced green chilis, drained
  • ~ 8 oz. fresh tomatoes, diced (I used our garden tomatoes that had ripened up) OR 3/4 can diced tomatoes
  • 8 oz. tomato sauce
  • 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
  • taco seasoning– I use Kittencal’s taco seasoning recipe from food.com
  • 1/4 c medium salsa
  • 1/4 tsp. garlic salt
  • 1/8 tsp.pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. cocoa powder
  • 1.5 tsp. cumin
  • 1 T. chili powder
  • 1.5 tsp. oregano
  • 1 tsp. Worcestshire
  • cheddar cheese & green onion–optional

1. Brown ground elk and season with taco seasoning. While meat is cooking, chop vegetables.

2. Dump meat into crockpot and add in remaining ingredients.

3. Cook in crockpot on LOW 4-6 hours. (My crockpot gets very hot on low, so adjust accordingly). Garnish with cheddar cheese and green onions.

4. Refrigerate leftovers once cool. We like using leftovers in scrambled eggs, in tortillas w/ cheese and salsa, or on hot dogs.

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Crockpot Lasagna with Ground Elk

I have recently begun working an extra two hours per day tutoring, and four days per week I now find myself not getting home until 6 pm. By this time, we are hungry, and if dinner can’t be ready in about 10 minutes, I either want to eat leftovers or have something waiting for me when I walk through the door. My crockpot, a $3 yard sale steal, has made a quick re-entry into my life after lying dormant most of the summer, and I am currently making at least one crockpot meal per week. While I enjoy cooking and find it relaxing, when I am short on time, nothing is better than dumping your ingredients in the crockpot and knowing you will have dinner ready when you walk in the door.

I found a straight-forward recipe  from food.com and decided it was time to try lasagna in the crockpot. We waste no food in our house, and I am very conscious of using or freezing leftovers if not eaten within a day or two. I found myself with a leftover cooked elk burger, a mason jar of tomato puree I had frozen earlier, and a bunch of brown-paper-bag-ripened tomatoes from our garden ready to be used.

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Crockpot Lasagna with Ground Elk

Serves 2-3

16 oz. spaghetti sauce– I make my sauce and use “My Mama Iuliucci’s ‘Don’t Skip a Step Spaghetti Sauce’ “  as the basis of my sauce but I do skip a few steps…lol

4 oz. or more ground elk, crumbled (beef or venison would be fine, too)

~ 1.5 c Italian blend cheese

~ 1/2 c Parmesan cheese

~1.5 c 2% Cottage Cheese

Italian seasoning

3-6 No-cook lasagna noodles, depending on size of crockpot

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1. If using homemade, make spaghetti sauce, add in ground elk, and simmer in crockkpot for 3 hours on low. No need to dirty another pan! My sauce was made of what I had on hand and based off the above recipe: 16 oz. tomato puree, diced cherry tomatoes, onion, parmesan cheese, minced garlic, garlic pepper, sugar, salt, Italian seasoning, and parsley. I did not measure exactly.

2. Next, I scooped out 2/3 of the sauce, and left a layer on the bottom of the crockpot.

3. Next, I ran home during my 15 minute break between jobs, and layered non-cooked lasagna noodles (broken to fit the circular crockpot), spread them with cottage cheese, then sprinkled shredded Italian blend cheese and parmesan on top. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.

4. Repeat this process two more times–sauce, noodles, cheeses, Italian seasoning– and add a little extra cheese on the top and final layer.

5. Make sure your noodles are totally covered with sauce/cottage cheese so they cook and are not hard.

6. I only cooked my lasagna for 2.5 hours on HIGH in the crockpot and it was juuuust done. If I had had more time, I would cook it on LOW as recommended for 4-6 hours.

7. Serve with salad, and enjoy!

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Cajun Elk Backstrap + Elk Camp

This past Sunday Joe and I rounded up our four horses and headed into elk camp. After a 4.5 hour ride we arrived and set up camp, where we spent the next three nights with Strawberry, Yolanda, Taz, and Ruger in some beautiful, rugged, wild country at 10,000 ft. among the bighorn sheep, mule deer, and elk.

On opening day we rode down the canyon of the drainage we were camped in and saw once nice bull headed for the hills, literally. On day two we saw three cows, and several bighorn sheep, including a group of six rams. We moved camp a few miles further up in preparation for our final day.

