So two weeks ago I posted about Bambi, the deer that a friend of mine had shot last year while hunting, and that he had in his freezer. He decided he didn't actually like eating them; he just liked killing them, so we inherited a bunch of venison.

We ate it twice last week. Once I mixed half ground venison and half ground beef and made a taco soup, and once we roasted a beef roast and a venison roast over the rotisserie on our barbecue.

And, as much as I hate to admit it, I agree with my friend. The taco soup was amazing--at first. I ate two helpings, and didn't really notice much. But then for the whole next day I could still smell something weird. Not in my kitchen; it was like it was inside my nose or something.

I thought I was just crazy, so I tried the roast. It was tender, and tasted fine. But same thing. There was just this strange smell. And I don't think I like it.

So I'm going to find someone else to pass the venison on to. I'm very sorry. I tried to like it; I really did. But I don't. I hate that, when you don't like free meat. Oh, well.

On another subject, I am very proud because I wrote my menu plan on Saturday and went grocery shopping with it already. So I'm all stocked up! Mostly with farm fresh vegetables, which are so yummy this time of year. So here's my menu for what's coming up:

Monday: Steaks on the barbecue, along with fresh corn, and potatoes and carrots in tin foil grilled on the BBQ. The potatoes and carrots are my favourite. I slice them really thinly, put some butter on, sprinkle some fresh garlic and salt and pepper, and then do another layer. Top with a bit more butter, and then grill in tin foil packets. It's so good! And the corn this year is amazing.

Tuesday: Potato crusted fish. I got this recipe from one of Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner cookbooks. Basically you grate, or shred, some potatoes (after you peel them). Then push the potatoes into the fish fillets, which you have already salted and dipped in a bit of lemon juice and herbs. Then fry slowly. It sounds so good. My older daughter isn't a big fan of fish, but she does like hash browns, so I'm hoping this satisfies her!

Wednesday: Chicken Lo Mein. Another of Leanne Ely's recipes. My goal is to go through one recipe book a week and find recipes I like in there. This one uses angel hair pasta and some stir fry sauce and chicken breasts. We haven't actually had a lot of chicken lately since we've been eating so much beef on the barbecue, so I thought this was a good time!

Thursday: Pork tenderloin in maple/mustard sauce. One of my favourite recipes. You slice up the tenderloin, sprinkle with flour, thyme, and salt and pepper, and brown it. Then remove and add some maple syrup and dijon mustard to the pan and boil that, along with some garlic. Put the pork back in and cook until it's not pink. It's really yummy, and tastes great over rice!

Friday: Pasta with tomatoes. Every week I try to eat at least one fish and one meatless meal, and this is my meatless standby in the late summer. All I do is sautee some garlic and onions, add three tomatoes very finely chopped, throw in some herbs, and simmer for half an hour so the juices reduce a bit. You can add tomato paste if you want, but you don't have to if you don't have any. Then just serve over rotini or penne. It's so good, and filling, and it gives you something to do with your tomato crop, or with the tomatoes your neighbour gives you!

Saturday: Leftover beef over rice. I'm making up the sauce here, but it's a recipe I found on the internet a while ago that I just loved, but that I can't find again. I know it had onions & shallots, beef stock, flour, salt & pepper, mustard, red wine vinegar, and some tomatoes in it. I didn't think it was that great at first, but my kids loved it and we finished it off. So I'm going to try to recreate it. I have a ton of leftover beef lately, so I thought it would be a good idea.

Sunday: Beef Barley soup. On the same vein, I'll do soup for our main course on Sunday. Sundays we don't tend to eat much, and we're having a big barbecue at lunch to launch a Bible quizzing program we do at church, so we're not going to be that hungry.

Okay, I think that's it. If you have any thoughts on venison, or how I can fix my strange olfactory sensation, I'd love to hear them!