Dear Deer&Moose Goulash With Prunes&Walnuts

So Kevin, co-worker of Wil's dad and a passionate hunter gave us a whole bunch of moose and deer meat the other day.
With all that game in our freezer I decided to make one of my all-time favorite winter dishes.
My mum gave me this recipe years ago, and she got it from one of her colleagues. Originally it is made with venison, but really any deer-like game can be thrown into it.
I decided to mix deer with moose for this.
One thing you should know: Moose can sometimes be a bit too 'gamy'. Buttermilk usually takes care of that. just soak the raw moose meat in buttermilk for an hour or longer and it should be less extreme.

I was so busy cooking that I totally forgot to take any pictures in between. Sorry about that.
anyway, here is what you need:

600g/22oz. deer/moose/venison/elk etc. (lean or with a bit of fat on it) cut in goulash cubes
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium-sized onions cut in thin rings
1 tsp garlic finely chopped
2 tsp flour
250ml/8.5oz. red wine (preferably cabernet sauvignon)
60g/2.2oz. prunes (pitted)
2 bay leaves
3 slices of bacon, coarsly chopped
275ml/9.5oz beef broth (preferably home made)
2tsp butter or margarine
100g/3.5oz walnuts, coarsly chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped in slices
salt, pepper

Directions

On a stove heat up olive oil in an oven-proof casserole.
Add the meat in small portions and sear each portion over high heat for about 1 minute.
Remove the browned meat from the casserole.
Reduce heat.
Add onions and garlic to the remaining meat juices and sautee for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 more minute.
Remove from stove and slowly stir in the red wine.
Add meat, prunes, bacon, bay leaves and broth and bring everything to a boil again.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Put the lid on the casserole, or aluminium foil if you don't have an appropriate lid for it.
Cook everything in the oven for about 1.5 - 2 hours at 170°C.
A few minutes before serving melt butter/margarine in a pan, add walnuts and cellery stalks and sautee at medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and toss over the goulash.

Serve with potatoes or mashed potatoes and a glass of red wine.

Coffee banana muffins with dark chocolate chunks

I made these coffee banana muffins with dark chocolate chunks a while ago,
but didn't have the time to write about them, yet.

If you happen to have over riped bananas at home that you don't feel like eating anymore,
don't throw them away!
You can make great banana bread with those.

I decided to turn the banana bread I usually make into muffins and brought them over to our friends Anna and Beau who were having some friends from Edmonton staying at their house.

Because our friend Anna is allergic to nuts and Wil isn't such a big fan of walnuts I replaced the walnuts with dark chocolate chunks. 

No matter if you decide to make the banana bread or muffins, the recipe stays the same. Only the baking time is different.

What you need:

3 ripe bananas

200g dark chocolate chunks or 100g chopped walnuts

3 Tbsp strong coffee (warm not hot!)

110 g margarine

190g brown sugar

1/2 package of vanilla sugar

2 large eggs

300g all purpose flour

2Tbsp baking powder

1 dash of salt

Preheat the oven to 170ºC.

Remove the skin, then mash the bananas with a fork until mushy.

In a large bowl mix margarine, eggs, coffee, sugar and vanilla sugar with the mashed bananas and with a handmixer whisk everything until smooth.

Mix flour, salt and baking powder.

Slowly add the flour mix to the other ingredients and whisk everything well for about 2 minutes.

Mix in the dark chocolate chunks/chopped walnut.

Pour the batter into either a greased muffin or cake tin. The batter will rise in the oven. Therefore each muffin form only needs to be filled half way.

Bake the muffins for approx. 20 minutes.

The banana bread will need approx. 50 minutes in the oven.

Let everything cool down for a bit, then serve!