Rabbit Stew

So I tried something new in cooking.. Rabbit stew.  It's something I've been interested in and I make a decent stew (not that it takes all that much skill.  The C-in-C butchered one yesterday and I did a little recipe hunting and ingredient shopping. 

Layered 1.5 lb of potatoes followed by about 1lb of carrots in the slow cooker.  Light seasoning of salt/pepper/garlic salt between each layer.

The rabbit I quartered the legs and de-boned the torso.  It ended up being about 2 lbs of meat.  The remainder and offal went to the dogs.  Waste not want not.

A layer of canned mushrooms and half an onion cut in 1/8th pieces. 

 Cooked on 'high' in the pot for about 3 hrs then on 'low' for about 4 hrs.  The meat was falling off the bone.

 On the plate:

The entire family (sans one) enjoyed it and cleared their plates.  A few minor tweaks for next time (more seasoning primarily) will make it even better.

Scallops & Fried Potatoes

I've had a taste for scallops lately so I went searching through the local grocery stores.  Surprisingly enough, both the local mart and Wally World had them. 

Then I looked up various pan frying recipes.  Most were a lot more complicated than I felt like dealing w/.  I settled on simple.  Melted butter, salt, pepper, a splash of soy sauce over medium-low heat.  I let them sit (sprinkling a little pepper on them) until they got a light golden color to them (about 8 min), poured out some of the excess, and turned them. The other side took about 5 min on the same heat.

As for a side, I couldn't decide.  I needed something filling in case none of the spawnlings liked the scallops but wasn't sure what went well w/ it.  I went classic fishing boat.  A huge pan of fried potatoes.  Standard except I went w/ butter instead of olive oil as a greaser. 

The 'powers took a look at the scallops and got that questioning look on their faces, taking one under duress and command of their parentage. After one bite, however, they all rushed back for more of them. 

Meal success.

BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

Decided to experiment and expand my repertoire.  Had a bag of shrimp left over from New Years and a package of bacon (which no fridge should be without) so went ahead and tried to make one of my favorite sports bar meals. 

Ready for the broiler.

 
Side of fried potatoes

Threw some of the extra bacon and shrimp into a pan to fry up.

The final result

Not 100% of what I was going for but the spawnlings all said they really liked it. Think I'll do it w/ jumbo shrimp next time, maybe on a skewer instead of toothpicks.

Zeroing, Shooting, and Chicken Stew

Got some scopes mounted on the 4th power's 10/22's and finally got a chance to get them out and zero them.  After about 10 min. of trying to adjust the support stand via their instructions, I moved them and did it myself.  The difference in weight kept moving the bench.  Took about 10 rnds ea but we got them to about 1moa.  Good enough for now and w/ inexpensive scopes. 

Then some fun shooting. Hedge apples and a .22 resetting steel target.  Only got through about half a box before the 0% chance of rain started drizzling on us and we packed it in.  Also did some plinking w/ the 5th power.

Followed up by heaping bowls of homemade chicken & vegetable stew (the chicken was clucking just hours before), overall a good day.

Chicken Stew

For a change from the Beef Stew, I decided to go real crazy and try.... Chicken. 

Family size can of Cream of Chicken soup and either a 15 oz or 32 oz container of chicken broth depending if you like it really thick or a little thinner.



1 1/2 lbs of potatoes cut to about 1/2"-3/4" pieces.













1 1/2 lbs of carrots also cut to about 1/2" size pieces.


Not Pictured:  3 Stalks of diced celery and 2/3 cup rice











Spice it up. I like it w/ heavy pepper but also add , Salt, Onion Powder and Soy Sauce to taste.

Stir it together in crock pot at 300 for 3 hrs., stirring every 45 min or so.








After, I added two chicken breasts cut to about 1/2" pieces. I also added some dark meat from a leg and thigh. Stir in thoroughly.

Turn temp up and cook for another 3 hours, stirring about every 45 min.

W/ the last halfhour, I added a can of pre-cooked peas.




The chicken itself was fresh butchered and fairly old so it was a bit chewy. The vege's had just a bit of crunch to them.  I'm thinking of putting the chicken in early next time and adding the celery later.

Bacon Brat

Yum.

Evening Snack

I've been trying to eat healthier.  Trying. So instead of my evening TV snack of a stack of cookies or a bowl of chips, this is what I'm doing:

 Some sliced, garden fresh carrots and cucumbers, bread & butter stacker pickle slices, a slice or two of pepperjack cheese and a little bacon ranch dressing w/ a glass of ice tea.