It's getting that time of year

Hi everyone!
Its getting that time of year for parties and the big Jolly guy with a red sleigh to come around so I thought I would take a moment to give you a new recipe and a redux of an old one.. 

First the new one...  Pastry -Wrapped Brie with Raspberries
(Couple of comments - good luck finding the size Brie ring called for in this one - I couldn't - found one bigger and one smaller - I used the smaller one (8 oz) and it worked fine - just cut down the amount of raspberries and preserves a little)

Ingredients
1/2 cup Raspberry preserves
1/4 cup fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries (thawed)
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 13.2 oz Bay Brie cheese wheel
1 large egg (mixed with teaspoon of water for egg wash)
pinch (or a little more) of freshly ground black pepper

Baked Brie

Crackers/baguette slices and Grapes

Pre-heat oven to 400* combine preserves, raspberries and rosemary in small bowl, season with pepper.  Roll out pastry dough on lightly floured surface to 12 inch square.  Cut top rind off cheese (hint here, cut it off cold re-wrap and let come to room temp).  Place cheese rindless side up, in center of pastry.  Spoon raspberry mixture onto cheese.  Fold pastry on 2 opposite sides over cheese.  Brush remaining 2 sides of pastry with glaze and fold them over the previous sides.  Press seams to seal and brush pasty with glaze and place on backing sheet.

Bake cheese until pastry is deep golden brown (don't worry if it splits open it still tastes good) - should take about 30 minutes.  Let cool 20 minutes.  Place pastry in center of serving platter surround with baguettes, crackers and grapes. 

The next one is a redux of a recipe a couple years ago, but have a picture this time.
Sausage- Cheese Balls
Ingredients
1 lb lean HOT sausage
2 1/2 cups Bisquick
12 oz SHARP cheddar cheese, grated

Pre heat oven to 375*.  with your hands knead all the ingredients in a bowl.  I have a couple of recommendations for this...  1) If you grate the cheese yourself throw it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or the heat of your hands will make it tough to grate 2) Mix the cheese and Bisquick together first - and put it in the microwave for 20 secs that helps get the cheese and Bisquick incorporated with the cheese - mixture shouldn't be too hot to mix the sausage in but the heat helps draw the moisture out of the cheese.  Then add the sausage and mix all three together to incorporate. (mixing may take a while -don't worry it will eventually get together.
Make into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet (leave plenty of room between them they will swell).  Bake for 15 minutes  This makes about 4 -5 dozen (depending on the size). 

Sausage Cheese Balls

I served them with a Sweet and Sour sauce as it works well with the heat of the sausage.   Not fancy food but very good for an informal party appetizer

As for the Jolly Man with the red sleigh... Here is the first sighting of the sleigh...  

Santa's Sleigh??????

South Dakota Trip Part 2

Back again;
Mark sent the pictures I was waiting for (thanks a bunch Mark) and I wanted to follow up on our last few day in SD.
I left off after the second day of walk in hunting with a cold and tired Ike. 
We finally got back to the hotel in Sioux Falls and got Ike fed and watered and still had to clean 3 of the pheasants we were able to bring down.  Well, I parked my truck under the lights and cleaned them on the tailgate.  In SD (as in many states) you have to leave the leg, head or wing on to identify them as a rooster - since you can't shoot the hens.  Got them cleaned and washed up and then brought out my vacuum sealer and got them sealed air tight and put in the fridge to chill. 

In lieu of a lot words, I am going to post pics with captions - that will be more fun to look at.  Just a couple of notes.  One a big thanks to Scott A and his Dad Bill for agreeing to come up on Saturday and hunt the day with us.  I know I sure enjoyed it and I think Bill and Scott did!!  Kudos to Scott for some GREAT shots too that day.  And Second, a note to Rosemary and Darryl our hosts, They took over for Judy and Ralph (Rosemary's parents) and the new house and lodge is ABSOLUTELY GREAT. The food was super and the hospitality top notch (Terry the homemade wine was really good this year).. Great time and Great people.
Well here are the pics... Enjoy:

Everybody ready to go

The new Lodge - It is really nice



BeBe the Wonder dog (and Steve D too!)

Ikey, with vest and boots under the watchful eye of Uncle Mike

Chuck and his son in law Zach It was Zach's first trip with us..

Most of our group with our former (now retired) hosts Ralph and Judy

Old Dead eye drops one

Lots of walking hope you have good boots

Our Saturday bounty... What a good time

BeBe sums it up... Man I'm bushed...