With frost on the inside of our dome tent, we were up early and headed out while the full moon was still high in the sky. We began the ascent up the switchbacks that would lead us over the top of a pass and into the next drainage, which we were confident that no one else had recently been in. About 2/3 of the way to the top, at 11,300 ft in elevation, two raghorns appeared in front of us on the skyline. After a look through the binos, Joe cow-called as we stepped off the ponies to observe. As the elk walked behind a small hill, I moved another 40 yards closer before they reappeared on the horizon, putting me within 330 yards. I laid down and got as comfy as I could resting on a rock, lying just above an old rock Indian blind we rode by as we came up the canyon. Holding steady, my first shot went through the lungs, the second through the spine, resulting in an immediate downward tumble. Joe’s whoop of celebration echoed off the mountains around us as the remaining elk scurried away across the canyon. After three years, I had my first elk.

“Look at where we are right now, this is what matters,” Joe said as I walked back down to him and the horses. And he is right. The experience is what matters most, beyond whether an elk is harvested, or how big it is. Being out in the backcountry and living simply off the land, appreciating the cycle of life, and respecting the wilderness and its inhabitants for all that it is. While riding 40 miles and packing an elk out horseback is a lot more work than dragging and loading it into the back of a pickup, the reward is also greater, in that the experience is fuller and more intense. More sore backs and sore horses, too. But I appreciate the hard work of the horses and humans involved, and respect the elk and the life it was living in the mountains. I am grateful for its harvest, as it will feed our family for the next year, and that bull will graciously enable us to continue to make meals from the mountains.

This afternoon we butchered the elk at the shop, and made our first meal with our fresh elk meat this evening.

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Cajun Elk Backstrap

1. Cut backstrap into 1/2-inch  steaks and marinade in Italian dressing for at least 4 hours.

2. Heat oil in frying pan until it bubbles, I use just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

3. Dump in steaks and season with Cajun seasoning; we use “Cajun Campfire” from Hi Mountain Seasonings.

4. Fry on medium heat for 2 minutes, flip, cook for 2 minutes, and repeat cycle once. Steaks should be cooked to medium-rare at this point.

I served these steaks with Ranch and Bacon Diced Potatoes.

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Chipotle Elk Enchiladas

Today I took a detour from the typical “taco Tuesday” routine and experimented with my standard enchilada recipe by incorporationg chipotle peppers. This is one of those fairly common “specialty items” not available at the local grocery store and many recipes I have tried in the past have called for them and I have always had to omit or substitue green chilis. So, I was excited to give these babies a try after buying some during my last trip over the mountain. The results were positive, with distinctly restaurant-tasting enchiladas.

1. Gather spices to make taco seasoning if making your own. You will need 4 tsp. of homemade taco seasoning or packaged.

2. Combine spices and save extra in a sealed container or glass jar.

3. Cook ground elk with yellow and green onions and seasonings.

FYI- Save money and grow your own green onions, never buy them again!  I keep two green onions growing in my house year-round. I started them from store-bought ones over six months ago and they are still going strong, even after being transplanted outside for the summer. They do require a lot of sunlight and a lot of water, so plan you window-placement accordingly!

 4. Now, the enchilada sauce: combine tomato sauce, 1 T. salsa, and 1 chipotle pepper in food processor and blend until smooth.

5. Add enchilada sauce to ground beef mixture and simmer.

 

6. Lay our four medium flour tortillas and fill each with ground beef mixture. Top with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar.

7. Roll each tortilla and place into a greased 8×8 inch pan. Top with 1 T. of salsa and coat evenly, then add remaining cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 350, covered with foil. Broil one more minute.

8. Garnish with green onions and pour yourself a margarita–These were very tasty and filling with a distinctly smoky, savory flavor from the chipotle.

Chipotle Elk Enchiladas

Serves 2

1 lb ground elk (ground beef or chicken will work too)

1 T. medium salsa

1/3 c shredded cheddar

1 oz. pepperjack cheese

1/4 c yellow onion

2 green onions

4 medium flour tortillas

Cooking spray

4 tsp. of homemade taco seasoning or packaged

Enchilada Sauce:

Chipotle in adobo- 1 pepper

8 oz tomato sauce

1 T. salsa

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Preheat oven to 350.

1. Combine seasonings to make taco seasoning.

2. Chop onions and sautee with ground elk on medium heat. Season with taco seasoning.

3. Make the enchilada sauce by combining the tomato sauce, 1 T. salsa, and 1 chipolte pepper in adobo in a food processor and blending until smooth. 1 pepper added quite a punch and unless you like it very spicy, I would not recommend adding any more.

