Way back yonder in the month of October—you know, a century ago—my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. 

As per natural courtship rituals, it was upon my shoulders as a husband to present to my spouse a display of amorous grandeur. This year I determined that that would be in the form of food. Gentlemen, overthink it if you want to, but all good relationships end up back at food one way or another. 

Given our ridiculous schedules and lack of funds as we trudge on through the building of our house, I decided we would keep it simple and have a meal at home. 

I had been thinking about and talking about stuffed pork roll for a while and decided we would have that, with one important difference. We would change the protein to venison. 

Conveniently this would also feed our munchkins, who would be present for this auspicious dining event.

I went to the chest freezer, retrieved the loin roast and brought it up to thaw. Two differences between venison and pork: venison is more lean than pork, and it also doesn’t absorb juices as much as pork does. 

That being said, venison shouldn’t be cooked as hard as pork or as long. Also, anything you can do to add moisture will greatly aid in boosting your flavors. I achieve this by making sure my stuffing is very wet and my cast iron is amply supplied with butter.

If you’re feeding kids, just know also that unless you have a little carnivore, they’re going to plow right through the vein of stuffing in each slice before touching the meat. Fair warning in case you thought that just by combining the protein with the carbs, it would fix the pickiness.

However, it was difficult to convince my wife to eat the stuffing, since she typically avoids carbs. What can I say, you can’t please ‘em all. 

Since I opted for an apple stuffing, I was able to persuade my picky eaters to enjoy the fruit-based carb element just a little bit more than ordinary.

I always thought it was funny how animals tasted good with the things they like to eat naturally. Pigs and deer both like apples, so according to my self-proclaimed wisdom, they both taste good with a side of apple. 

Regardless of the rationale, it certainly hit the spot and the wife, the kids and I all had a lovely dinner for this year’s anniversary.

The way out here a well fed family is a happy family. Things might be hectic as we spiral to the end of the year, but taking the time for a few tasty things always makes for a better outlook for all involved.