Venison Stroganoff {because I really love my husband}

Hey guys...I'm alive! 

I know, it's been a looong break from blogging, but Chardonnay (that's my puter's name) was sick. So, FYI: if you get an update that looks just like a regular computer update, but is for C++, do not do it! Husband thought it would be a good idea... Nope!

And honestly it was just nice to have a little break, since I was starting to feel kinda burnt out with having to come up with a post every week. I will probably switch to bi-monthly blogging now, and try to make the posts more "quality". ;)

........

So! This last week I was feeling really loving and decided I would cook my husband some venison. I say that because I'm not really a fan (of venison). I only know of two people that actually know how to cook the stuff in a way that makes me actually want to eat it (shout out to Julia Holum and Heidi Burger). It's just too gamey tasting. Eh!

Anyhoo... wanting to surprise Matt with some meat for dinner, (I cook a lot of vegetarian dishes) I decided to see if stroganoff would be a good disguise. 

I spent AN HOUR (literally, an hour - not exaggerating at all here) rinsing out the blood from the meat. *cringe here* Because I actually wanted to be able to eat it myself, and the thought of it cooking in it's own blood is absolutely repulsive to me. THEN, after that was done I had to touch all the pieces in order to cut it up! So. proud. of. myself. Seriously, I gave myself a few extra point for brave cooking. I was really feeling loving!

Well enough of my ramblings about venison... I should just share the recipe, because it turned out pretty well. If you like venison that is. ;) I let Matt have all the leftovers....

Slow-Cooker Venison Stroganoff

- 2 pounds of venison steak (rinsed and cut into bite sized pieces)

- 1 large onion, chopped

- 3ish cloves of garlic, smashed

- 1 package mushrooms, chopped

- pepper/garlic powder/beef bullion cubes etc. 

- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup

- 1 tub of sour cream

- 1 bag of egg noodles 

Combine the first 6 ingredients in the slow-cooker and cook on low for 6 hours. When it's almost done cooking, stir in as much sour cream as you like, (I used about 3/4 of the container) and make your egg noodles. And crescents, because errbody loves a crescent roll. 

*special note: I also used some cornstarch to thicken it up a bit at the end because I think I dumped some water in that was on the cutting board with the meat. I avoid touching it as much as possible when it's raw :). 

And there ya have it! Most loving wife award goes to... 

Alright, I promise I'll be back to blogging regularly now.

Thank you so much for stopping by and following along!

Blessings to you this week,

Olivia

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Teddy Bear Toast and Toddlers

My niece Parker and my nephew William moved to La Crosse around Christmas time, which is nice because now Matt and I get to spend more time with them! Practice for the future ;).  We watch them at our efficiency apartment quite regularly. Are we crazy for having a 4 and almost 2 year old at our little place all day? Nah, just highly skilled! I'll show you how we keep them entertained...

First off, Teddy Bear Toast! 

My mother pinned this little idea on to her "Someday I'll be a Granny" board on pinterest. Since I don't have kids yet (hence the name of the board...) I decided I would try it out on them. They loved it of course!

Parker with her toast. She so sweetly said, "You have to give this recipe to my mom!!" Hahaha :)

Another thing we do with them  is take them outside. Literally every time they have been over we go out for a walk - even if it is a blizzard out. It's nice that they can run around a bit. It prevents the "efficiency apartment fever" and wears them out some.

Here is William with Uncle Matt's football from high school. And Parker running in the background. We are lucky to have a pretty big green space out in front of the apartments. :)


And then of course there is the jungle-gym that is Uncle Matt! They always want to "play donkey". Good thing Uncle Matt is strong!

And then there is a small toy drawer for them that I have very frugally created, but it does the trick!

Proof that toddlers don't need a lot of toys (or even space) to be happy. Although I'm sure being so little our place seems bigger to them than it really is.

I still plan to thoroughly show ya'll the apartment soon. I think I will start working on that blog post after I graduate....one week from now!! :D gaaa!

