Venison Pepper Steak {Stove Top Recipe}

I think the second time Warren cooked for me (way back in our dating days) he made Pepper Steak.  I really liked it, but if you know me, when it comes to food I can't leave well enough alone.  I'm always trying new twists on old recipes.

Somehow (Pinterest) I found this recipe.  The picture sucked me in and since I'm always on the lookout for new ways to use all the deer we put up each year, I just had to try this version of Pepper Steak using venison.   I also adapted the recipe slightly for my large sized family.

Original Recipe is credited to South Your Mouth blog.

Here's my adaptation.

Venison Pepper Steak  (serves 8-12)

3 lbs. venison steak, sliced very thin (1/4" or less)
5 T. soy sauce
2 t. black pepper
Lard
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
2 green peppers, thinly sliced
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 t. minced jarred garlic

Sauce:
2 brown gravy packets
1/2 t. ginger paste
1 t. black pepper
2 cups cold water
4 T. soy sauce

Here's the process for those of you who like written details.  Remember the video explanation is on YouTube.

Slice meat into thin (1/4") pieces.  The length of strips doesn't really matter.  For the tenderest meat cut across the grain (opposite the muscle fibers) 🤔

Slice all the veggies, too.  Set aside until the end.  But don't wait until the end.  Once you start the cooking process this goes very quickly so everything needs to be ready.  If you have a helpful teen around they could cut the veggies while you slice the meat.  Just saying.

Make the sauce mixture.  Set aside, but stir it a couple of times while doing other things.

Here's the Ginger paste I use.  It really add fullness and richness to the overall flavor. (Similar item at Amazon) I bought mine at Walmart.

Heat very large cast iron skillet (link to mine) with a few T. lard.

Add all the meat at once.  It should sizzle fiercely.  Let meat cook for a couple of minutes, then stir around until done.  Transfer to warm bowl.  Foil.  Set aside.

Add veggies and garlic to skillet.  Stir fry for about 4 minutes.  

Add meat and sauce mix to veggies.  Cook until sauce thickens.  This happens in under 1 minute.  Turn heat off.  Serve over hot rice, which I should tell you to start cooking right away so you're not messing with it while you're stirring, transferring, and focusing on the pepper steak.

This is so incredible.  The venison stays so moist and is ultra tender.  Enjoy!!!😋

For the full video click here.

April :: A Month in Review

April was a light blogging month.  I did share 5 of my best homeschooling tips.  I know - 14+ years of homeschooling and only 5 tips.  Hah!  I also shared about our casual way of learning in the early years.  Sharks took front and center for a few weeks.  Peter now knows that shark books have a call number of 597.3 at the library.  He's checked out every one of them and I've read just about every one of them.

Without further ado, here's a chronological photo dump from April with captions.

One of the favorite, yet more stressful, spring events is Creative Arts Day.  CAD is a county wide 4-H event which gives youth the opportunity to develop, perform, and be judged on their favorite creative arts.  Trophies and ribbons are awarded to the top placed finishers.  This year Sam performed a violin solo and was awarded a blue ribbon for his BMX safety gear demonstration.  Our 4-H club performed a 1-act play; both Amber and Sam participated.

Amber drew from her homeschool chemistry labs and did a demonstration on extracting DNA from saliva.  Although she was incredibly nervous, she was awarded a blue ribbon.  The most anticipated part of Creative Arts Day is the 1-act plays.  Amber received the 3rd place high school actress trophy.

Blurry auditorium photo.

Once CAD was over we settled into a more normal spring filled with cooking and sibling competitions, trailer painting and fishing.

Country sausage gravy over biscuits is favorite.  I tried a new one pan method, which results in a super flavorful, creamy gravy.  And there's only ONE giant pan to wash instead of two.

Always some kind of competition going on outside my kitchen window.  The tires were from last weeks tire flipping competition.

Emily's college and work schedule keep her gone for lunch and coming in right at the end of supper so she hasn't been cooking much this year.  With her impending move, she decided to use her spring break to brush up on her cooking skills.  She made us these delicious homemade cheese fries to go along with our Friday fish fry.

Amber and Emily (and us) bought a pretty run down trailer for super cheap.  Amber's been giving it A LOT of TLC.  It's on its way to looking pretty sharp.

We've been having an Easter egg hunt and homemade pinata bash for years.  It's a most anticipated family event.  I took over 100 pictures, but this is by far a favorite.

Amber pushes Joseph aside when Warren yells, "GO!"  You're never too old for an Easter Egg Hunt and never too young to be pushed around by your older sister.

Again, my camera card has over 75 pinata pictures, but I'm just sharing one.  We make our pinata with a 12 inch latex balloon, newspaper strips, and Liquid Starch.  This year we covered the balloon with 7 layers.  Each layer has to dry completely, about 1 day.  We started a week in advance.  It's super easy to do, cheap, and holds up fairly well even through teenagers.

I've been taking the kids' Easter picture on this step since Emily and Nick were toddlers.  It's getting pretty crowded, but they still squeeze in upon my request/begging.

A beautiful Easter basket cake my friend Karrie made for our Easter dinner, complete with a delicious lemon filling.  I might have had a piece or four.

And still more fishing.

April isn't all fun and games.  There's plenty of work going on.  Warren pressured up the irrigation engines and prepared for his yearly newborn baby, i.e. frost watch.  Only it's worse - a baby can be tended to in the warmth of your bedroom, but frost watch?  He has to slip into clothes and head outside and frost watch nights are the coldest nights of the spring.  Try getting back to sleep after you just got a cold sprinkler in the face.

