Venison Stuffed Mushrooms

I usually don't make this as stuffed mushrooms.  I'm too cheap to buy 2 whole pounds of mushrooms unless they are on really good sale, so I usually get two 12 oz packages of mushrooms and call that good enough, so I end up with smothered mushrooms, but they are still yummy like that! 

I love making these for special occasions or potlucks, but they aren't really pretty in a picture, so when I made them for New Year's, I didn't take a picture.  I'm still posting the recipe (finally) though, as part of my late New Year's resolution to try to post all my favored recipes, regardless of whether I have a decent picture or any picture at all.

Venison Stuffed Mushrooms

1 1/2 to 2 pounds fresh mushrooms, stems removed, chopped, and reserved
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 pound ground venison (or ground meat or meat substitute of choice), browned
2/3 cup dry Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup soft bread crumbs
2 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place mushroom caps upside down in a 9x13 baking pan.  Melt butter in a large skillet.  Add chopped mushroom stems, bell pepper, and garlic powder.  Saute for about 5 minutes; remove from heat.  In a large bowl, mix ground venison, bread crumbs, cheese, and mushroom stem mixture.  Spoon mixture onto mushroom caps.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Zucchini Casserole

Last night, I could resist temptation no longer.  Even though it was still hot as Hades outside, I couldn't resist the appeal of zucchini casserole any longer.  I don't have any fresh tomatoes from the garden yet, so I used some canned tomatoes from last year (drained), and I didn't have any croutons so I substituted 1 cup cubed homemade bread (crusts removed) plus 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs.  It would have been better with the fresh tomatoes, but the canned tomatoes got the job done, so my belly was full and happy.  Not only that, but with the homemade bread, homegrown veggies, and venison that my husband got last fall, this entire meal cost less than $4 to feed the whole family.

Zucchini Casserole

1 lb ground meat
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 medium to large zucchini, peeled and sliced
4-5 tomatoes, chopped
8 oz Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tbsp fresh basil (1 tsp basil)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cup seasoned croutons
1 tsp Parmesan cheese

Brown meat with onion and green pepper; drain off excess fat.  In a large bowl, combine zucchini, tomatoes, and cheddar.  Add meat mixture, basil, salt, pepper, and croutons.  Mix thoroughly (with hands if needed).  Pour into an ungreased 2-quart casserole dish and top with sprinkled Parmesan.  Bake uncovered at 350 for one hour.

Pasties

I think I'm finally overcoming my phobia of crust-like things!  First, I made my last quiche (a quiche lorraine, in case you care) with a homemade pie crust, the first one I've ever successfully made.  Then, I just made a large batch of pasties!  These have long been a favorite of mine, but I've always been too afraid to make them before, so this is quite an accomplishment.  Apparently, you can also buy them some places in Michigan, but I don't think I've ever been to such an establishment and have only had homemade ones.  Now that I've successfully made these, I'm seriously considering growing some rutabagas, so I only have to buy the butter, flour, and salt to make these, since the veggies can all be homegrown and venison works well for the meat.

These are a bit time consuming to make, since there is a lot of cutting things into little pieces, but they do freeze well, so it is possible to make a huge batch that you'll get at least a couple family meals out of the deal.  And they are so yummy that it is totally worth it!  This is a base recipe as well, so you may want to play with seasonings, especially chicken ones (my mom makes super awesome chicken pasties.  I really need to find out what she uses to make them taste so good!  And I just looked at the recipe she gave me and it says "for chicken, garlic, chopped parsley, paprika, salt, thyme, rosemary to taste," so I guess that answers that question!), but even without seasoning, they are fantastic.  I always like them with ketchup on them, but my mom seems to think this is an atrocity and possibly an insult to the chef.  I just see it as the finishing brushstrokes on a culinary work of art!

My mom, who I got this recipe from, says this should yield 13 pasties, but I made most of mine smaller, so I ended up getting about 20 out of this today.  I like to make smaller ones so the kids have some their sizes and it also allows me and my husband more flexibility on portion size, depending on how hungry we are.

Pasties

2 cups rutabaga, diced

3 cups carrots, diced

1 cup onions, diced

4 cups potatoes, diced

4 cups meat, diced

4 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup butter

up to 1 1/2 cups water

Mix together meat and vegetables in an enormous bowl and set aside.  Combine flour and salt in a separate bowl.  Cut in butter until it resembles fine crumbs.  Slowly add water until the dough becomes right texture.  Sprinkle flour onto the work surface and rolling pin and roll dough out into pieces about 6"x9".  Fill with 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the meat and vegetable mixture.  Pull dough over the mixture and pinch the edges to seal.  

Place on ungreased baking trays.  To eat immediately, bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.  To freeze, bake at 350 for 35 minutes and reheat the frozen pasties by baking at 350 for 40 minutes.

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I want to know what you think:

Is it okay to put ketchup on pasties?