The Man Cave

While dating and being engaged we always talked about our future, a man cave came up often. I always told him that he'd have a special room for all his stuff- his antlers, the ducks, and what ever animal he wanted hung.

In our first house he claimed the loft and the spare bedroom closet for his "Man Cave". Slowly I started losing the battle of having all this hobbies and trophies, if you will, in the cave. They started creeping out into the living room. First there was one, now there are two and it's just a matter of time before I completely lose that battle. To be funny Cam stuck the stuffed duck in the babies room and that was rejected shortly after I spotted it.

Our new house is a lot smaller with no extra bedrooms, my husband still has and found his "Man Cave".

He claimed the outside shed. Oh, and the carport for his fishing boat.

I've thought about helping him organize the "Man Cave", but I fear I will cross a line that should not be crossed. The "Man Cave" will just have to remain his territory. He's a pretty organized man as is, and I'm sure he has things just the way he want's them... but I absolute will not cave on one item making it into the house...

The dead head will have to forever remain in the "Man Cave". Oh how I love that man... I can only imagine when I have boys and what they will want to store in their rooms... I think we need a bigger "Man Cave", and STAT!!!!

Pan Fried Elk or Deer Steaks

One of our favorite ways to prepare Elk or Deer is just by pan frying some steaks. For this recipe you will need:
2T. of oil (I love Olive Oil)
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 t. of pepper
1/2 t. of salt
1lb of Elk or Deer meat

We thinly sliced the meat into stake slices.

Once your meat is cut up, in a bowl mix all dry ingredients.

Add a couple steak slices to flour and coat well on both sides.

Add oil to a skillet, wait a couple minutes for the oil to be heated and add the meat. My husband loves to add more pepper as each steak is cooking. He loves pepper!!! When the meat is bleeding through they are ready to turn.

Brown both sides and they are ready to eat!!

 They are yummy! For those Canadian out there, eating them Diana sauce is just divine. Enjoy!!!

Shed Hunting

By shed hunting I do not mean looking for storage space, I mean looking for antlers of deer and elk when the animal has naturally dropped them. You know you are married to an outdoorsman when you are never allowed to give locations of where the hubby has found the antlers, that he is currently out searching, and how many he found in one area. All these things are forbidden!!!

For that purpose, I cannot say where my husband goes or even give a general area. I am basically allowed to say, "Ta-da! Look what my hubby found." But the perks are, I get to use whatever antlers I want to create crafts and use it in my home decor. The ones I don't use, well... I let my husband keep a few "special ones." If it were up to him mostly all of them would be special, that is why I said a FEW. Needless to say, here are some of the latest pictures of his last endeavor.

Elk horn found but not the only one.....

I'm glad he likes to do this... but I say no thank you to packing those out!!! We weighted them when he got home and it was close to 40lbs.

This is the finding of deer and elk antlers... now... I have to decide what my next craft project will be!!!!
I'm kind of so excited and thinking about making a night stand. How fun would that be?


We were trying to be economical and took the car on our last outing, and this is how we ended up rolling on home.

Haha! I love being married to my outdoorsman! Life is never boring!!! So, let me know what you think? What should  I make next???

Sweet Teriyaki Pork Chops

Normally we eat a lot of deer and elk meat, but my husband's family raises livestock so every now and then we will get meat from their animals.

For this recipe you will need:
4 pork chops
8oz can of Pineapple tidbits
1/4 c. of brown sugar
1/2 t. of corn starch (optional)
1T. of Olive Oil (or whatever you like to cook with)
1/4 c. of soy sauce
Pepper to taste

Prep time for this recipe is 5 minutes to make marinade mixture and 20 minutes to an hour for marinading.
Cook time is 15 minutes.

You want to start by making the marinade mixture. Combine pineapple (undrained), brown sugar, and if you like thicker sauces add the corn starch. Mix well and smash up the pineapple a little. Once combined add the pork chops, cover and let it sit for however long you would like to marinade. The longer you let it sit, the sweeter your meat will be.

When ready to cook, in a large skillet heat oil at just above halfway on your dial  Take the pork chops out of the marinade and place them in the skillet, pepper to taste. Add soy cause and seer the pork chops. They will be ready to turn when you see the blood surface. Seer both sides. Once chops have been cooking in the soy sauce for 5 minutes  add the left over marinade mixture to the skillet.

 The sauce will boil, and that is perfect. continue to cook and turn until pineapple tidbits are soften and are a golden color or until your sauce has thickened to your liking for those that added corn starch. ( I used a smaller skillet so I cooked two chops at a time, you don't have to do it that way.) Take off heat, and they are ready to eat! You can serve them over rice or as is.

Enjoy!!!! They are yummy!!!!!

Learning while young

As stated in my last post, I didn't grow up being raised around animals that require a lot of work to maintain. After being exposed to the way my husband was raised, I truly do value and appreciate everything that his parent's taught him. To this day he is always eager to get up early (5am, 6am, doesn't matter), to go out and work with his dad, most likely he wasn't that eager in his youth. Anyway, they could be feeding the farm animals, or fixing fence and he loves it. He will sit there and tell me all the fond memories that he has had with his dad or grandfather in those early mornings, and some of the most important life lessons he has learned with them. How neat is that? Okay, I realize that some people might have already known this, okay maybe most people, but I didn't. I had no idea that this type of exposure could greatly impact someones life, and now it has impacted mine.

My husband and I have a beautiful 5 month old. She has been such a blessing in our lives, and I truly do love her. I want, as a parent, to give her the best life she can have. Sounds normal, right? Well, we've decided to start her young, learning the ropes around the family ranch and exposing her to what our family does. My hubby's family raises farm animals, has a small cattle operation, hunts, fishes, traps, and does anything and everything that involves the outdoors.

It is kind of hard to see, but our girl has already had her first hunting experience in the womb. I literally got to see my husband draw back and get a deer for our little family. He is going to school and is a year from wrapping up his bachelors degree, so we went down for a weekend hunting trip. Most guys probably wouldn't have shot a two point  (I'm sure you can look at the picture and see why it's called that), but my husband Cameron was in a moment where he was going to shoot the first legal buck (boy deer), that he could see. This deer provides meet for us to eat for the majority of the year. As poor college students this is how we survive. (Recipes soon to come on the different ways we use our deer meat.)

Last week we took our little girl to see the family ranch and see the cows.

Her daddy was so sweet and talked to her about what she was seeing. Moments like this are so tender and touch my heart. I cannot wait to see the friendship she will develop with her dad as he teaches her love, passion, and respect for the great outdoors and everything it has to offer her.

The beginning!

Hey! I wanted to start this blog because I have fallen in love with the lifestyle that I live. I owe everything to my husband. He has taught me so much and has truly evolved me to a better human being. I did not grow up around farm animals or even knowing that cowboys existed. For some reason I thought they were only found in westerns like "Back to the Future". (Now, I know better and know how embarrassing that statement is.) Needless to say, this high heel wearing city girl has found a new life, perspective, and passion for embracing the outdoor lifestyle of my husband.

 My intent is to provide recipes for game animals that has my deep freezer full, show some crafts that I've made with my husband's hobbies, and provide a new perspective in the life I love. So, enjoy!!!