Yesterday a friend and I got together for one of those big cooking sessions...maybe some of you gals out there have heard of...Kind of a cook all day long, preparing meals to put in the freezer...and at the end of one long, tiring day of shopping, slicing, dicing and other prep work, you have enough dinner meals to feed your family supper for an entire month! 

The really cool thing for me was being able to use much of that venison in our freezer!  I have found, that for our family anyway, I can subsitute venison in just about any recipe that calls for beef.  I guess we've become more partial to venison anyhow, which we feel is better for ourselves and our daughters anyhow. 

Now the fun begins...each day, I pull one frozen dinner out of the freezer, place it in the fridge, where it will thaw and be ready to heat and serve the following day!  This leaves more time for me to play mom each night, helping the kids with homework, target practice, baths, reading stories, saying bedtime prayers, etc.  It also creates more time for KansasBowGuy and myself to snuggle on the couch after the kids are in bed, which keeps us both happy and connected!

Another cool part about having meat on hand that we've harvested ourselves is that it really saves a considerable amount of money each month from our family's food budget.  And, because we are cooking from scratch, using simple ingredients, we are able to avoid additives, preservatives, and all of those horrible words on the ingredient labels that we cannot even begin to pronounce!  Not to mention the fat, sugar, sodium, cholesterol and all of those other things some people must avoid in their diets! 

I know exactly what is going into each meal I serve my family, which I personally find pretty satisfying.  I feel I am really taking good care of them, providing high-quality, nutritious, healthy food each and every night we sit down at the dinner table! 

Now, don't get me wrong, we enjoy junk food just as much as the next person...ice cream, chips, candy...you get the picture.  However, we don't tend to keep a lot of this sort of thing around the house, so when we DO indulge, I console myself with the fact that I know we will be eating a well-balanced dinner each night. 

The hubby and I enjoy gardening in the warmer weather, and that's always a great way to boost the nutrition, fiber, vitamins, etc. in our diets.  I must admit, living off of the veggies we grow and harvest in the warmer months, as well as filling our freezers with the fish and wild game we harvest year-round, really leaves us feeling pretty good, knowing we are relying on ourselves for much of our family's food supply, as opposed to the local grocers, with their over-priced, over-processed so-called "food". 

For those of you who know us and live around here, be sure and stop by our table the next time you see us at the local Chinese, Mexican, or Pizza place here in town!  HA HA!  While we eat healthy most of the time, we sure know where to find the less diet-friendly foods as well!  =) 

If any of you have any good venison, wild turkey or pheasant, quail or fish recipes to share, I'd love it if you could share them with me!  I'm always on the look-out to try something new!  Have a great weekend...what's left of it...and stay warm! 

Just had some photos that I wanted to share.  The first is of my beloved black lab, Jasper.  He's my best boy, and a true and loyal companion!  I love his energy, how tough and dominant his personality is, yet he turns into a big baby and wants to put his head on my shoulder or crawl up into my lap if I sit down.  He's a real "Mama's Boy" of a dog!  Isn't he gorgeous?

And then there's Shadow, a Golden Retriever, our oldest dog, a sweet old man!  He's so loyal to the hubby...he follows him for hours on the riding lawn mower, is always at his feet when he's fishing.  Makes me sad to see him aging, turning grey around the muzzle, taking a little extra time to stand up on the days when his hips are bothering him.  He's been a good dog.  He and Jasper really are the best dogs we've ever had the privelege of knowing!

And then, there are our horses.  Yesterday, when these pics were taken, one of our guys was being a little camera shy, but good old "Baldy" came up get his lovin'!  He's a big baby too, always putting his head on my shoulder, wanting his ears scratched and whatnot!

So glad we got to enjoy the outdoors yesterday, having such an unseasonably warm day here in Kansas.  Looks like things might be nice today as well...which means I am closing my laptop and heading outdoors! 

Ya'll have a BLESSED week!

I really like the Mossy Oak magazine ad that shows a guy knelt down beside a turkey he's just shot...The caption at the top of the page reads...

