Category Recipes

As for me and my house we shall eat gravy… every chance we get

Who doesn’t like gravy? Better yet, who doesn’t like finding a recipe that will stand the test of time in their family? My creamy country gravy recipe is one for the books.

I grew up with a mom who made gravy at every dinner meal. My parents didn’t have a lot of money so Mom’s thinking was that she needed to fill our bellies with as much as she could with the little that she had.

As a mom now myself, and with our every growing family, we eat the gravy. Usually on our deer steaks but we definitely eat it with biscuits and gravy.

And although I use whatever sausage I have on hand, deer breakfast sausage is my fave. Very little grease and ooh-la-la, that flavor. As I tell one of my little granddaughters it’s “yum to tum.”

I consider myself to be a good cook. Actually I consider myself to be a GREAT cook. But I have BEEN KNOWN to over season things once or twice. Maybe THREE times. Possibly FOUR, but no more than that, depending on who you ask.

We live and then we learn…sometimes the hard way

However, there might have been this one time that, ironically enough, it was opening morning of rifle season and we had a whole KITCHEN FULL of people. We had all just come in from our morning hunt and I was going to make biscuits and gravy for everyone.

A little back story. My father-in-law, who was there that morning also, had just had a heart attack the year before and had three, I believe, stints put in. He was watching his diet, sodium in particular.

That morning my cooking skills were on display because there were a couple of people that I didn’t really know that well. I was in performance mode.

We all know what happens to us when all eyes are on us, at least for me. I tried way to hard to impress and ended up, ACCIDENTALLY, putting too much salt in the gravy. I tried to mask it with more milk but that didn’t dilute it enough.

I served it like that hoping no one would notice. But they did, althought they did a REALLY great job of pretending it was edible. I watched each and every face as they took that first bite.

No one said a word, except for my father-in-law. He took that first bite and said, “Damn, Kelly! Are you trying to give me another heart attack? That gravy’s salty.” With that, everyone laughed. Even me. But even today, when I make this recipe, I hold that salt shaker in a little bit different position so that I don’t add too much.

For the record, I like salt.

My creamy country gravy recipe is really simple and one that you’re going to want to keep in your recipe arsenal. It’s so easy and has so few ingredients. Because it’s a favorite recipe in our family I wanted to share it with you.

Creamy Country Gravy Recipe

1/2 Cup  Canola Oil (I don’t think olive oil would work)

1/2 to 3/4 Cup  All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

4 Cups Milk

In a large skillet (because there will end up being so much) heat the oil over a medium heat. 

Carefully whisk in flour, pepper, and salt. I usually put my flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl separately and blend it first before adding it.

Stir until smooth, making sure it’s blended well and browned. 

Gradually stir in the milk and stir, stir, stir making sure there are no lumps forming.  It will bubble some but keep stirring until its the consistency that you desire and then take off the heat.

Moms really do always know best

One thing my mom taught me about making gravy, and believe it or not it was the ONLY thing she let me cook as a child (except macaroni and cheese out of the box) was that you have to stir CONTINUALLY. Because if you don’t it will clump up on the bottom of the skillet and be lumpy, not smooth.

I want to also say that when I make this recipe for biscuits and gravy I brown up some sausage before hand and add it in WHILE the gravy is being cooked.

So…listen to me, but especially listen to my mama. She put the “good” in being a good cook.

And that’s it!!! Perfect every time! Just remember to watch that salt!

A Very Simple Venison Burger Recipe That Will Quickly Become One of Your Family’s Favorites Also

I get asked to make this all the time!!! One of our family’s most favorite venison recipes EVER!!! And believe it or not, it has quite a story attached to it.

How The Recipe Came To Be

Several years ago I had seen a competition online for a women’s hunting and outdoor website and thought it might be fun to enter it. Prizes were involved along with recognition as a female hunter on this particular website. And although I am only a slightly competitive person, I thought it might be fun to step out of my comfort zone and just do it.