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Olivia

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Simple Sugar Cookies { that can be made in a "Jiffy"! }

These were so yummy! Really soft and chewy...and easy to make! I made them simply because my husband and I had bought a box of Jiffy mix a while back thinking we needed it. It had just been sitting in the pantry, and the other night I though about that and looked on the back of the box to see what I could make.

Being the cookie monster that I am, of course the cookie recipe stood out to me right away! Above you can see that I am not the best at making cookies very uniform like. :'( Maybe I should invest in one of those miniature ice-cream scoop looking things? I think that would be a wise idea...

Listen to just how simple this recipe is from the back of the Jiffy all purpose baking mix box...

Sugar Cookies
(makes 24-28)

• 2 cups Jiffy baking mix
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 5 Tbsp. margarine or butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease baking sheet
Combine all ingredients until blended
Drop by tablespoon on to prepared baking sheet
Bake 8 to 10 minutes  (mine were more like 13 to 15! ...my husband likes some to be more crunchy though)
Remove from sheet and sprinkle with sugar.

*I really would recommend trying to get them all on one sheet or at least in the oven at the same time right away. The longer my batter sat the uglier the cookies turned out (like with bubbles in them). But I really didn't have a choice because of my little baby oven. It can only fit the small pan. :)

Too easy not to try right? As long as you have the Jiffy mix that is. I was also thinking they might be good with lemon extract? Mainly because I have quite the extract collection going on right now, but I only ever seem to use vanilla. I'm not sure if you would use the same amount, or less, or more... hmm ...if you know please tell me!

I hope you bake some and enjoy them as much as I did!

Blessings,
Olivia


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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Well I tried out another recipe from my Yum Board on Pinterest. Now only about 200 more to go right!? Haha...

Okay, so first I have to admit that I only kinda followed the recipe. I didn't have everything, and so I used it for an inspiration you could say.
But the real recipe can be found HERE!

If you are looking for something to make for dinner I definitely recommend them. Tasty and healthy.

So I didn't really measure...Like I said, it was an "inspiration". I know for sure I doubled the black beans (we love black beans!) and I didn't have water chestnuts, cayenne pepper, or tomato sauce (I used paste + water). And they still turned out!

I'm learning how much I love recipes that can be flexible.... because I hardly ever have all the ingredients I need. No space to put them all!

Oh, and I only used 3 peppers instead of 7. We just ate some of the stuffing on its own. (Check out big red...it was seriously a giant!!)

Now before you go thinking, "Oh, this poor girl doesn't even know how to cut her peppers!", let me tell you that we like them that way!! We have decided that we like them as more of a "bowl" style rather than a "cup" style because...
1.) You get more of the pepper with every bite.
2.) When you cut them they aren't as messy.
3.) You double your peppers! (kinda)

So that's that.

Here they are all stuffed and pretty. Ready to bake for close to an hour...make sure you start making them long before you are hungry, or make sure you are a patient person. My husband is not...at least not when it comes to food.

All done. Make sure you don't forget the cheese. These WI cheese heads never do. NOM NOM.
Delicious and nutritious... a complete protein and lots of veggies. Can't beat that!

Thanks for visiting! And a special shout out to my FIRST TWO FOLLOWERS!!!! I was soooo excited to see that. Thanks ladies.

Blessings,
Olivia

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Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake

I went back home to the real country (Hayward) last weekend. People in La Crosse keep saying this is a "small town". To them all I have to say is...  NO. It is not. Go visit Hayward. Anyways, it was nice to be back...I enjoy having a yard instead of a parking lot space. Haha - But really, I start to miss the fresh air here.

On one of the days I was there my sister and I decided to make a coffee cake. It turned out to be pretty yummy, so I thought I would share.

My sister had the recipe as a pin on one of her Pinterest boards. The recipe can be found HERE.

We didn't have the same pan as the recipe called for; we just had a regular spring form pan. We tried to stick an empty salt shaker jar in the middle to get the hole, but it was too little. Just a little extra baking time worked fine though!

Between me, my husband, my sister, my mom, and my dad...it did not last very long at all!

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!! Yummy! hehe

If you're in the mood for some coffee cake, I recommend this one for sure!


Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Olivia



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