Tag: ground venison

Korean BBQ Inspired Beef and Broccoli

This Korean BBQ Inspired Beef with Broccoli has been are recipe that has hung out on my Instagram page for a long time and is an ultimate go to dinner for our family when time is short. Sitting down together for meals is incredibly important to everyone in our house, but basketball, baseball, barre classes, and the like can make that challenging. This complete meal can be done in under 25 minutes (depending on your rice) and provides a healthy and nutritious meal everyone can love!

What I love best about it (besides the flavor of course!) is that it truly can be a pantry meal that gets thrown together last minute. We are a hunting family which means our freezer is full of home-ground venison, which is what we use in place of ground beef 90% of the time. We always have Minute Rice on hand (they make a great brown rice), and if we don’t have fresh broccoli, we will definitely have some frozen. As long as we don’t run out of the sauce ingredients, we are golden and can make this any day of the week. 

Also, I ADORE these steamer bags by Ziploc. It allows us to quickly cook up some broccoli (fresh or frozen) without heating up the house. We use them for cooking vegetables on a regular basis!

Ready to get cooking?! Let’s go! 

Your Ingredients For Korean BBQ Inspired Beef and Broccoli 

  • 1 pound ground protein (beef, venison, turkey)
  • ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
  • ⅛ cup water
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ginger 
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil 
  • Red pepper flakes, to taste 
  • 3 cloves garlic 
  • 4-6 servings brown rice, cooked 
  • Two heads of broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces (four servings frozen broccoli florets) 
  • Sesame seeds 

Your Steps 

Over medium heat, brown protein, adding oil as needed. Venison benefits from a ½ tablespoon of olive oil in the pan to help keep it from sticking. Meanwhile, steam broccoli and cook instant brown rice if you haven’t already. 

I highly recommend these Ziploc steam bags for all things vegetables. I think we cook our vegetables in these bags 2-3 times a week for simplicities sake. They are amazing and come with timings for all types of food, fresh and frozen! I dig any kind of instant brown rice and have also fallen in love with frozen, par-cooked rice for those busy nights! 

While your meat is browning and rice and broccoli are cooking, mix your sauce. I like to add the liquids in a 1 cup liquid measuring cup and then add the rest of the spices. Don’t skip the sesame oil! It makes the dish! 

Once the meat is cooked, drain if necessary. Pour sauce over the browned protein, cooking over medium for 4-5 minutes, until slightly thickened. 

Serve protein over rice, topped with steamed broccoli and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Good luck having any left overs! 

Mix up the sauce!
Add it to the browned protein.
Top it off!
Get in my belly!

Korean BBQ Inspired Beef and Broccoli

Dinner in under 25 minutes is possible with this complete meal of Korean Inspired BBQ Beef served with broccoli over rice.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound ground protein beef, venison, turkey
  • ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
  • ⅛ cup water
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ginger
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • Red pepper flakes to taste
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 4-6 servings brown rice cooked
  • Two heads of broccoli chopped into bite size pieces (four servings frozen broccoli florets)
  • Sesame seeds

Instructions
 

  • Over medium heat, brown protein, adding oil as needed. Venison benefits from a ½ tablespoon of olive oil in the pan to help keep it from sticking.
  • Meanwhile, steam broccoli and cook instant brown rice if you haven’t already.
  • While the meat is browning and rice and broccoli are cooking, mix your sauce.
  • Once the meat is cooked, drain if necessary. Pour sauce over the browned protein, cooking over medium for 4-5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
  • Serve protein over rice, topped with steamed broccoli and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Good luck having any left overs!

Notes

I like to add the liquids in a 1 cup liquid measuring cup and then add the rest of the spices. Don’t skip the sesame oil! It makes the dish! 
Keyword broccoli, Brown Rice, ground beef, quick meals
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Looking for other delicious dinner inspirations?

You can also head to my cooking page or perhaps the baking page for other meal and dessert ideas!

Jess3 Comments

Savory Venison and Wild Rice Bake

Ready for some savory venison and wild rice bake? I am so excited to share! Being a northern Wisconsin family, it may come as no surprise that a primary protein source at our house is venison. We harvest 2-4 deer a year between the gun and bow season and butcher them ourselves. Using our Kitchen Aid mixer, we grind upwards of 60 pounds of venison a year, which we use instead of ground beef or turkey 90% of the time. 

I’m always looking for new ways to use it, and this was a fun recipe to develop from scratch a few years ago. This venison and wild rice bake has a feel of tater tot hotdish (I’m close to the Minnesota border, don’t ya know?) with a true from scratch taste. You won’t find any “cream of whatever” soups in the ingredients; only true delicious wholesome foods here. I hope it becomes a go to comfort food for you like it has for us. 

Oh! And no ground venison? No problem! Substitute your favorite ground protein: beef, turkey, you name it. 