4. Add enchilada sauce and pepperjack cheese to ground beef mixture and stir to combine. Simmer 2-3 minutes on low.

5. Prepare enchiladas by scooping roughly one-quarter of the ground beef mixture into each tortilla and top with 1 T. shredded cheddar each. Fold tortillas and place into greased 8×8 inch pan. Top tortillas with 1 T. salsa and spread with the back of a spoon to coat the tortillas completely. Sprinkle remaining cheddar on top.

5. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove foil and broil for 1 minute to lightly brown the cheese.

6. Garnish with green onions, if desired.

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Venison Potato Brat Omelet

I have eaten my fair share of deer brats over the past 10 months and still have about 15 packages to go. While I am so thankful for the deer, harvested last fall with my late season deer tag, and for the meat it provided us, I am a little tired of eating brats in the traditional form on a bun (or in a rolled up piece of bread if you too cheap to buy buns, wink wink). To use up the rest of the stockpile, I have gotten creative. This is the second time I have made Venison Potato Brat Omelets. I really like eating brats this way, and it is a filling, quick, and inexpensive meal that would be great for breakfast, too. This is a basic recipe, so of course feel free to add additional vegetables, different cheeses, etc. to suit your taste.

Venison brats, thanks to this guy:

For this recipe you could substitue non-game brats just as easily. To make the venison brats, we used a kit from Hi Mountain Seasonings and added in frozen hash browns and diced yellow onions while grinding the meat prior to stuffing it into casings. Hi Mountain is a local company that has a variety of products to process your own game.

Venison Potato Brat Omelet

Serves 2

2 Venison brats

1 T. olive oil

1/4 c. diced yellow onion

2 diced green onions (I had just harvested them from the garden and needed to use them)

3 eggs

1 T. milk

2 oz. pepperjack cheese, slices torn up or shredded

1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 c water

salsa, optional

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1. Dice onions and sautee in 1 T. olive oil. Slice up uncooked brats into round pieces and add to onions.  Add 1/2 c water to frying pan so that the brats don’t get scorched. Cook on medium heat covered with lid. Stir gently with a spatula every few minutes and add more water if necessary.

2. Meanwhile, scramble 3 eggs with 1 T. milk. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

3. The brats take about 10-15 minutes to cook through. Once they are done, turn down the heat to low and add in the egg mixture.

4. Cover with lid, cook on low for 1-2 minutes until eggs begin to set and turn off heat.  Once eggs begin to set, add cheeses and cover with lid to melt the cheese. DO NOT STIR. Make sure the heat is low enough here that the bottom does not burn.

5. Remove from heat and use a spatula to cut omelet into pieces. Serve with salsa if you like.

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Fake Steak!

Hamburger steak with potatoes from the garden is one of my go-to recipes to dress up ground elk meat, and is based off of this recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hamburger-steak-with-onions-and-gravy/ with slight adaptations.

Process bread in food processor to make bread crumbs. I started out using 1/4 c but added another 3 T or so to absorb into the meat mixture.

Thinly slice about half of a medium yellow onion, and sautee in 1 T vegetable oil.

Add patties to frying pan with onion and cook 4 minutes per side.

Remove patties and set aside. Add flour, slowly whisk in beef consomme and scrape the drippings and onion bits off the bottom to get a flavorful gravy. 5 minutes later…

Add patties and onion back to pan and simmer in gravy for 5-10 minutes until meat is cooked through and gravy is thickened.

Goes great with creamy mashed potatoes (recipe to follow).

Elk Hamburger Steak with Onion and Consomme Gravy

1 lb. ground elk

1 egg

1/3 c breadcrumbs

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. season salt

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. Worcestshire sauce

1 T. vegetable oil

1/2 c thinly sliced yellow or sweet onion

2 T.  flour

1 can Campbell’s Consomme beef broth

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1. If you are making breadcrumbs, process bread slices in food processor. (I use a combination of wheat and white bread heels, then freeze the leftovers in a ziplock so I always have breadcrumbs on hand.)

2. Slice onion and begin to sautee in vegetable oil on low heat. Combine breadcrumbs, ground elk, egg, spices, and Worcestshire. Form into 4-5 balls and flatten into patties.

3. Add patties to frying pan and cook with lid on for 4 minutes per side. It’s alright if they don’t cook all the way at this point, mine were still raw in the center. They will finish cooking when you put them back in with the gravy later.

4. Remove patties and set aside on plate. Add 2 T of flour to pan and slowly whisk in 1 can of consomme broth. Stir and simmer on medium heat for about 5 minutes until broth thickens.

5. Return patties and onions to pan in broth, cover, and simmer another 5-10 minutes until patties are cooked through and sauce is thickened.