New Recipe

Hi everyone -
Since I am waiting on some pictures to post the second installment of our South Dakota trip, I wanted to share with you the results of a new recipe I tried last night.  Since Ike and I harvest a number of birds we are always looking for ways to cook and eat them...  I got this recipe from a member of the Ultimate Pheasant Forum - http://www.ultimatepheasanthunting.com/recipes/ and this site has an entire listing of about 60 recipes for pheasant and wild game...    (Thanks to member BirdyBritt529 for the recipe..)
Here it is:
Maple Glazed Pheasant
Ingredients:

Legs and breast of 1 pheasant, skinned
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 cups maple syrup
1 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste (I also put in about a tsp of Paprika, and some dried Rosemary and Oregano in the flour mix)
Directions: Fillet meat off of the breast and thighs. Cut the meat into pieces of the same thickness. Season the flour in a bowl with salt and pepper and dredge the pheasant meat in the mixture. Dust pheasant pieces with onion powder. Melt 3/4 cup butter in skillet over medium heat. Brown the pheasant pieces and place in a lightly oiled 9×13 glass casserole. Sprinkle with parsley.

Add the syrup and 1/4 cup butter to the skillet. Mix well until butter is melted and then pour over the pheasant (should come about halfway up on the pheasant pieces). Seal the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees. 

It was mighty tasty and looked very appealing.. 


After I took a couple pieces--- Oops busted

I made some minor changes - I boned out two whole breasts not the legs - that is what I had thawed out so that is what I used.  

With some loaded Mashed potatoes - use the sauce as a gravy

I think over risotto or wild rice would be a nice side as well.

South Dakota 2012 Part 1

Hi everyone;
As you know this is the time of year that gets Ike's heart a pumpin'!!  Pheasant season in the Great Plains.  This year it was my desire to take Ike up and really work him out on some public hunting in Minnesota and South Dakota.  Lets just say that 5 straight days of hunting and two long 10+ hour days of travel were pretty hard on man and beast. 

We started in MN, and we met up with a couple on some public ground near Jackson and we joined forces and kicked up a couple hens and a rooster.  Ike was just getting his initial burst of energy out and was really working a little to fast to suit me.  Not unexpected since he hadn't really had much of an opportunity to do much local work all summer because of his cast.   We ended up hunting together until noon, getting a couple roosters and a Woodcock (timber doodle).  The couple and the lab Raven (Ray for short) were a true joy to hunt with and took the birds  - I said I have 4 more days to hunt so I should get plenty of opportunities.

We then went on to our farm in MN and met with the man that farms the property, Greg.  He is the nicest man and he said go ahead and hunt his property as well as ours (they butt up against each other) so Ike and I took off to see what we could see.  It had started off warm and foggy that morning but by now it had turned windy, and rainy and COLD!!  Ike and I worked a couple sloughs and ditches, kicking up 2 roosters and a hen,  - no shots at any - one rooster flushed wild and one was just too low over Ike to take a safe shot..  and of course the only good shot I had was at the hen - sorry can't shoot those  :(.  But we were both drenched and cold - Ike as soaked to the bone and Greg allowed us to go in his heated garage and towel off and warm Ike up.  We hung around a while and took off for SD. 



Ike warming up and resting after first cold day of hunting

Got to Sioux Falls a little later than planned (had a little wallet issue - Lesson #1 don't put all your money and credit cards in one spot - if you lose it you are screwed).  Greg found it (THANK YOU) and we were nothing but a little late.  Got to the hotel and checked in and saw the weather was not projected to be too good the next day.   It wasn't ....  We woke up to 3" of wet icy snow ans still had 187 miles to drive to meet with Ken and Steve to hunt walk in area near Presho SD.  Took off and got there just in time to start at Noon and as we pull into the hunting area we see two people already hunting.. They thought it was the week to start at 10 AM but they were wrong.  They were apologetic and left promptly.  We got started and hunted in pines, corn and sloughs and Ike was again a little over anxious - but he did do some good pointing - hens and roosters  Did a really nice job pointing in the slough but was walking through very cold water and after over 2 hours of solid hunting in the snow and wind, Ike was done - he doesn't have a lot of fat on his bones and he was cold and shivering.  I took him back to the truck and warmed him up - let him lay on the floor with the heater blowing right on him....  I have to tell you I was worried - I never saw him quit before.. 


Old farmhouse near Murdo SD - note Outhouse in back

We finished a couple more passes and got a couple of roosters but I decided to take off back to the hotel and get Ike some needed food water and warmth.   2 days of bad weather and tough hunting... I hope not an omen for the rest of the trip....... More to come in part 2