Bison Burgers & Buffalo Nachos

Bison Burger

1 lb ground bison
medium white onion
worcestershire sauce
1-2 cloves of garlic


coarsely chop half white onion, slice garlic, a few shakes of worcestershire sauce and combine with ground bison. create patties and grill as normal. top with lettuce, tomato, bbq sauce

Buffalo Nachos

1 bag plain or buffalo wing flavored tortilla chips
1 lb ground bison
1 lb cheddar cheese
celery
white onion
ranch dressing
buffalo wing hot sauce


cook ground bison in frying pan. place tortilla chips on oven sheet. cover with cheese and bison. add chopped onion and buffalo wing sauce. cook 400 degrees until cheese is melted. top with ranch dressing and chopped celery.


* Tip: serve with Guiness draught!

Tiki Torches

Ingredients:

fresh pineapple
coconut or dark rum
brown sugar
skewer sticks

Directions:

Cut fresh pineapple into large cubes. Ideally about 1.5" x 1.5" (maybe 2"x2")... large pieces anyway. Place in a bowl or tray where you can soak them in the dark rum. Ideally soak them overnight in the freezer, but a couple hours in the fridge should do as well. When ready to cook, place 3-4 pieces onto the skewers. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Grill on high for a few minutes until warm and slightly charred.

Warning: the alcohol may ignite and flare up during cooking. Especially with the dark rum. But that's half the fun, and why they're called Tiki Torches. they will ignite and flame a bit until the alcohol is burned out.

I prefer these frozen, then grilled so they will be warm on the outside and cool in the middle.

Salmon Bean Chili

Ingredients
1 can salmon
1 can pinto beans
1 can stewed tomatoes
i can black beans
1 oz of hot sauce
juice of 1 lime
fresh ground black pepper
salt

Directions
Combine all into saucepan, drain salmon but do not drain beans. Stir to breakup salmon. Simmer until thickened, season with salt and pepper to taste.

V8 Barley Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup dried pearl barley
1 cup rice
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
salt
pepper
dried basil
12 oz V8 juice
water
chives

Directions:
Put about 4 cups water into large pot. Boil and add barley and a few pinches of salt. This should cook for about 30 minutes to soften the barley. Add rice and cook for another 10-15 minutes or so, until rice and barley are al dente, or almost done. Add about 10 grinds of fresh pepper, 3-4 shakes of basil and the vegetables. Add more water as needed or boil it off to create the consistency you desire. More water will be more soup-like, or if you boil more off, it will be a thicker stew. Once you have your desired thickness, stir in the V8 and cook a minute or so more to make sure everything's heated.

garnish with fresh chives, and salt & pepper to taste

PB & Brown Sugar Oatmeal

I created a spontaneous concoction this morning...

3/4 c plain quick oats oatmeal
1 spoonful of brown sugar
1 spoonful of crunchy peanut butter (or smooth)

Put oatmeal in bowl. Add brown sugar, then get your spoonful of peanut butter. Add boiling water, and stir all together with the peanut butter spoon.

Add some banana slices if you'd like!

Korean BBQ

This is a recipe that I recently learned while scuba diving! After we'd done a couple of dives, one of the student diver's husbands had hot, fresh Korean BBQ waiting for us... right off the grill!

Ingredients
1c sugar
1c water
1c soy sauce
4-5 cloves fresh garlic
fresh grated ginger
1/2c chopped green onions / chives
2-3 tbsp sesame oil
1 onion, diced or food-processored
1 lb short ribs, ideally sliced the long way as to eliminate the bones. however any thin sliced beef will do. or other meat for that matter.

combine all ingredients and let the meat marinate in this for 6-24 hours. (I chose to take this camping and put it all in a wide-mouthed, 32oz water bottle) keep chilled while marinating. when time to cook, remove meat from bottle and grill it to medium or however you like it.

Rum Yukka / (original) Yukka

I recently learned of this "tradition"... I've put the original below, but have also tweaked it a bit for my personal tastes.

Rum Yukka

1 handle coconut rum
4-5 large limes or 1 fresh chopped pineapple*
1 cup sugar
ice
sun tea container (1 gallon or so) with dispensing spout

* if fresh pineapple isn't available, or not very juicy, consider using 100% pure chunked pineapple from a can. One 16oz can should work well.

Put the rum and sugar in the container. half the limes, squeeze the juice into the container and toss in the rest of the lime. fill with ice (this should end up filling the container).

Next, take the container around to everyone at the party. have them give the container some shakes. you might wrap the container with a towel, as it will become cold and possibly slippery. after EVERYONE has done their shakes, time to drink! keep shaking to mix well and to help the juice come out of the fruit.

How to drink the Yukka.

Have a server and a recipient. The recipient sits in a chair, head tilted back, mouth open. The server holds the container over their mouth and pushes the dispense spout button. When the recipient's mouth is full or when they don't want anymore, they "tap out" by tapping the server. Consider using the shake towel as the ceremonial Yukka bib incase there is any miscommunication with the tap out.

Enjoy!

***

Original Yukka

1 handle Vodka
2-3 large lemons
1 cup sugar
ice
sun tea container (1 gallon or so) with dispensing spout

Put the vodka and sugar in the container. half or quarter the lemons, squeeze the juice into the container and toss in the rest of the lemon. fill with ice (this should end up filling the container).

Next, take the container around to everyone at the party. have them give the container some shakes. you might wrap the container with a towel, as it will become cold and possibly slippery. after EVERYONE has done their shakes, time to drink! keep shaking to mix well and to help the juice come out of the fruit.


***

As usual feel free to try your favorite alcohol and fruit.