Anyway, frost watch comes with the job, and he tends to it like a trooper, rarely complaining, unlike me with newborn babies.  I think I complained.  I'm sure I complained.

Our first walk on the marsh of the spring.  We actually had a warmish Wisconsin day so we had to take advantage of it.

Moving water again.  Here's an old post about checking and moving water on the cranberry marsh.

When you're on a walk and your brother keeps trying to run ahead of you.  People, it's not all sunshine and rainbows around here.

And still more fishing.

I hadn't sat down at the sewing machine in months.  Piles of jeans with ripped pockets and blown out knees, a torn flannel shirt, a blanket intended to be Maria's extra winter blanket, and church pants needing hemming all waited for me in a heap.  With a prom dress waiting to be altered, I had to tackle the pile or stuff it all in a garbage bag and forget about it.  I chose to actually tackle the pile.  It was made easier by binge listening to The Homeschool Snapshots Podcast (see the computer laying on the floor).  Maria blessed me with her singing, too.  As I type this nothing awaits mending, even the prom dress was finished on time.  (Note:  Emily just entered stage right wondering if I could help her fix her swimsuit.....and so another pile begins).

BMX season is back in full swing.  Sam's in the white.

So far Nick's the only successful turkey hunter in the family.  Sam still has a couple days of season left.

Although not out of the ordinary, snow on April 27 is still annoying.

But it did make the fish bite.

April wasn't quite full enough so Amber decided it was time for an appendicitis.  Just 5 nights before prom.  She's young and super healthy so she healed up enough to still attend prom and dance the night away from what I heard.

Well that should do it.  May is right around the corner and one peek at the calendar has me hyperventilating thinking about all that's to come - our 2nd high school graduate, our oldest moving away for her summer internship, year end conferences, curriculum planning for next year already, preparing the garden.  I'll stop now; it'll all get done - it always does.

What was the highlight of your April?  What are you most looking forward to in May?  Share in the comments.

Pinnable Image

November and December Recap

It was November 3 the last time I posted here at Camp Homeschool.  Of course I have a few recipes to share, videos of Joseph reading, and a review of Calming Clippers, but first I think a general recap of the last couple of months is in order.

Duck hunting has infected a few members of the family.  Nick spent a good portion of his fall chasing ducks and geese.  He and Amber went to the Mead Wildlife Refuge one morning and brought home 6 nice sized ducks.  Nick's perfected the art of cooking duck - it only took a few pointers from me and now he's the main duck chef.

Joe attends Friday school through the virtual homeschool program.  Just before Thanksgiving he made a turkey head band at school.  It didn't make it to Thanksgiving Day; he had it wore out long before that.

Deer hunting takes center stage in November when everyone eats, sleeps, and breathes deer hunting.  Conversation around the dinner table often includes talk about deer hunting snacks, blaze orange jackets, sighting in rifles, ammunition purchases, and who's sitting with who.  We have so much to be thankful for this hunting season; 7 deer went in the freezer.  Most likely we'll eat it up by the end of July or August.

Can you tell Joseph loves hunting season just as much as his older siblings do?

We alternate hosting Thanksgiving with Warren's brother's family.  It was our year.  I like having a few games ready to play, just in case the electronics are trying to take over the day.  This competitive relay race had everyone laughing and cheering and moaning when the ball dropped.  Good times!

And more post Thanksgiving hunting.

This year we attended Canadian National's Holiday Train light display.  I think it was one of the coldest nights of the year, but we trudged on.  I'm so glad we did; the light display was awesome and it was pretty neat to be so close to the train.  When it was time for the train to leave there were a group of workers shooing people back and checking in between each car to make sure no one was hiding out.  So, it was safe even though we were so close.  It happened to be the vigil of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Thanks to the internet I was able to look up a Catholic church and see what time their vigil Mass would be and it ended up working out perfectly.  I always enjoy, out of curiosity, attending Mass at other churches.  I was surprised by the number of youth at Mass that evening; there had to be at least 100 teens.  And to really top off the night we went out for a late supper at Culver's.

The search for the perfect Christmas tree had us all trudging along one Sunday afternoon.  We had slim pickings so when someone spotted a 30 foot tree with a beautiful top, we decided it would be perfect.

We all watched as Nick notched and sawed and pushed a little until it came down.

We left the bottom section of the tree in the woods for rabbit habitat; Sam carried the top to the truck.

December is also the month of Peter's birthday.  Right away in the morning (when you're the tallest) I measured Peter.  Turns out he's the tallest 5 year old yet.  I don't know if you can tell by the picture, but the boys' measurements are on the left and the girls on the right.

Peter and Maria love to color, so when I found this over-sized Melissa and Doug coloring pad, I snagged one for Peter and Maria each, plus the crayon sets.  Maria got her set for Christmas, but Peter immediately went to coloring.  The pictures are big, clear, and exactly the types of things boys like to color:  spaceships, dinosaurs, race cars, and tractors.

Peter asked for angel food cake, but also wanted cupcakes.  I decided to make mini angel food cupcakes with white frosting, which represented snow and then made white chocolate (tinted green) trees as the decoration.  It's so easy to create chocolate shapes.  I found inspiration here and here.

Now that was a lot of pictures, so I'll stop here for tonight.  I hope to be back soon with more useful posts relating to Catholic life, homeschooling with Down syndrome, and maybe a couple of recipes.

Have a wonderful evening.  We're coming off a cold week of below 0 temps and moving into a week filled with freezing rain and increasing temperatures.