 "Times like these always make us stop and count our blessings." 

The short paragraph beneath the caption reads, "Around here, turkey hunting is more like a religion than a pastime.  Getting close to nature, getting back where we most belong is something we hold sacred.  When we do get to take one home, we do so with reverence." 

I think I personally appreciate this ad because it so closely mirrors my own feelings and views on hunting and being in the outdoors.  It IS where we MOST belong.  And I know that myself and my husband, as well as many other hunters we know DO hold it sacred. 

For me, the outdoors is where I feel closest to God.  And when I'm teaming up with my amazing husband, and we are sharing a hunt, or sitting on a dock fishing with our daughters, camping, hiking the mountain trails in Colorado, enjoying a trail ride on horseback, enjoying a picnic on the grass, or even just walking our dogs...those are the times when our family is most content, most relaxed.  Those are the times we hold most sacred. 

The outdoors has always been important to our family.  My husband and I grew up in families who enjoyed hunting and fishing.  It's in our blood, in every fiber of our being.  And sharing this with our own children has brought us so much joy and satisfaction. 

The outdoors, on many occasions, has brought he and I closer as a couple.  That, I believe, is one of the biggest gifts and blessings that has come out of me taking more of an interest...and eventually becoming somewhat obsessed with bowhunting.  

When he and I are out there together, working together, I'm learning and absorbing all he wants to teach me...those times make me realize that we are a TEAM.  In life, and in hunting. 

In nearly 20 years of being together, it is, admittedly, sometimes easy to lose sight of the fact that we are a team.  I guess we always know it, but sometimes it does get taken for granted.  Sometimes I laugh to myself and think about the times we've been annoyed at one another, but not quite annoyed enough to not grab up our bows and head on out to those woods and find us some deer or turkey!  HA HA! 

I have to wonder from time to time if bowhunting hasn't been somewhat of a marriage-saver for us!  I know, that sounds a bit extreme to a lot of folks... But, it's something we both have become so passionate about over time, and how can sharing something so sacred to us and something we are both so passionate about NOT enhance our marriage?  I know plenty of wives out there who rant about hunting and fishing being such sore spots in their marriages.  So I am incredibly thankful that that's just not the case for us.  Never has been, never will be.  Even before I actually hunted myself, I was thrilled to see him doing something he enjoyed so very much.  Just seeing the smile on his face and the excitement in his voice when he would tell me all about what he'd seen in the woods, rather he shot something or not...that's all I needed to know to understand that this was something that made him happy. 

And when Big Daddy's happy, Mama is happy too!  HA HA!  Back when I would tag along and just sit and watch while he hunted, I felt so honored in a way, that he wanted me to be a part of the thing he loved most to do in this world.  He loved me being there.  Just sitting, listening, watching, waiting.  Here we were, just the two of us, sitting close together, not able to really speak, and yet we were enjoying eachother's company.  Now if any couple can sit for hours under a tree together, not seeing or hearing an animal for sometimes several hours, but still have the time of their lives...well, if that isn't true love, then I don't know what is!  =) 

This is exactly why I hold our time out in the beautiful outdoors so sacred.  I feel closer to God, closer to my husband, and closer to our daughters when they are there. 

What's better than that?  =)

The 33rd annual NWTF Convention and Sport Show is Feb 19-22, 2009 in Nashville, TN.  Man, I would love it if the hubby and I could go!  I see some of our favorite celebs will be there...Michael Waddell, Will Primos, Bill & Tyler Jordan, Knight & Hale, Lee and Tiffany Lakosky.  Maybe I will check into airfare and see if we can't work something out.  I think it's a long shot, but won't hurt to dream!  ;) 

Anyone else going?

Just got our Jan/Feb issue of "Turkey Call" in the mail!  Man, those pictures of those gobblers are gettin' me SOOO excited for Spring to come!  I brought it to work so that some of my patients who used to be hunters could read it.  Boy, has it been quite the conversation-starter today!  ;)