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

It's always a treat when I get to take some time to go visit the Missouri Bison Ranch and spend some time down there with Randy and Jane. This summer, we decided it was time to update some of our bison and ranch photography, so Nate and I scheduled a trip to spend a couple days down there so he could take pictures. One of the best parts of this short trip was that we got to meet "Buster", the most adorable little bison bull calf who Jane has bottle-fed and taken care of this spring and summer. Born a twin, Buster's mother wasn't able to take care of him. Randy and Jane rescued him and he has quickly become part of their family, living in the barn and melting the hearts of anyone who gets the chance to meet him! I thought you may enjoy some of the great bison pictures we got from the trip and especially some of the pictures of Buster.  Bison are a truly awesome creature and always so fun to see out on the ranch where they have TONS of room to roam and gr...

So, my appetite for meatballs seems to only continue to grow, as you can probably tell from my Instagram feed . And bison just works so great for meatballs. The meat is tasty and it really kicks up any pasta dish. So, despite the fact, that I'm planning a pasta and meatballs lunch with my grandma and cousins this weekend, I decided to try a new meatball concoction for lunch today! I've been thinking about this for awhile, but just hadn't put it into action until now, but I wanted to try out making cheesy meatballs with a bit of a kick - and I really liked how these turned out! As usual, this recipe is super easy, and really doesn't take much... just a little time. And, although I usually bake my meatballs, in the spirit of trying new things, I decided to cook these in my cast iron skillet.

Lately, I've been really into cooking with Bison Roasts. There's just so much you can do with them, and so many fun meals to try -- other than your classic roast and potatoes. This post is going to detail my process of making a tenderly amazing Bison Chuck Roast into delicious burritos in my own kitchen! Obviously, the star of the show is this delicious Bison Chuck Roast which I seasoned using NebraskaBison.com's exclusive Steak & Burger Seasoning. Normally, I would do a little more prep work on the flavors of this roast before sticking it in the oven, knowing that I'm going to make it into burritos, HOWEVER, since I only cook for two, I had plans to get two meals out of this, and for the second meal, I did NOT want my meat burrito flavored. So, I cooked the roast plain and added the burrito seasoning at the end.  Not included in this shot is the sliced onion and water I added to the pan before cooking. And this is how it looks when it...

So it's been about a week since my last bison meal and I was really anxious to make something new I could post on my Instagram feed as it was feeling a little neglected.  I wasn't really sure what to cook this evening. It has been one of those days where nothing really sounds good. I had some ground bison in the freezer as well as a couple bison flat iron steaks. So, after a bit of pondering, I settled on taking out one of the Flat Irons with a plan to make a nice, light bison steak salad. I don't often do salad as a main course, particularly at dinner time, but when I do, I do it right. :) Bison Steak makes a great addition to salads, and the flat iron is a good match as it is quite thin and wonderfully tender. 

Did you know how very easy it is to have your own fresh noodles the next time you want pasta? I sure didn't! I've thought about getting a pasta maker for a long time, but only recently (when I had a Bed Bath & Beyond Gift Card) did I take the plunge. I bought a decent, $35 hand crank pasta roller and cutter which comes included with a spaghetti and linguine attachment.  Let's start with the finished product. I sure do love spaghetti and meatballs! I did a little research, and over the weekend decided I was ready to give it a try! Since I was going to be using homemade noodles, it didn't feel right putting from-the-jar red sauce over my hard work, so I decided to make a homemade sauce as well. Spoiler alert: I have never been able to make a proper red sauce. I don't know why. I have tried many different recipes and I never like them. It must be my lack of Italian blood. But! I did make delicious noodles (for a first try!) as well as awesome B...