Black bean salsa

Appetizer or side dish? That's the dilemma here.  Then when you get done with that you can decide between a spoon or chips.  Choices, choices.  Life is hard. I have faith in you, you can make these choices. You are a winner. You are awesome.

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 purple onion, diced

1/4 cup lime juice

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon chile pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir everything up and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before eating, overnight is better.  Let all those flavors meld together.  Serve with avocado and chips...or just a spoon.

Mexican Pie

With being an outdoors junkie that I am. There are a lot of late nights getting home from long days on the mountain. Needless to say dinner is frequently a puzzle.  I have been striving to come up with a few recipes to have for emergencies! This is one of them! You could easily have these ingredients in your pantry and fridge. Plus, you could be so creative with it and make it your own. Another one of Mia's famous throw anything in it recipes... Don't you love em?

Crank that oven to 375 and lets do this!

Mexican Pie

1 Large onion diced

4 Hatch chilis chopped and deseeded

2  Cups spanish rice

1/2 Can refried beans

1 pound ground beef or elk or venison. 

4 Large burrito sized flour tortillas

Small can of green chili enchilada sauce.

Taco seasoning

Dash of sea salt

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3 Green onions diced for garnish

Heat your oven to 375. Lightly spray a pie dish with non stick spray.  Saute your onions and chilis until translucent with a dash of salt. Once cooked transfer to plate. Cook your ground meat until done in taco seasonings. Warm up your beans in the microwave. 

Now were ready to build. Pour a little green chili sauce out of the can into the bottom of your pie dish. Layer 2 tortillas on the bottom for your "pie crust." Pour half your beans in bottom. Layer onion chili mixture then rice, meat and 1/2 cup cheese pour a little more green chili sauce. Layer two more tortillas over the top and sprinkle remaining cheese and garnish with green onions. Bake until top is golden and bubbly. 

Slice with pie cutter and serve with Salsa, Guacamole and a dollop of Taco Cream. 

Dinner is served in a short amount of time and tastes delicious! 

Click here to print!

Taco Cream

So Mexican food is amazing as we all know. Well I hope we all know. If not you really need to try it, or if you don't like it you should try it again! ANYWAYS... With lots of elk meat in the freezer and some pork and chicken as well I find myself making taco's, enchiladas, carnitas, taco salad, fajitas, loaded nachos and all sorts of Mexican food quite frequently! Always have some Salsa & Guacamole in the fridge.

One thing with Mexican food that I have been thinking hard on is bringing sour cream to a new level. I buy sour cream in bulk. I love it on everything and could literally just eat it with a spoon. No doubt guacamole salsa and just PLAIN sour cream is fantastic but being the creative cook I am, I always am thinking of ways to twist a condiment to boost it to a delicious new taste. As simple as this little recipe may be the flavor it holds is amazing. You can put it on any Mexican dish you prepare. Dipping chips in it is even knock you silly delicious. 

I hope you give it a try and bring your Mexican meal to a whole new level with a simple topping! 

Do a dollop of TACO CREAM! 

Taco Cream

1 Cup sour cream

1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 Teaspoon taco seasoning

1/4 Teaspoon salt

In a small bowl combine all these ingredients and whisk together until combined. Add more spice if you desire and start putting a spooning it on everything!! 

Click here to print!

Ladybug birthday party

 You may of recalled seeing Harlee's 6 year old birthday interview.  If not check it out. She really is one funny girl.  She manages to make me laugh multiple times a day no matter how terrible of a day I'm having. She is smart and creative and has a mind that can solve her problems like no other.

This year she was dead set on having a ladybug party.  Last year during school she took lots of pleasure in learning all about ladybugs and their life cycles.  It's such a beautiful thing to watch a child get so interested in learning about a subject.

Lady bug pinata, most certainly a must  have.

I read an article a while back on the top ten most dangerous birthday party actives.  Pinatas where certainly on that list, but I like to live on the wild side, so pinatas we will continue to have at our parties.

These ladybug sugar candies where perfect to make a super easy cake.

Dirt cups, if you have never had dirt you are missing out. (Recipe HERE!)

Veggie tray Ladybug bites

Ladybug juice.

 I spent 4 weeks catching and crushing ladybugs to make this, or I bought fruit punch.

One only of the above statements is true, pick one.

And that, my friends, is how you throw a ladybug birthday party...like a boss.

We interrupt this blog due to regularly scheduled life

For us Crafty Honey Badgers sometimes we have to take a step back. Look at what it important. And take a break. Family. Friends. Life. That's what's important. 

Don't worry though we will be back in a week or two with new awesome recipes and crafts for you!

Thanks for understanding and have an awesome life! 

World's easiest peach butter

I don't know if you have noticed or not, but I like easy.  I'm not one of those bloggers where I make something that looks perfect and then create a perfect looking label, with a link for you download your own.  Don't get me wrong I'd love to make perfect stuff with perfect labels, but let's get real.

I also have a life.  A REAL life. My house is a mess and I still don't have time to make a peach butter label.  Pass the sharpie.  

1. Pit all your peaches, don't skin them, and no it doesn't` matter how many peaches you have.

2. Put all your peaches in a pot with 2-3 inches of water and cook for a few minutes.  I used an immersion blender and chopped it all up.  Now you can't even tell you didn't waste loads of time skinning your peaches. And peach skins are really good for you.  Now the world's easiest peach butter is also a major health food.  Again, you're welcome.

