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Chewin'the NewsFebruary 2006 |
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by Tammy Davis
Hi everybody! Are you as ready for spring as I am? We haven't had much snow this winter, but it's been very cold! We had 3 or 4 days early in February that it got warm... up into the 60's, which is very unusual! But just enough for me to decide I'm ready for spring! Especially now that it's in the 20's again!
In January, we had the chance to travel to Alabama to visit my aunt, uncle, cousins and their families for a few days. My husband loves to hunt, and hasn't for quite a few years. He went deer hunting here in November, but didn't get anything. He talked to my uncle in AL, who said their deer season runs through the end of January. Rob wanted to go down to hunt. I said I hadn't seen my cousins in 20 years, so there was NO WAY!! he was going without me! So we packed up the kids and Grandma and headed for AL.
We had a great visit! My aunt is a great hostess, and a very good cook too. Of course I had to swap some recipes with her! I will be sharing a couple of those with you in the coming months, once I test their freeze-ability. By the time I left, my aunt and cousins were talking about planning a cooking day. I'm waiting to hear from them how that goes.
Rob had a great time hunting! It was very cold, but he came home with 5 deer in the cooler! They butchered some of it while we were still in AL, and we packed the rest in the cooler for the trip home. When we got home, Rob and his mom butchered the rest in my kitchen. For a laugh at me and my germ paranoia, read my post from the boards. It's funny now, but it wasn't then!
I usually do a "clean out the freezer/restock it" post on the boards in January, but I have so much venison in my freezers, I don't have room to stock it with anything else!! I had to clean out stuff that had been in there for a while, and plan meals with other stuff to have room for the venison. The freezer on top of my extra fridge is stuffed to capacity with venison, and at least 2 shelves in my upright freezer are full of venison too. We have been enjoying steaks and jerky. Rob made some sausage, and it's pretty good too. Anybody have any favorite venison recipes? Post them on the boards, under Beef, I guess.
We made a trip to OH in mid-February. My in-law's 50th Anniversary was the 18th. Mom said if Dad was still alive we would have had a family dinner to celebrate, and she still wanted to do that. So we got all the kids, grandkids and great-grandkids together for a pot-luck dinner. It's been a while since we had everybody together, so we really had a great time.
I made Lazy Day Lasagna and froze it a few days before we left. I made it in a stoneware pan so it would hold the cold while we traveled, as well as the heat when I baked it. I took it from the freezer straight to the back of the van right before we left. So it started thawing on the 6 hour trip, then went in my friend's fridge overnite, till I baked it in the morning. It was thawed in time, and baked up perfect! Not a single bite left in the pan when dinner was over. I managed to find room for a 9"x13" in my upright freezer, so I made one for us too!
We've been enjoying other hot winter-type meals... Taco Chili, Country Chicken Pot Pie, Ham and Bean Soup, BBQ Beef Loaves, and Beefy Vegetable Soup. My son asked me a few days ago when I was going to make Cheeseburger Quiche... I'll need to get that on the menu. I've put the crock pot to use a few times making Italian Chicken, and Cincinnati-Style Chili too. Something we make sure we do every time we get to Columbus is eat at Skyline Chili. But when it's been a while, we "make do" with homemade. I need to make some Loaded Baked Potato Soup and some Cheddar Broccoli Soup too... haven't had those in quite a while. But I need some more room in my freezer before I can do that!
The message boards continue to be a great resource! And we've had a lot of new cooks join us! Welcome!!
I've got a chicken roasting in the crock pot right now... it's dinner, and the leftovers will be chopped and divided into 2 cup portions in baggies for the freezer, ready to use in other recipes. It smells so good!!!
Do you have a wedding in your future? One of our cooks is doing all the food and decorations in addition to her Mother of the Bride duties! Check in here to see her plans, and wish her luck!
Here's a Thank You to everyone who posts on the boards from a new cook. We've had quite a few new cooks join us by introducing themselves on our Meet Other 30 Day Gourmets thread. Please join us there if you haven't already!
Check out the rest of the message boards when you get a chance… they are a great source of ideas, recipes, tips, and encouragement! If you have any questions about the message boards, please email me! You can reach me at tammy@30daygourmet.com.
Well, that's it from me this month. It's almost time for the kids to come home, and start the rounds of homework, evening routines and music practice. Oh... a little bit of "business" before I close.. if you change your email address, you need to access your Yahoo account and change the information there, instead of emailing us your address change. Our Newsletter is sent out using Yahoo, and they maintain your email addresses for us. If you need help, see under the NOTE below on how to access your Yahoo account.
Feel free to email me at tammy@30daygourmet.com with any questions, ideas, suggestions or problems. I enjoy hearing from you all!
Tammy
>>>>>Back to July 2006 Newsletter
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