Butterbees and Bumbleflies

I’m really going to attempt this year to take some of our favorite recipes and modify them to make them healthier, and then share with you here.  We love mushrooms (by far Becca’s favorite veggie) in our house, and in the past we have consumed a lot of cream of mushroom soup in addition to our mushrooms.  For one thing, Becca doesn’t do well with dairy (at all – she’s lactose intolerant), and for another thing – there is so much crap added to those cans, it’s not even funny.  SO, our former go-to meal was beef mushroom pasta – I’d cook ground beef, add chopped mushrooms, onion, and then 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, and a bunch of noodles.  It was SO good.  And so easy.  But there’s gotta be a way to make it healthier, right?  YOU BET!

We are blessed to have a large quantity of venison in our freezer, which has practically zero fat.  So, I chopped that up into small chunks (instead of using the ground – because it had to be different enough that Becca wouldn’t think something went wrong with the normal dish) while sautéing 16 oz of beautiful baby Bella mushrooms that I had sliced. I cooked them with a tad of olive oil, a tiny bit of chopped onion, and a very small clove of crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and rosemary.  Then I deglazed the pan with lemon juice.  Added the venison, and turned it all the way down to super low.  Added a good bit of Worcestershire sauce, and put the lid on.  Meanwhile I had also been cooking rice in the microwave (I love my microwave rice cooker from Pampered Chef – perfect rice every time!), and broccoli in my steamer.  Once the rice was done, I put it in the pan with the venison and mushrooms to soak up the juices.  Stirred it all up really well, and when we were ready, served!  It was SO yummy.  Becca of course kept asking for more mushrooms, and actually tried some of the rice as well.  She had several of the tiny chunks of venison, too.  I’m really starting to get impressed with her desire to TRY new foods.  She even choked down one teensy piece of broccoli so she could have some fresh strawberries for dessert. 🙂

SO, here’s the recipe (though there aren’t many measurements because I didn’t measure as I went.. this is art, not science. 😉

Venison Mushroom Rice Bowl

1 cup uncooked rice
EVOO
16 oz baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
1/4 of a small onion, chopped finely
1 small clove garlic, pressed
salt, pepper, and rosemary to taste
lemon juice
1 lb venison tenderloin, chopped into small pieces (could sub beef tenderloin, just make sure there’s very little fat or you decrease the healthiness of the dish)
Worcestershire sauce

Put your rice on to cook.  Sauté your mushrooms in a small amount of EVOO, add onion, garlic, and seasonings.  When the pan becomes dry, add lemon juice to deglaze the pan (works in a stainless steel pan), about 1-2 Tbsp.  Then turn the heat way down and add your venison.  (Remember that the venison is chopped really small, so it’s going to cook super quickly and will become tough if you cook too long.  The acid of the lemon juice will help make it stay tender, but you don’t want to cook it on very much heat at all.)  Then, douse the whole pan with Worcestershire sauce – about 2-3 Tbsp, maybe more.  Let simmer on super low with the lid on.  When the rice is done, add it to the pan and stir well.  Cover and serve when ready.  (It’s best if you let it simmer with the rice in to collect the flavors for at least a couple mins.)

I served mine with steamed broccoli covered in melted cheese. 🙂