3. Once it's all blended pour it all in a crock pot.

4. Add sugar till it tastes good.

5. Add cinnamon, cloves and/or nutmeg til it tastes good, or none at all. I added a little bit of all of them.

6. Cook in crock pot until you like how thick it is.  If you like how thick it is after you blend it you could just skip the crock pot altogether.

7.  Ladle peach butter into hot jars and top with hot lids.  Screw the lids on tight and set upside down for 5 minutes and then right side up.  The lids will seal.

8.  Use your most awesomest ever label AKA the sharpie to label your jars.

9. Remember we used the skins in this peach butter and therefore is a health food so be healthy and eat some everyday.

Elk Tenderloin With Whiskey Cream Sauce

 When I fill my tag on a beautiful elk one of the first thoughts that crosses my mind amongst many others is, "I CANT WAIT TO COOK THE TENDERLOIN!" Such a delicious piece of meat and a perfect way to celebrate a successful hunt and getting meat in the freezer to feed your family. 

I hunt for lots of reasons. Tradition, passion, perseverance, feeding my adventurous side. Its my happy place to be in the woods and the memories made out there during hunting season are irreplaceable. Even during non hunting seasons. Above all though I hunt to feed my family. Its an empowering feeling to know you have put meat in the freezer to prepare for your loved ones for the coming year. I appreciate all the hard work that goes into it as well. Rather than grabbing something wrapped in plastic out of a grocery store, I go out in whatever weather conditions that are handed to me and ethically hunt an animal to harvest. The hunt of the animal can lead you into some far places and the attempts and fails just fuel your fire to wake up the next morning and try again but once you have succeeded its is glorious. Approaching the animal you harvested with much anticipation and excitement. Once eyes are laid upon your trophy the celebrating and hugging with high fives and hollering begins. Sometimes tears of happiness. Your hunt has been a true success and your hard work has paid off. Doesn't mean your hard work is over though, after some pictures to keep for treasuring the memories made it becomes all about the meat.  Although the hunt may have been targeting what the animal has on its head to measure its trophy quality when you have succeeded and harvested the animal the meat is top priority. Horns last forever, wild game meat requires lots of care. It truly becomes a labor of love. You sometimes work long into the night packing out your trophy and its meat on your back to get it home. Even once you've pushed your muscles to the limits packing out a heavy load numerous of times on your back the work isn't over. Once home you break the meat down and process the meat into steaks, roasts etc. Then wrap it all up in little packages and put in the freezer. The whole process is hard work but it leaves you empowered. Conserving the wildlife for the benefit of the land and providing to my family after conquering yet another hunt. Specially after a hard hunt, it is emotional every time I fill my tag because I feel truly blessed that luck played in my favor so I could provide to my family but when a hunt has been hard and trying with lots of miles hiked the feeling of success is overwhelming. After explaining all of this  I'm sure its obvious how special and important this all is to me. Its not just a hunt, its not just about the horns, its about more than just those examples even though they play a part. Its a well rounded process for me and for reasons like that make me love hunting so much. Its in my blood.

To make a long story short this recipe does this piece of meat pure justice without fussing to much with the meat itself. The whiskey sauce compliments its perfectly as well. This recipe is a keeper and absolutely delicious! Even for non-hunters this recipe follows suit with beef tenderloin and will go great with the sauce as well! I hope you have enjoyed understanding how special meals like this are to my family and all the steps it takes to get to this wonderful meal around the table!

Grab your knife, grab your fork!

Elk Tenderloin With Whiskey Cream Sauce

For the meat

1 Elk tenderloin

Montreal steak seasoning

Garlic salt

Olive oil

For the sauce

1 Onion chopped

8 Tablespoons of butter

1 Cup whiskey

1 Cup beef broth

1/2 Cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 Teaspoon garlic powder

Dash of salt n pepper

*Thicken with a dash of gravy flour if needed.*

Take your tenderloin and drizzle with a little olive oil. Spice the meat with all the spices to your liking. Doesn't take much just sprinkle to lightly coat the meat. Allow to sit and become close to room temp marinating in extra juices and spices on a dish.

Caramelize your onions in a pan over medium high heat with the butter. Once onions are translucent turn down heat and slowly stir in your whiskey. Allow to simmer until half of mixture evaporates and strong whiskey smell subsides. Once that has happened stir in the beef broth and allow to simmer and thicken. Stir in heavy whipping cream allowing it to continue to bubble. Sprinkle some salt n pepper and let sauce simmer and continue to thicken. If sauce seems to still be a little loose add some gravy flower quickly whisking it in. 

Heat your grill to a a medium heat for grilling meat. Once heated start to grill your meat. Allow 5-8 minutes on each side depending on size. Spoon on extra spices and olive oil from the bottom of the dish during the cooking process for extra flavor. Remember to take your meat off a little early since it will continue to cook as it sits. Let it sit as a whole piece for about 5 minutes before slicing down.

Cut against the grain and serve with whiskey sauce drizzled over the top! Enjoy with a beer or cocktail and some heavenly side dishes!

Bon Appetit and live, laugh, love and HUNT!

Click here to print recipe!