Deer Me!!: Deer Bacon Burger Meatballs

Pregnancy craving: Meatballs
Solution: Look to the freezer full of deer bacon burger mix

This was my first attempt, and I used a stand by meatball recipe with minor adjustments.

2 lbs Deer Bacon Burger Mix
1 cup Parmesan Romano Cheese Blend
1 cup Plain Bread Crumbs
2 Large Eggs
1 tbsp Olive Oil, or oil you have on hand. I used a mix with grapeseed.
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
2 tsp Minced Garlic

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Thaw meat. Mix dry ingredients - cheese, bread crumbs, Italian Seasoning.  Add wet ingredients to dry mixture.  Mix together well by hand.  Form into tablespoon sized balls.  Cook for 12 minutes or until meat is cooked through.  Optional: Simmer cooked meatballs in marinara sauce before serving.  Serve over pasta, subs, or some other fun way.

Makes approximately 60 meatballs.


So my least favorite part of meatballs and meatloaf are the messy hands after mixing.  That is the moment when I really appreciate my Delta Touch faucet.  It was a splurge early in the building process before the budget started to crunch.  The Delta Touch faucets don't always work. Our plumber installed three, and ours was the only one that worked out of that initial batch.  I understand Delta is great about replacing the non-working units, and, more than likely, they probably have many of those kinks worked out now.  Ours has been installed for about a year and a half, with no problems.  The best part is watching our friends and family figure out how to work it.  When we had our reunion last summer, our whole group snickered while watching the last person to arrive trying to operate it.

See all of the Delta Touch Faucet options on Amazon: delta touch faucet

Deer Me!: Super Easy Deer Chili

Deer Bacon Tacos, Deer Bacon Meatloaf, Deer Bacon Pasta Bake, and...

Super Easy Deer Chili

This was my thrown-together-at-the-last-minute stab at Deer Bacon Chili based on the ingredients on hand, and everyone thought it turned out pretty swell:

2 1bs Deer Bacon Burger - our mix is only 10% bacon
1 can mild Rotel tomatoes, 10 oz, undrained
1 can petite diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz, undrained
1 can Ranch Style beans (original), 15 oz
1 bag chopped, frozen onion, 10 oz
1/3 cup finely processed old fashioned oatmeal*
3 Tbsp chili powder
1.5 tsps minced garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
Fresh chopped tomato (optional
Hot sauce (optional)

Thaw meat. Brown and crumble meat on stove top.  Place meat and all** other ingredients in slow cooker. Stir. Cover with lid. Turn on low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours.

*I used our Baby Bullet to process the oatmeal to a fine powder.

**I did wait to put my oatmeal in at the last 30 minutes, once I realized a thickening agent was needed. During our gluten-free days, we found that it is not uncommon to find oats in canned chili at the grocery store.

How should you eat your Super Easy Deer Chili?  Plain, on rice, over a baked potato, over French fries, on a bed of mixed greens, in a bell pepper cut like a taco shell, top it with crackers, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, onion - go crazy!  And, most importantly, keep it fun!

My dad's deer decoy, Scarface, is spending some time at our house at the moment.
The kids were clearly excited by his visit.

Important Note: I am not a chef nor have I played on T.V.  I am a mom of a growing family with lots and lots and lots of deer bacon burger in my deep freeze.  Feel free to share your favorite recipes for deer (aka venison) with me below in the comments.

Deer Me!! (Deer Bacon Burger Meatloaf)

After my dad bagged his third deer of the season this morning, my mom and I started racking our brains for more recipes that can be made with deer bacon hamburger.  This afternoon's effort is meatloaf.

I've never made a meatloaf before, and this is my effort combining a few traditional recipes found on www.allrecipes.com.  I thought the result was pretty good, I would probably enjoy it more if I was even more of a deer meat fan.  My husband thought it was good too, but I will probably keep playing with the recipe until I love it as much as my mom's traditional recipe - if that's possible.

Here's my recipe you can play with:

2 pounds deer meat with bacon added in during processing

1 chopped onion or 1/2 a bag of frozen, chopped onion

1 Tbsp butter

1 cup plain bread crumbs

1.5 cups BBQ sauce (I had Sweet Baby Ray's Original on hand.)

2 eggs, whisked

1 tsp of minced garlic (jarred)

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 Tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Saute chopped onion with butter.  I microwaved my onion and butter for four minutes, stirring at two minutes.  Mix meat, onion, bread crumbs, one cup barbecue sauce, eggs, garlic, and chili powder thoroughly. Press into two 9x5" greased loaf pans.  Bake 35 minutes. Mix remaining 1/2 cup barbecue sauce with brown sugar.  Spoon over each loaf.  Return pans to oven, and cook for another 10 minutes or until the meatloaves reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Deer Bacon Burger Tacos are still my favorite.  See the recipe here: http://hallshomestead.blogspot.com/2014/05/deer-me-deer-bacon-burger-tacos.html

Deer Me!! (Deer Bacon Burger Tacos)

This appears to be our first week of serious summer around Halls' Homestead. What to eat? What to eat?  Tacos!!  Everyone can pick exactly what he or she wants to eat, and we can make sure plenty of fresh veggies are piled available.  But these aren't your normal tacos...

These are deer bacon burger tacos.  My dad is a big hunter, and we are blessed with deer meat.  Deer is an exceptionally lean meat, so Dad likes to have his deer processed with a bit of bacon in order to make hamburger patties.  While the deer bacon burgers are tasty, we were ready for something different.  Below are the steps we take for delicious tacos.

Thaw the meat, and brown the deer bacon blend in a skillet with a bit of oil.  Add 8 ounces of taco sauce per pound of cooked meat, and sprinkle with onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano, cumin, and paprika.  Simmer until sauce desired thickness and serve.  We like to pile on spinach/spring mix lettuce, tomatoes, onions, avocado, cheese, and sour cream.  Serve with chips, salsa, re-fried or black beans, and fresh fruit.

See the meatloaf recipe here: http://hallshomestead.blogspot.com/2014/11/deer-me-deer-bacon-burger-meatloaf.html