The Bison Girl :: a lifestyle of good cooking, good eating & living well

For New Year's Eve, I finally got the chance to make my bison brisket that's been torturing me from my fridge for quite some time. We needed to use it for a photoshoot for my site, which is one of my favorite parts of my job, as that usually means I get a delicious, albeit, slightly cold dinner out of the deal. However, this brisket was a monster 5 lb. hunk of meat, which meant after we were done enjoying brisket, roasted potatoes and gravy I put most of the bison brisket back in the fridge to save for later... and thus, the plotting began! The following day, we were planning to have a couple extra people over to celebrate the New Year, so I thought I would use the leftover bison brisket to make a special meal: Bison Brisket fajitas. My first step was to take out the remaining brisket and cut it up. (Fun fact: There was so much brisket left over, I didn't even use all of it here. Stay tuned for another post.)

So this was kind of a weird meal... definitely protein packed, as you can tell from the title! The story is it snowed all night and all day. It was cold and icy and since I work from home most days, there was nothing forcing me to leave the house all day. So, I was resolved to stay inside and NOT scrape off my car just to go to the grocery store. So I made this meal using ingredients I already had in my house. The awesome thing is it doesn't take much: Eggs, Flour, Water, Onions, Butter & Steak! Egg dumplings are one of the meals my dad would make when I was growing up. I don't make them often, but I like to have them every once in awhile. They're not hard to make, they're incredibly cheap and I like the way the taste. My biggest complaint is just that I can never think of anything to really  go with them. But I've been thinking for awhile, that steak might be an interesting way to complement them, so I decided to give it a try!

I've had this recipe stewing in my brain for quite awhile – just waiting for the right mood, the right time and the right combination of ingredients to pop into my mind. Finally, yesterday I decided to take the plunge and try it. I'm calling it the "Spicy Island Bison Burger" -- and it's quite a bit different from what I'm usually into making. For one, I don't generally go for pineapple. But for some reason, lately, I've really been feeling like grilled pineapple on a burger just might be a fun thing to try. So... here it comes: a Grilled Bison Burger with Grilled Pineapple and a jalapeño cream cheese "sauce".

Awhile back, I started a tradition where, when I leave town, I leave a pot pie behind in the fridge for while I'm gone. Last year, when I was off to the Missouri bison ranch for a few days, I suggested leaving a pan of enchiladas instead (as it was the dead of summer, and I thought it would be more appropriate). Instead I got an interesting suggestion... what about both in one dish... An Enchilada Pot Pie?  I was a little hesitant, but went forward with it anyway... making it up as I went along. This past week, I made another trip down to the Missouri bison ranch (and in addition to the usual Chicken Pot Pie), I also thought I'd give another go round to the Enchilada Pot Pie so that I could document it and blog it as the last time I made it, it was pretty well received.