What to do with those Thanksgiving leftovers

Here are a few things you can do with those turkey day leftovers.

Monte Cristo Sandwich

Ingredients:
Sliced roasted turkey meat or chunks
sliced ham (opt)
Swiss or provolone cheese slices
Bread
French toast batter

Directions:
Build sandwiches with the turkey, ham and cheese. Heat skillet to med heat. Quickly dip sandwiches one at a time in batter and place on skillet. You dont want the batter to soak all the way through the bread. Cook on skillet until golden brown on each side like you are making a grilled cheese sandwich. Serve with leftover cranberry sauce or jam.

Pear Harvest Salad

Ingredients:
2 packages spring mix salad greens
4 cups cubed turkey meat
2 med pears sliced
1 avocado peeled and cubed
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds(opt)
1/2 small red onion sliced

Dressing:
6 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard

Mix together Ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk dressing ingredients and toss with mixed greens and other ingredients. serve right away.

Turkey Shepard's Pie

Cut up leftover turkey meat. In large casserole mix turkey meat, leftover stuffing, leftover vegetables, and gravy. If it looks dry add some chicken or turkey broth. Spread leftover mashed potatoes over the top. Bake at 350 until golden brown.

School of Outdoor Sports

Over the last few months I have been helping with some of the filming for the School of Outdoor Sports. I am proud to be of any help to this organization and I will also be using my knowledge of foods to help with a segment called "Cooking it Up" where recipes, techniques, etc are demonstrated to allow participants to create their own quality meals with the game/fish they decide to take home. Below is some information about the non-profit group. Also more information can be found at learnoutdoorsports.org

Founded in February, 2007 and set for launch on Jan. 1, 2010, the School of Outdoor Sports is dedicated to its mission of teaching the basics of fishing, hunting, and shooting to beginners of all ages. The School, initially, will be housed exclusively on the Internet at www.learnoutdoorsports.org.

All lessons are free. If you don’t have high-speed Internet access, you can request DVDs of lessons, and only charge is to reimburse shipping costs.
At the School of Outdoor Sports, we believe the... (read more)Mission:We teach the basics of Fishing, Hunting and Shooting.

Products:At the School of Outdoor Sports, information and help are our products.

We produce high quality, easily-understood lessons on the basics of fishing, hunting, and shooting. All lessons are free of charge.

Students begin by studying the Overall Basics of Fishing, Hunting, or Shooting.

Students then choose to study specific aspects–anything that sounds fun.

No student is ever “left to struggle.” Experts answer follow-up questions, to help all students fully understand the lessons.

Students who request help finding a mentor are linked to established mentoring organizations that provide opportunities for ongoing outings.

Gun Hunting Minnesota

On opening day I decided to get down from my stand and go for a walk at about 9:30am. I was almost back to where I parked the fourwheeler when I noticed a deer or two scurry into the woods. I snuck up to that point, looked over, and noticed a deer standing in the woods about 30 yards. I raised my gun and at first glance I thought it was a doe until it turned its head. I saw antlers and pulled the trigger dropping the deer in its tracks with a neck shot.

Fred Bear Does its Job once Again!

This buck came in minutes after using one of those doe/fawn cans. I dont know if that brought him in our not, but I am glad I gave it a try! I was dealing with swirling winds and he was about to bust me when I shot. My camera failed in the field, so these garage are what I have to show for this buck right now. I am now in the hunt for a camera...any ideas?

Fall Update

Bowhunting has been pretty slow lately, but I did manage to arrow a mature doe a little over a week ago. It was a quick, clean kill at 25yds with a two bladed Rage broadhead. I have been sold on these after seeing the results the last two years.

A trip up north to Nashwauk about a week ago resulted in an abundance of grouse in front of my 870 12 gauge.

Also I will be posting a bunch of venison/upland game recipes on my food blog in weeks to come. I have been writing up and testing recipes this fall.


Pecan pheasant/grouse Salad


Pheasant/Grouse Parmesian

Deer Camera Pictures

Coyote taking a dump right in front of the camera



Doe with some sort of abnormal growth

Rainy Day Off

Granpa Walsh gave Jim and I almost twenty antler plaques. I sanded them, stained and sealed them the last few days. Thanks Grandpa...Hopefully we can put them to good use soon!

