What's Cookin'?: Venison Edition

Before I started dating Travis, I had never EVER eaten deer meat. His whole family hunts and so I was introduced to it through Sunday dinners at his Dad's house. It was almost ALWAYS fried like little Chicken Fried Steaks and I LOVED IT!

Fast forward several years. Travis still hunts and brings home deer meat. I had NO idea how to fry it, but eventually learned how. Being a working mom, I am pressed for time to cook dinner and inevitably, my kitchen is full of three little girls and one big husband claiming they are going to starve to death if dinner is ready by 6. Since I get home after 5 most days, that doesn't leave a ton of time to fry deer meat before my entire family dies of starvation.

So, I did some googling and found two recipes that my ENTIRE family loves. The stew takes about 15 minutes to prepare and I brown the meat before work and cook it all day. The "Venison" Hamburger steak takes about 30-40 minutes total prep + cook time.

**Please note: I am the LAZIEST cook around. I hate chopping, peeling, mincing, etc. So, if there is an alternative way to get the same results, I use it. Also, I don't like using or looking for "weird" ingredients at the store. So, I always just leave them out.

Venison Stew (adapted from All Recipes.com)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 lbs venison stew meat (cut into chunks)
3 onions chopped (I always use the frozen bag...no chopping in this house!)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I use the store bought already minced garlic)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups of water
7 small potatoes (quartered)
1 lb of carrots, cut to 1 inch pieces (I used a bag of baby carrots)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup water

In a skillet, brown the meat in the oil.
Transfer the meat to your crock pot.
Add onions, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, salt, 3 cups of water and stir.
After all spices are mixed well with the meat, add the potatoes, carrots and any other veggies you want. (I added frozen green beans too.)
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
About 30 minutes prior to eating, combine the flour and 1/4 cup of water. Then add it to the stew.
Serve with corn bread.

Hamburger Steak: Venison Style (adapted from a hamburger steak recipe on allrecipes.com)

1 lb ground venison
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
black pepper
season salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Crisco
1 thinly sliced onion
2 tablespoons flour
1 can beef broth

In a large bowl, mix together meat, egg, bread crumbs onion powder, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. Form into patties. (I made 5 patties from a pound, but they were pretty big).
Heat the Crisco in a frying pan.
Fry the patties and onion until the patties are cooked through.
Remove patties from the skillet.
Add flour to the drippings and mix thoroughly.
Slowly add beef broth. (I always mix with the fork and smoosh the lumps)
Once the gravy is slightly thinner than the consistency you prefer (gravy will thicken as it cools), add the patties back to the pan.
Spoon gravy over the patties and simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve patties with gravy on top.

I can assure you these are EASY to make. Like I said, I am a lazy cook and am always looking for something quick that my whole family will eat. These recipes are both of those things and a nice alternative when I don't have time to fry deer meat (which I still do on occasion...because I love me some fried food!)

Let me know if you try this out!