Mediterranean Venison Stir Fry

This was created by cleaning out the fridge.

It quickly became one of Mr. LB's favorites.

It was pretty easy really and falls into 

the "Use it up," category.

We use brown rice which takes longer (about 40 min.) to cook.

So first get the rice started.

Then begin cooking venison stew meat over med/med-high heat

in cast iron skillet slightly larger than you would need to cook only the meat.

I use about 2 pounds.

This makes enough for our dinner and a lunch for hubby

the next day.

If you have a large family, multiply accordingly.

While the meat is cooking, add garlic salt and pepper.

When about half way cooked and there is still lots of juice in the pan,

add about a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic and

about 1/4-1/3 cup chopped onion (to taste:)

Next, chop about 1/4-1/3 cup kalamata olives and

about 1/2 cup mushrooms.

Also prepare about 1+ cup each fresh broccoli and cauliflower.

When meat is cooked through and the juice is evaporating rapidly,

add the olives, mushrooms and 1-2 tbl. Worcestershire sauce.

Stir it up to make sure the onions, garlic, olives, and mushrooms

are mixed into the meat evenly.

When juice is nearly gone, toss the broccoli and cauliflower

over the top.

Add about 1/4 cup water and cover for about 5 min.

By this time, rice should be just about ready.

Turn off burners! That's very important.

To serve, spoon rice onto plate, 

then cover with meat mixture.

Sprinkle feta cheese over all this.

Then as we would say on the ranch,

"Tucker up."

*Note: You could substitute a different meat, but the flavors

really are meant for red meat.

Also, if your venison is 'gamey,' rinse it well before cooking.

The blood is where the 'gamey' flavor comes from so

by rinsing, it leaves only the yummy meat flavor. 

Until next time,

Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches

A Lesson in Patience....& Compost

Just in case you don't know the whole saying:

Patience is a virtue.

Virtue is a grace.

Grace is a little girl

who wouldn't wash her face.

Patience certainly does pay off.

It seems difficult in today's age

of instant gratification.

But here is a great example.

Our compost bin was really more of a compost heap.

As I would pass the railroad crossing

where they work on the rails and dump things,

I would often notice that there were 

what I would call crates for lack of a better term.

They were almost like 4 pallets strapped together.

I always thought what great compost bins

they would make, and 

that next time I saw someone there,

I should stop and ask for one.
(Some gals want diamonds - me, compost:)

I know they just break them down and send them to the dump,
but I wouldn't just take one.
About a week or so ago,
I saw one not by the rail road tracks
but farther up river on the side of the road near private property.
It had obviously fallen off of their truck.
After about a week,
I figured they didn't come back for it so must not have wanted it.
I stopped and picked up this roadside litter.
We have already been using it.
It works wonderfully.
I might stain it to match the fence,
just so it's not such an eye sore.

So by waiting patiently, (or even a little impatiently,)
we received a wonderful "new" compost bin.
I still might stop and ask for another,
but it will take us a while to fill this one.
One mans trash...

Until next time,
Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches

Another Blessing

If you read the last post,

there was a blessing of the elder sort.

This morning, I encountered a blessing of a different sort.

Sometimes God graces us (ourselves) with blessing.

And sometimes just witnessing His grace towards others

is a blessing.

I have never tried to attach a video,

so I hope it works.

I will say it brought tears to my eyes,

and I have watched it several times already this morning.

Mr. LB would tell you I have an affinity for music.

The genre really isn't important.

If it's good, I can recognize it.

This is a great reason why I don't care what folks look like.

I don't care if they are skinny blonds.

That doesn't mean they can sing.

Likewise, if they are deemed "unattractive,"

that really doesn't matter to me.

I would rather listen than watch.

True music comes from within.
This is absolutely beautiful.

Wishing you all blessings:

Amira

(click on the link)

Until next time,

Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches

  

*~*~* Grandmother Apple*~*~*

It might seem strange to some folks

to have respect for a tree.

It's not that it was planned.

It just happened over the years.

This is the tree under which my children played.

They gathered worms & bouquets of violets.

They entertained friends and

learned to climb.

She watched as my son fell from her branches.

At 4 years old, I heard the cry/holler then nothing.

Talk about a heart attack.

My motto was always, "If they're crying, at least you know they're breathing."

I raced over to find him, breath knocked out, but fine.

Children don't climb trees any more.

Go ahead and ask how many have next time you see a group of youngins.

Yes, learned to climb.

There used to be a second trunk/limb.

You can see at the base where it was.

Last winter, the wind broke her.

We considered cutting the whole thing down,

but I couldn't bring myself to part with her completely.

We cut the broken side off and waited to see what happened

not knowing if it was just a matter of time, and

we would have been wiser to take care of it all at once.

She limped along through last summer.

She bore no fruit.

She survived through our odd winter.

And this spring she showed us her beauty once more.

She has more to give.

It just took us believing in her.

This seems like such a good parallel for our lives.

Sometimes, we are broken by "things" life deals us.

We still have life in us...still have value.

There is someone I know who will be 94 this Saturday.

He and his wife have possibly been the most valuable friends

I have ever been blessed with.

Many of their friends have already passed.

They are likely looked over by many among the current generations.

They still have something to give.

I seek and value their knowledge and insight with every life decision I make.

I might have a different perspective,

but I consider and respect their input.

Like Grandmother Apple,

they have something left to give.

I can hardly wait to see what autumn brings.

Until next time,

Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches

A Quilt Show and An Estate Sale

Talk about a weekend on the go.

Now I need a weekend to recuperate from the weekend.

Saturday was the Pendleton Quilt Show.

It was nice, not as many vendors as usual

which I am finding is kinda the norm since 2008.

There were of course some pretties:

 These 2 are by Jess Berry.

His work is all self designed and hand appliqued and quilted.

Sunday, while lazily roaming Craigslist antiques,

I ran across an add for an estate sale in Waitsburg, WA.

I was going to wait until next weekend

to go that direction for a few odds

but decided to go today instead.

The prices (on Sunday) at half off were fair.

The 'regular' price was what one might find

in a much larger city so perhaps fair in a different geographic area.

They were fair enough to find a few goofy little goodies.

 A whimsical frog tape dispenser.

 

                                                    This thimble intrigued me.  

It has a thread cutter on the side.

It's just sitting on the tea cup, because it's little.

Mr. LB went fishing today so

when I saw this picture, I just cracked up.

It's called "Pa & Ma Philosopher."

I got a few other things also,

that I neeeeeded of course.

I've been being good about saving so I almost felt guilty

after buying these things today.

Mr. LB laughed at me when I told him that and said,

"Just don't spend the mortgage."

May you all have a beautiful Sunday evening.

Until next time,

Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches