Woman Midwest-style

I fixed this recipe more than 20 years ago for the kiddos and it remains a favorite especially on hot summer days. I cook the beef early in the morning. Sometimes even chop all of the ingredients then, too, so all I have to do is throw everything together when it is time for dinner. Teenagers especially love this this super easy salad when the tummies rumble. INGREDIENTS SERVINGS 8-10 1 lb ground DEER BURGER 1 (1 1/4 ounce) envelope taco seasoning mix) 1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped 3 roma tomatoes, diced or fresh cherry tomatoes, quantity to suit 6 green onions, chopped 1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans or 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained 1 (15 ounce) can  black olives, sliced 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded 1 (16 ounce) bottle Catalina dressing 1 (14 1/2 ounce) bag plain Doritos, crumbled into big chunks DIRECTIONS Brown deer burger, mix taco seasoning and apx. ¼ cup water to dissolve seasoning, simmer. Chill. When burger is

Bass are definitely a blast to catch and as beautiful as the artwork portrays.   It brought back this vivid memory of the froggy lure. Summer Bass     I didn't have a boat but usually didn't need one.  Fishing northern Missouri farm ponds, whenever and wherever my buddies and I fished usually produced some fine Largemouth.  I was in 'dog-heaven' fishing anytime, anywhere.      It was a very sultry, hot day in August 1996 that I decided to go fish a pond down the highway.  Only around the curve from my house a ways.  Once inside the gate off the gravel road, if it hadn't rained, my truck could easily maneuver down the slope, over the berm and be out of site from the road. Total privacy.  No trash left behind, no kids running around, no disturbance.  It was actually too damn hot of a day for most sane folks to stand on a bank sweltering in 100 degree sun.  But I was headstrong and tough, sought some adventure, tired of the indoors A/C.    

In Missouri, by mid-March Crappie are biting, then by April, I’ll toss out a line for bass. I would bass fish all year if the weather’d let me, if I could tolerate ice fishing. In spring, starting with worm, then minnows, graduating to plastic lures to tempt the elusive hawg out of the depths. Bass are wary and comfy in its deep hidey hole. In springtime, by the time the crappie slow down their spawn, they’ll move into deeper water, thus more of a challenge to catch, and then it’s the bass’s turn. Spawning bass very aggressively defend their breeding territory, but not so much biting on a tempting lure... Typical bass in spawn mode don’t even pick up the most enticing lure. If I do snag a mamma bass full of eggs, she gets promptly let go and the next cast is away from her nest. Sort of the unwritten rule of fishing, words of my beloved Grandma Shore that I abide by… After they spawn they’re ravenous and I’ve had such fun and luck to catch all sizes. Only onc