Visit to Last July

During July last summer in Alaska was when the fishing really heated up. Here are some re posts of some of my catch. The salmon and Halibut tasted so much better fresh than after I shipped them home. They were still good, but eating them the day I caught them couldn't be any better! This summer the lodge I was at has had to deal with forest fires near by and record heat. From what I have heard their summer has been just as warm or warmer than our summer here in MN.

Fishing from the past two weeks

The last few weeks I have been back up to Buck Lake a few times and have fished the lakes in the area. Over a week ago Andy and I hit up Owen lake with winds over 30 mph. We went to catch northerns and changed our plans because of the very strong winds. We hit the secluded bays that were protected from the wind. In these shallows we were able to catch some very nice largemouth bass on topwater plastic worms. We were also checked by the sherriff even though we were the only boat on the lake. In the afternoon we went over to Stingy Lake where we caught a few eater size walleyes and a few large bluegills while slip-bobbering in cabbage in seven feet of water.



This past Sunday Andy and I took Stef and Cory out on Buck for northerns. The fish were biting well on spinnerbaits and Andy even had hits on his huge muskie bucktail spinnerbait he was using. Pulling the pike through the weeds was quite the workout for Stef with the spinning rod. She liked the pulling power of the med-heavy baitcaster rod much better after.

Knight Lake

With my work schedule this past week I have had odd days off. I got done with work at three on Sunday and took off to Knight Lake in Wisconsin to Brianne's parent's cabins knightlakecabins.com. They have cabins available if anyone is interested. They are located Between Merrill and Tomohawk. My stay there was short, but I had a good time with Brianne and her family. The weather was very nice and the water was warm. The only thing we could have dealt with less was the mosquitos, but they are bad anywhere you go in the country in WI or MN.


Brianne and I gave fishing a try for a short time before sunset on Monday night. I set Brianne up with a sluggo for bass, while I threw a buzzbait. Brianne had a few bites and was bit off by a northern. We could see sunfish swimming around, so I threw out a fly that I had. I ended up with my catch of the day...a golden shiner


It was too nice to not be in the water! The lake was nice to float around in since it isnt that big.

Up North for a Day

I went up to Buck Lake on Thursday night leaving work in Stillwater at about 10pm. A few storms and about 1:30 in the morning I was at mom and dad's place. Friday morning I went fishing with dad and caught big sunfish, crappies, bass, and I kept about a 4 pound northern. I caught the panfish on my flyrod. I used a small fly that was black and green. I outfished dad and his live bait with the fly. I used my gloomis ventura 7 reel(My 8 weight st. croix rod is too heavy for panfish, so I put my reel on mom's new flyrod that she won. It was a softer rod that is probably about a 5 or 6 weight rod. It was fun and and it was nice not having to rebait.




Mom and I went to Stingy on Friday night and forced off of the lake for a while while thunderstorms past over us. It happened right after I caught the first walleye. The fish bit ok after the storm and we ended up keeping 7 nice eating walleyes.




I dont know what I would call it, but I caught five species of fish in one day. Maybe it is called a slam? I have done this a few time before, but it has been awhile. Friday was a great day of fishing. It was hard to make the drive back Saturday morning to go to work after the nice weather and fishing from Friday!

Nice Weekend of Fishing

I took Emily and Jamie out to some of my favorite spots that I haven't fished in a couple of years. Turned out to be a good thing. This was the average size of the sunnies we caught! The next day I took Stef and Cory out and we did well in some other areas as well. The fish were prespawn and were feeding hard before they move onto the beds. I dont have any pictures, but Andy and I went Fishing with Rich and we were able to get a few walleyes that were on the small side. My thoughts and prayers are with the Patras family.



My largest Sunfish to date. A large pumkinseed that weighed well over a pound and measured about 10 in a 1/2 inches long. It was larger than my hands.



I was also able to catch some nice crappies as well. Most of the crappies were large males that were full of their

Smokie Mts in Tennessee