Some new Recipes

Well the freezer in our house went from sadly empty to full this past weekend as we finished up processing our steer. Every year we keep back one steer and then in the late fall early winter normally we butcher and process him to feed our family the next year. Well this year the weather was not cold enough for long enough and we were later than normal getting the process started so our freezer was empty other than our elk and deer meat waiting to be made into jerky come spring. This ended up being a good thing since I needed to defrost the freezer since it is an old one and did not come with a defrost setting.
In honor of our full freezer of meat I thought I would share some of my favorite beef, elk and deer recipes over the next few blogs. I also thought if any of you are wanting ideas or suggestions for a particular cut of meat or type of meat let me know in the comments section and I will put up a post answering your questions or requests for recipes.
For the first recipe I'm picking one of my favorites for this time of year Elk Stew. Now this can work for deer or beef but if you need a recipe for elk and not sure what to do with the meat this is great one for you to start out with.

This picture was taken after the pot got raided by everyone. It does make much more than just that little bit

Elk Stew

2-3 lb rump roast of elk cut into bite size pieces
3 carrots sliced
2 medium potatoes cut into pieces
2 stalks of celery chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 small parsnips cut into pieces
1 can chopped tomatoes undrained
2 bay leaves
salt, pepper, and your choice of spices to taste
2 cups beef broth
Enough water to cook the stew and have broth in the end

1) Cut up the meat into bite sized pieces and brown them in a Dutch oven. Add the onion and garlic and cook until clear and soft. Add celery and carrots cook for about 3-5 minutes.
2) Add broth, canned tomatoes, potatoes, parsnips, salt, pepper and your spices. You can add more water if needed at this time or through out the cooking process. Once the water comes to a boil turn the heat down to low and just let this slow cook until the meat is tender and the potatoes and parsnips are soft.
3) Sit back with a cup of coffee and a good book and wait until the stew is done. I have found that it takes around 3 hours to cook on a low slow flame.

Serve with a good piece of bread and good company!

Hope your family enjoys this dinner as much as we do.