Venison taco recipe

there's a rumor of a Vicarious posting in the works, so I thought I'd post this recipe now to avoid posting over Rico's contribution-to-be.

Here's what they've been eating in the Tantarlow household lately. Great kid recipe, especially if you've got some finicky eaters. The spice mix is for a flavorful but not overly "spicy" kid palate; add some cayenne and some chipotle powder if you want to soup it up for adults. Enjoy.

Venison Tacos

Ingredients for Mild spice mix:
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp dried cilantro
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients for taco meat:
1 largish yellow onion
2 tbs olive oil
1 to 1.5 pounds venison ground
2 tbs mild spice mix (above)
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp cider vinegar (or less—my kids don't like it but I still add it)
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup chicken stock

Dice/mince one largish yellow onion (my kids say, "chop it small, chop small!!"). Heat 1 tbs olive oil in wok, add onion and sautee until softened, 3-4 minutes or so.

Add 2 tbs spice mix and stir into onions. Allow to cook "until you can start smelling the spices cooking with the onions" (stole that off the web), 1 minute or so.

Add 1 tbs olive oil for cooking the venison, add the venison and mix with onions and allow to cook thoroughly, 5 minutes or so.

When venison is browned, add tomato sauce, chicken stock, brown sugar, and cider vinegar. Allow to boil down until the meat "is just barely wet" (again, advice off the web), stirring occasionally, approximately 30 minutes.

serve on soft tortillas with guac, peppers, cheese, beans etc etc etc--you know the drill for tacos.

New Lyme Disease risk map

This makes hunting in Wisconsin seem somehow less attractive.

The text from the AP press release reads:

This map released by the Yale School of Public Health on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 shows a map which indicates areas of the eastern United States where people have the highest risk of contracting Lyme disease based on data from 2004-2007. Researchers dragged sheets of fabric through the woods to snag ticks for the survey. The map shows a clear risk across much of the Northeast, from Maine to northern Virginia. Researchers at Yale University also identified a high-risk region across most of Wisconsin, northern Minnesota and a sliver of northern Illinois. Areas highlighted as "emerging risk" regions include the Illinois-Indiana border, the New York-Vermont border, southwestern Michigan and eastern North Dakota. (AP Graphic/Yale School of Public Health, Maria Diuk-Wasser).

Oh well.