The ingredients For Venison and Wild Rice bake

  • 1 pound ground venison, seasoned with salt and pepper 
  • 6 cups low sodium chicken stock, divided
  • 1 cup long grain rice
  • 1 cup wild rice
  • 2 cups carrots, diced
  • 1 ¼ cup onion (1 large), diced
  • 1 ¼ cup celery (6 stalks), diced
  • 2 cups broccoli, diced
  • 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
  • Olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons sage
  • 2 teaspoons thyme
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour

Your Steps

In a medium saucepan, bring 5 cups chicken stock to a boil. Add sage, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic and wild rice. Cover, lower to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Add long grain rice and cook for an additional 25-30 minutes, stirring periodically to check that you still have water. You want your rice to just be tender. Test it at 40 minutes. If it gets over cooked, it will be mush once you bake it.

Meanwhile, dice and chop the onion, celery, carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms. Heat a large kettle (I love my cast iron Dutch oven) with ½ to 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the vegetables (except the mushrooms) remaining garlic, salt, pepper, sage, and thyme, cooking on a medium heat for ten minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for an additional five minutes. Remove the vegetables from the kettle and place them in a large bowl. In the same pan (The less dishes, the better, right?), cook the ground venison (or hamburger or turkey) until no longer pink. Stir into the bowl of vegetables along with cooked rice. 

Now for the Creamy part

In the same kettle, melt the butter under medium heat. Stir in flour and continue to stir until you have a beautiful golden brown color. To this, add milk, 1/4 of a cup at a time, whisking until well combined and thickened. Repeat with the remaining chicken stock. Pepper to taste. Stir in to the vegetables, rice, and browned venison. Taste once more, adding salt and pepper as needed.

Spread the mixture into a greased casserole dish and bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, until just crispy on the top and hot all the way through. Often, I will prep mine in the morning or the day before and refrigerate until we are ready to eat. If baked after being refrigerated, bake covered for 15 minutes and then gave it an additional 15-20 minutes without a cover. It will be perfectly crispy on the top and creamy in the middle. A wonderful comfort food. 

Sauté those vegetables.
Check that beautiful roux.
Slow and steady with the milk and stock.
Pour it in and mix it up!
Almost ready, just bake it!
So comforting. Yum.

Tools of the Trade

What are some tools I can’t live without? First, my Pyrex baking dishes are a go to for all things baked. And I love a lot of baked dishes. I also really dig my flexible cutting boards and my goodness, as silly as this sounds, this is my favorite whisk. I have had it for years and it’s truly the only one I use.

Savory Venison Wild Rice Bake

Savory herbs, two types of rice, and ground venison come together for a delicious venison and wild rice bake.
5 from 13 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course dinner
Cuisine American
Servings 8 people

Equipment

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound ground venison seasoned with salt and pepper
  • 6 cups low sodium chicken stock divided
  • 1 cup long grain rice
  • 1 cup wild rice
  • 2 cups carrots diced
  • 1 ¼ cup onion 1 large, diced
  • 1 ¼ cup celery 6 stalks, diced
  • 2 cups broccoli diced
  • 1 cup mushrooms sliced
  • Olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons sage
  • 2 teaspoons thyme
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour

Instructions
 

  • In a medium saucepan, bring 5 cups chicken stock to a boil. Add sage, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic and wild rice. Cover, lower to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.
  • Add long grain rice and cook for an additional 30-35 minutes, stirring periodically to check that you still have water. You want your rice to just be tender. Test it at 40 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, dice and chop the onion, celery, carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms. Heat a large kettle with ½ to 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the vegetables (except the mushrooms) remaining garlic, salt, pepper, sage, and thyme, cooking on a medium heat for ten minutes.
  • Add mushrooms and cook for an additional five minutes. Remove the vegetables from the kettle and place them in a large bowl.
  • In the same pan, add an additional 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and cook the ground venison (or hamburger or turkey) until no longer pink. Stir into the bowl of vegetables along with cooked rice.
  • In the same kettle, melt the butter under medium-low heat. Stir in flour and continue to stir until you have a beautiful golden brown color. To this, add milk, 1/4 of a cup at a time, whisking until well combined and thickened. Repeat with the remaining chicken stock. Pepper to taste.
  • Stir in to the vegetables, rice, and browned venison. Taste once more, adding salt and pepper as needed.
  • Spread the mixture into a greased casserole dish and bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, until just crispy on the top and hot all the way through.

Notes

This can be prepped early, say the night before or in the morning. If baked after being refrigerated, bake covered for 15 minutes and then gave it an additional 15-20 minutes without a cover. It will be perfectly crispy on the top and creamy in the middle.
Keyword from scratch, rice pilaf, vegetables, venison, venison recipe, whole foods, wild rice
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Can I share some other favorites of mine?

Check out the recipes below for other meal inspiration!