There was a long list of “to do’s” and points were earned by checking off the completed tasks.

Contacting businesses in the hunting industry and asking if you could review their products was one of the tasks we were asked to complete. We had to contact the business, ask them to send you THREE products, and then review it and write up a review to leave on the website. We were to keep ONE of the products for ourselves but send the other two to the website putting on the competition. I was on fire as far as contacting companies went. In fact, I am still friends with those contacts today. It was a huge learning experience for me but one that helped me meet people in the hunting circuit.

Another task we were asked to complete was to submit a wildgame recipe of our choice and we were to take a picture of our finished work.

I will interject here and just say that I have a chicken pot pie recipe that was to die for and I made it all the time for my family. I mean I made it at least once a week. It was that good.

Our Kids Can Sometimes Be Our Best Recipe Inspirers

Months prior to the competition, our son, Tyler, had suggested that I take my chicken pot pie recipe and tweak it, subsituting the chicken for deer or venison burger. I had never tried this but it peaked my interest. I was curious how it would compare to my already tried and true recipe. As it turned out Tyler had a good idea and that recipe would end up being a family favorite in our household.

That would be the recipe I submitted.

First, I prepared the pot pie and baked it. Feeling proud, I took a few pictures and submitted them. It worked out well. Because I needed something for supper that night and voila! That part was covered.

The next day I received an email stating that it would be great if I would take step-by-step pictures as I was making my recipe. Okay! Yes, I can do that.

Yet, another pot pie? Sure, no big deal.

Twice As Nice

Although it wasn’t what I planned to do, I baked another one. Step-by-step, picture after picture. I got it done. And yes, my family had to eat pot pie for a second night. They devoured the previous one for dinner the night before followed up by lunch. These are growing boys. It was fine.

Again, I submitted the pictures.

And again, I received another email saying that I would get more points IF I could do a video to show HOW TO make the venison pot pie. Of course I was up for that! How could I not be? I was trying to win.

Third Time’s A Charm

So here I go a THIRD time. I got all the ingredients, set up the camera, and videoed myself preparing yet ANOTHER venison pot pie.

I won’t lie. As much as my family loves my pot pies, by this point they were SICK of it. Three pot pies in three days! That’s a lot of vegetables for boys that don’t like vegetables. However, they were troopers and kept eating everything I kept making.

Long Story Short

I ended up getting second place in the competition, although I held “first” for a very long time. Proudly I can say that although I wore the welcome out of this family favorite, whenever I make it for our grown children they still devour it just like that very first time.

It will be one of those recipes that get passed down long after I’m gone. It thrills me to know that they still get excited when they stop by and I pull one of those pot pies out of the oven. You can bet that they grab a plate and a fork and sit down for a slice. It’s easy to make and I believe your family will love it as well.

A Few Simple Ingredients

All it takes is a very few ingredients to make this tasty venison burger pot pie and I even made a step by step video for you to follow along with. Here is what you need:

1-lb venison/deer burger
1-bag shredded cheddar cheese
2-cans cream of potato soup
1-bag frozen vegetables – cooked
2-Pillsbury crusts (top and bottom)

The Steps In Making Venison Pot Pie

Preheat oven to 350

1. Brown burger
2. Mix remaining ingredients thoroughly together
3. Fill into bottom crust and then put on top crust
4. Bake approximately 45 minutes or until nicely browned
5. Let cool and then cut

Watch The Video

Below is the step-by-step video in case you get stuck on what to do. By the way…YOU’RE WELCOME :).

This is such an easy recipe to make your family and takes literally and hour and a half at the most, including baking time. Even though I have friends that don’t like the taste of deer meat (or so they think), I always get rave reviews from them on this venison recipe. If you’re a mom like me that has many irons in the fire, this dinner classic will become a family favorite in your house. I can almost promise that.

xoxoxo

Kelly