Venison: A Trial of Lots and Lots of Deer Meat

When Jeremy and I went to visit my family for Christmas, Bridian gave us what seemed like a thousand pounds of "meat"- most of it was definitely homemade packaging, some of it said "sausage", some had little boxes on it that a hunter marks (and each had different marks, don't worry), but Bridian explained it was all deer meat, just stored in different ways. She lives in Texas and works with hunters. Go figure.

The conversation preceding us possessing 10 (okay, not a thousand) pounds of venison went something like this:

"Hey, do you guys want some deer meat?"

"...uh. What?"

"Deer meat."

"I heard you."

"It cooks just like ground beef. Except for the sausage. We had that for lunch today."

(I remembered lunch, that it was good and then wondered if I really wanted to remember it being good anymore. I really was very, very hesitant to this deer idea.)

Jeremy said, "Sure!" remembering how much he had loved lunch, and we put it in the back of our car. It was December, so it stayed in the trunk very well preserved until we got home. And I had to figure out what to do with that.

So this is part 1 of what I did with the deer meat. And I have to say, especially to anyone else who is hesitant about venison and not wanting to continue reading this, it's pretty tasty. Good things ahead, I promise. And if you want to just use ground beef, most of the recipes are intended for ground beef. Either is good.

[Just an insert- we finished the deer a while ago, I just haven't posted in a very long time. I don't know if deer really will keep forever or not. So we just... used it.]


Quesadilla Casserole

• 1 lb. ground venison
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2- 8oz. cans tomato sauce
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (4.5 oz.) chopped green chiles, undrained
• 1 can (8.75 oz) whole kernel corn, undrained
• 6 flour tortillas (8-inch)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp oregano leaves
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1. Brown venison and onion in a large skillet on medium-high heat; drain. [Draining is especially important. Deer fat's gross]
2. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn, and green chiles; mix well.
3. Stir in all of the spices except red pepper. Bring to a boil. 
4. Reduce to low heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add red pepper to taste.
5. Spread 1/2 cup of the venison mixture on the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish sprayed with no-stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, venison mixture, and cheese.
6. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

So good :)