Jess34 Comments

Sloppy Joes and Homemade Rolls

Inspiration comes from interesting places, doesn’t it? I have this lovely friend who is immensely creative and loves to create food masterpieces often. Since she is working from home part time right now, this happens regularly for her. She shared that she made homemade hamburger rolls and that her husband declared them better than store bought. Well, those lingered in my head and I was intrigued, hoping to find a reason to make them. (Wait for it…Sloppy Joes to come!)

Two days later, my son and I were flipping through my most recent cooking magazine as we are waiting for the time to start teaching and learning from home, and we see Sloppy Joes. Alas, we don’t have any rolls and with COVID-19, we have been strictly holding to one grocery trip a week, and my husband is the one to do it (he’s at work…bummer). But! The recipe of the rolls! So I quickly set to work to put my own spin on a from scratch Sloppy Joe mix with yeast rolls.

Oh my goodness, these rolls. Simple to put together. Leaves the house smelling amazing, and tastes delightful. If yeast wasn’t such a hot commodity right now, I am certain my family would have a batch of these baked up every week. My kids snack on them like crazy. And the Sloppy Joe mix? Once we ate through the first batch of rolls, my kiddos were more than happy to eat it out of the bowl or on top of a slice of sourdough. Needless to say, this was a big hit at our house and lasted for a couple dinners as well as a few lunches for my kiddos. I hope it’s a hit at your house too!

First, the Sloppy Joes

Your ingredients:

  • 2 pounds ground meat (We do home ground venison, but do what suits your family)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup diced green pepper (about 1 pepper)
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1/2 cup diced celery
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 1/2 cup beef broth/stock
  • 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup (Or sub in brown sugar. We just have syrup on hand and I like to use it whenever possible)
  • 2/3 cup tomato paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon mustard powder
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Brown ground meat in a large sauté pan. Remove and set aside in a bowl. If your protein is lean like venison is, add and heat the olive oil to the pan. Add pepper, onion, celery, and garlic. Sauté for 5-10 minutes, until soft. Stir in remaining ingredients and heat to boiling. Bring down to a simmer, stir in the browned meat, and simmer for 40 minutes over low-medium heat. And just like that, you have delicious, from scratch Sloppy Joe’s! Now for the rolls (After Sloppy Joe pictures of course 🙂 )

  • Brown it up !
  • Dice up those veggies!
  • Get the cook on!
  • Looks thin, but let it simmer!
  • So good!

From Scratch Dollar rolls

My inspiration came from Cooking with Curls, but I modified her recipe just a touch to suit my own taste. You can find her original post here. Here’s how I put mine together:

Your ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 1 cup hot water (110-115 degrees Fahrenheit)
  • 2 tablespoons sugar (This has total flexibility though. I accidentally did 2 teaspoons the other day and they turned out fine. The original recipe calls for 4 tablespoons)
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2-3 tablespoons butter, divided (1 tablespoon softened and remaining melted to brush on top of the rolls prior to baking)

In a stand mixer bowl, add yeast, sugar, and hot water. Allow to proof for five minutes. Stir in egg, flour, salt, and one tablespoon softened butter. From here, allow stand mixer to mix the ingredients on a low speed for 4 minutes, until a soft dough is formed. Cover the bowl and allow to rest and rise for an hour and a half.

After the dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 9-16 equal pieces, depending on your family likes their rolls. We dig smaller rolls, we we went for 16. Place on a jelly roll pan lined in parchment paper or silicone cookie sheet liners. Cover and allow them to rest an additional hour, until they double in size.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Uncover rolls and brush with melted butter (sprinkle with sesame seeds? I mean, that would be fun!). Bake for 15-18 minutes. Then take in just how good your house smells and revel in the fact that you just made homemade rolls that are SO MUCH BETTER than store bought, I promise!

  • Science class-yeast, hot water, and sugar. So cool.
  • The rest of the ingredients.
  • Time to rest.
  • I love the change after just 90 minutes.
  • Cut into your pieces (half the size you want)
  • Allow to rest for an additional hour.
  • Hot and ready rolls right out of the oven. Perhaps the best smell ever!

From Scratch Sloppy Joes

A combination of yeast rolls baked fresh and slow simmered from scratch Sloppy Joes make for a perfect meal and doubles as meal prep for later in the week
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Course dinner
Cuisine American
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 pounds ground meat
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup diced green pepper about 1 pepper
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1/2 cup diced celery
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 1/2 cup beef broth/stock
  • 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup or brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup tomato paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon mustard powder
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Instructions
 

  • Heat oil in a large kettle. Add ground protein. Brown ground meat. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
  • If your protein is lean like venison is, add and heat additional tablespoon of olive oil to the pan.
  • Add pepper, onion, celery, and garlic. Sauté for 5-10 minutes, until soft.
  • Stir in remaining ingredients and heat to boiling.
  • Bring down to a simmer, stir in the browned meat, and simmer for 40 minutes over low-medium heat, until thickened.
Keyword dinner, lunch, sandwiches, sloppy joes
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Jess1 Comment