This has to be a first, two posts in a row where Tom actually ate with me. Don't worry, I won't have to change my blog name any time soon, he is still not going to try 90% of what I make, I just happened to get lucky picking two beef dishes. BUT I actually used bison for this meal, and he liked it. If you have not cooked with bison I highly recommend it. It has all the flavor of beef with less fat and calories. The recipe came from a Rachael Ray cookbook.
You will need: Some mushrooms, ground meat, arugula, blue cheese, garlic, onion, tomato, worcestershire sauce, broth, and some bread.
Chop up your garlic.
Chop up your onion. I am using onion and shallot, because that is what I had!
Slice up your tomato.
Get your meat, onion and worcestershire together in a bowl, or a cute Pyrex dish.
Combine and make into patties. These are huge, but they shrink down when you cook them. Season them with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.
Crumble your blue cheese if it is not already in crumble form.
Now we can cook! Get two pans on the stove, one with a little butter and olive oil.
Get your burgers down in one, cook for five minutes on each side.
While those cook get your mushrooms in the pan. Don't touch them for a few minutes then give them a stir.
Add in the onions and garlic and a little salt and pepper. Check those burgers!
Add in the broth or stock, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 2 minutes.
Right about now you want to start toasting the bread.
Stir in the blue cheese and you are ready to get this thing on a plate!
Get some arugula and tomato down on the bread and then top with the burger and the mushroom and cheese mixture.
This was so fabulous. I can't even blame the dog for this blurry picture. I think I was just so hungry and wanting to eat this that I couldn't get a good photo. Trust me, it was delicious and you want to try this!

Rachael Ray's Bison and Portobello Mushroom Minestroganoff

I have been enjoying some hearty dishes before it gets too hot here in Arizona. This soup comes from the Rachael Ray magazine.




I knew that I could get either coworkers or my brother to eat some of this so I made the full recipe. Plus it just looked good so I knew I wouldn't mind eating leftovers.




You need some olive oil, pasta, crushed tomato, shallots or onions, broth, portobello mushrooms, bison or ground beef and carrots. You will also need some sour cream for the finished product.

Lets get cooking!




Chop up the onion and the carrots.




Clean the underside of the mushrooms.




Chop them up, they will reduce in size as they cook so don't cut them too small.




I used ground bison instead of beef because I love it and because it has a lot less fat than ground beef.




Heat some oil in a dutch oven and toss in the carrots and onion. Let them cook for about 8 minutes or until softened.




Add in the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes, stirring every once in a while.




Get the veggies out of the pan for now.




Stir in the beef or bison and give that some time on the fire. Let that cook for about 3-5 minutes until browned and season with salt and pepper.




Add in the tomatoes, broth and the cooked veggies. Stir in the pasta and bring it to a boil.




Lower the heat to medium and cover it up. Let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes.




Grab your sour cream from the fridge when you are ready to serve.




Get the soup in the bowl and top it with a dollop of sour cream. This was delicious and I would definitely like to try some other variations with turkey burger and other types of mushrooms. I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy the spring weather!

Grilled Bison Steak with Warm Shallot Vinaigrette

I really enjoy bison steaks and I traditionally eat them with just some salt, but I love shallots so I thought I would try this recipe. You can make this with regular old beef steak as well.








Preheat your grill and lets gather some ingredients.




You will need some Apple Cider Vinegar, shallots, mustard, parsley, Olive Oil, salt, pepper and a nice steak.




Slice the shallots and drop them in a small sauce pan with some olive oil.




Cook them on low for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Get your steak on the grill and then we can make the vinaigrette.




Pour them into a food processor or blender and let it cool for a few minutes and while it cools, flip your steak. Give it a whirl to combine into a nice puree.




Add in the parsley, salt, pepper and the vinegar and give it another spin.




I plated the steak over some romaine lettuce leaves and then smeared it up with the vinaigrette. It was a very nice change from my usual steak topping and I think it complemented the steak instead of overpowering it, like I had feared. I didn't do a great job on presentation because I was darn hungry after smelling that steak grilling and with as rare as I make my steak I wanted to be sure it didn't get back up and run away! I hope your weather is nice enough to try this soon. Have a great weekend!!

Picadillo with Dried Fruit

This recipe was submitted to me from a reader and it turned out to be wonderful! Thank you Jo for sending this to me. It is a Latin American dish called Picadillo and it can vary depending on which country's recipe you use. I am not sure where this one comes from but it is delicious!





Lets gather some ingredients...




It looks like a lot of stuff but it is a very easy dish to make.




Start by cutting up your shallots or onion.




Next, tackle your garlic. Here is a great video if you aren't real sure how to peel and chop garlic. I know a lot of you guys could do this in your sleep, but I really hope to help some new cooks learn something.




Chop up your dried apricots, or whatever dried fruit you might like.




You don't need to do anything to your raisins, except resist the urge to eat them all while you are cooking.




I used Bison for this but you may use whatever ground meat you'd like, or even fake meat crumbles if wanted to have it vegetarian.




Get the meat, shallots and garlic going in a pan for about 10 minutes.




While that is cooking, cut open your lime and set it aside. You can also open up your tomato sauce. I actually didn't have a large enough can of tomato sauce so I supplemented with some V8 I had in the fridge.




Add in the chili powder, salt, oregano, cinnamon and hot sauce.




Next add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 30 minutes.




You can continue to add a little water if it looks like it is drying up a bit. Stir it every once in a while as well to really get the flavors all combined. Once you can't take the delicious smell anymore, serve it up!!!




I served it with a little bit of rice and was stuffed! You can also serve the leftovers on a roll like a sloppy joe. Speaking of, thanks again, Jo, for the great recipe.