Crazy Food Lady?

Okay, I know I'm a little strange, but I absolutely love cooking. And when I develop a new recipe and it turns out great, well....that just sends me over the edge! I imagine it's the same feeling an artist gets when he finishes a painting and is pleased with it. All that to say....I developed a new recipe yesterday and my my family loved it. They devoured it and were sad because there was no more. What is this great recipe you ask?

Drum
        
             roll
          
                         please.......

Balsamic Deer Pizza!!!

Now I know the thought of eating deer doesn't excite everyone like it does my family but you could easily substitute beef here. Ohhh and if you've never tried deer, you really should give it a shot. If it's cooked right I think it's better than beef. Anyway, here's the recipe for anyone that would like to give it a whirl. By the way....you should know that I'm not the best measurer (is that even a word) in the world. I have a tendency to just dump so these measurements are probably not completely accurate and for that I apologize.

Balsamic Deer Pizza

2 medium deer inner loins, thinly sliced (You could use 1 pound beef tenderloin)
1/3 - 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
1 Tbsp. butter
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 Deep dish pizza crust (I make my own but your welcome to use whatever)
More olive oil and garlic powder
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 cup Feta cheese

Marinate deer meat in vinegar, 2 Tbsp. oil and seasoning 8-12 hours. There should be enough liquid to thoroughly cover all meat but not a lot of extra. A little should pool in the bottom of the bag.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
After marinating cook meat in skillet over medium heat. There should be some liquid when you dump the meat into the skillet. That's good. Just keep cooking it until all the liquid evaporates. 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, saute onion in 1 Tbsp oil and butter until caramelized. Now to assemble the pizza. Brush a little olive oil over the prepared raw pizza dough and sprinkle with some garlic. I like to precook my dough at before I top it about 10 minutes so the bottom crust isn't mushy. Sprinkle the mozzarella on top of the dough and then top with onions and meat and finish with Feta. Return to the oven and cook another 8-10 minutes or until dough is cooked through and cheese is slightly melted and browned. Slice and enjoy. I made mine on the Pampered Chef large round stone and cut into 8 large slices. I served it with a salad with Balsamic Vinegrette and breadsticks.

Yes I know there's no pizza sauce on there. Most of my family doesn't really like all the red stuff that usually comes on a pizza so we choose to go without. If you must have it, I think it would still be fine just don't go overboard with it. You could also use pesto as a sauce. I wanted the flavor of the deer to stand out so I choose to go naked pizza this time.

Pinning!!

Well!!! Thanks to my good friend, Kari, I am now addicted to www.pinterest.com. I'm seeing things through different eyes now and have been motivated to try some new things around the house. One thing I've wanted to do for awhile now is to make a coffee/tea center. I couldn't get it just the way I wanted but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

I went down to the garde the other day expecting maybe a few peppers. Much to my surprise the cherry tomatoes were blooming again along with the bells and jalapenos. Standing in the kitchen today I got a sudden inspiration to make an edible center piece.

I have lots more ideas that I want to try. I'll try to keep the pics coming!

Another year older?

I don't know. Am I really 32? Most of the time I have to remind myself that I'm in my 30's. I still feel like a young 20 something most of the time. On the inside that is. My body likes to remind me that I am over 30 and have given birth to 5 children. But I can't complain.

Once you have kids and lots of life responsibilities, birthdays just don't seem that important anymore. Today is pretty much just like any other day. When you're a kid each birthday marks another milestone. Now its just another day. However, today did turn out to be pretty special. I knew Andrew would be working until late tonight so the kids and I decided to celebrate by bringing home pizza so mom wouldn't have to cook. While Avery and I were gone to town running errands, Summer and the boys cleaned the kitchen and Summer made me a cookie cake. I intended on taking a picture to put on here but it got cut before I could get to it. My long lost little sister called from Florida to wish me a happy birthday along with several other family members. Along with a ton of well wishes from FB.

I am a very blessed person. I have a husband who is hard working, caring and faithful to his family and his God. I have happy healthy children who delight in doing little things they know mean a lot to me. I have a great extended family and church family. I live in a great country and above all else I serve an AWESOME GOD. He delights in giving me the desires of my heart. What more could a girl ask for.

So maybe I am another year older, but I'm also another year wiser. I have another year of learning under my belt. God is showing and teaching me so many things and had another year not already passed I wouldn't be the person I am now.

Thank you to all who helped make this a special day.

Free Day?

This year for the kids school I decided to try something new as an incentive to get their school work done without mom having to harp on them all the time. I'm giving them their assignments for the whole week on Monday. When they're done with it then they are done for the week. As a reward, if everyone gets all their work done by Thursday then we have a free fun day on Friday. This week, everyone but Elliot had their school done so we decided to go to Prairie Grove and do a "short" geocache and then go on to Fayetteville to do some shopping and then end the day with some Cherry Berry.

The geocache at the Battle Field Park in Prairie Grove that I thought would be a quick stop, 45 minutes tops, took us over 2 hours and we walked at least 2 miles. Needless to say, I'm not so sure it turned into a "free" day but we did get us some exercise and another history lesson.

We had a good time shopping in Fayetteville and made it to the Cherry Berry in Siloam before happy hour ended. Poor Elliot, for not getting his school done had to sit and watch us eat ice cream. A few of us had a little pity for him and gave him a couple of bites. However, as I'm typing this he is still trying to finish his school. Not sure how to motivate that child. If ice cream doesn't work then what does?

We then stopped at Mr. B's for pizza and brought it home and finished the day off with a movie. If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend "The Grace Card." Great eye opening movie.

Of course I forgot my camera so I have no pics of the geocaching but I think all in all everyone agreed that it was a pretty fun day. I'm praying that this helps the kids to learn to prioritize and not procrastinate. Looking forward to next week.

Busy Day

I feel like I accomplished quite a bit today. We did school this morning, which is going very well. Cooked lunch (Loose-meat sandwiches) and worked on some planners. Then I did some canning. Four quart jars of peppers, 5 pickles and 2 okra. I thought the garden was about finished, but when I picked it yesterday I noticed the cucumbers were blooming again and the okra is still going strong. I've given one haircut already and plan on giving a couple more before the night is over. I can only do 2 or 3 a night because my clippers get too hot. Oh yeah, fixed dinner and just about had it ready when Andrew walked in the door. That doesn't happen very often. We had meatloaf, boiled potatoes, broccoli & cheese and magic muffins. I'll post a few recipes later. This is one of those comfort food meals. I was not a meatloaf fan for a very long time. No offense mom, but it was my least favorite food growing up. I didn't start preparing it for my family until a few years ago. I found a recipe that we all like so now we make it occasionally. It's still not my favorite but it's tolerable and the rest of the family likes it.

Welcome to Blogging

Well, I've been debating starting a blog for sometime. I kinda need an outlet and some place to sit and just take "Time to Be Quiet". It's not often that those moments occur in this house so I relish them when they do. I'm sure there are few people out there that would care to read about our life. But in the small chance that there is and for the family that feels obligated here goes. I hope to post a couple times a week sometimes more and sometimes less. Most will be idle ramblings of a woman who gets very little adult conversation on a daily basis. Other times I hope to post things that have inspired me and also some favorite recipes. Feel free to follow along, you never know, you might just get a good laugh once in a while. Things are rarely dull around here you know.