Tonights dinner came about because of my son's crazy TV viewing habits. For some reason, he is a huge fan of the old Rosanne Show, which he found somehow on NetFlix. On the show Rosanne and her sister start a Loosemeat restaurant called "The Lunch Box", where they serve only trays and trays of this midwest classic.
Read moreI had some London broil left over from the Mediterranean salad I made the other day, and decided tacos would be a great way to use it on a warm spring day here in Oregon (a pretty rare occurrence). I found this recipe in my email from PureWow, and decided that with some simple modifications it would work well. The only change I made was due to my meat already being cooked medium rare last night when I started. I sliced it up, tossed it in the rub seasoning from the recipe, and heated it through in the cast iron skillet, making prep time much shorter.
Read moreSome family friends made this a couple of years ago for a gathering, and it has become a spring/summer go to for our family every since. A nice salad of chickpeas, thinly sliced red onions, and feta cheese is dressed with a spicy vinaigrette and topped with thinly sliced medium-rare steak. This can also be made with lamb instead of beef if you prefer, which I sometimes do. Even the kids love this one, and how can a fatboy go wrong with steak on a salad?
Read moreI love good, old fashioned comfort food, as anyone who has read this blog should realize. One of my favorite foods is a nice Italian specialty that my Dad used to make once in a while (but never as often as I asked for it), sausage and peppers. He would do it on a flat top griddle, with homemade marinara cooked in a separate pot and served over the sausage and peppers on a hoagie roll.
Read moreI love my crock pot. Like a slow oven, it can make any cut of meat a tender and delicious masterpiece with little effort. I have used this basic recipe for pork ribs in the slow cooker before, but decided to see how it would do with beef spare ribs, as i love how meaty and flavorful they can be.
Read moreOn our recent trip to Kentucky I discovered the perfect candy - Bourbon Balls. A uniquely Kentucky confection, bourbon balls are an amazing mix of a velvety smooth confection and bourbon, always (at least commercially) coated in chocolate, and often served with a pecan half on top.
Read moreCarrie took a trip to South Carolina a few months ago, and brought me back a large bag of stone ground grits, a food I love but is impossible to find in Oregon where we live. When we were looking for something to make for dinner the other night she found this recipe. Most traditional shrimp and grits recipes include a spicy andouille sausage, so this was a surprisingly lighter alternative with bacon instead.
Read moreI found a great Paleo friendly recipe for a classic Greek stew called Stifatho, and decided it would be great to try for dinner tonight. The great flavor of beef combines so well with the traditional Greek spice combination of cinnamon and cloves that I am amazed they are not used more in savory American cooking. The sweetness of the spices is cut by the slight acidity of the tomato sauce, and complimented by the currants and feta. Give this a try folks. Healthy and amazing flavor combined to create Fat Boy Heaven.
Read morePasties are a traditional cornish hand pie made popular in the mining and timber towns of early America. Most often containing beef or pork along with root vegetables like rutabaga, potatoes, and carrots pasties were something that could easily be prepared and carried to work for a filing lunch on the job site. In the U.S. they are most commonly found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other northern states.
Read moreI was looking for something to make with the amazing Stone Ground Grits that Carrie brought me back from her trip to South Carolina last week, and decided that since the kids didn't like shrimp I would need to avoid the old standby. I decided on a pounded and breaded chicken cutlet with creamy, cheesy grits that I made with smoked cheddar. AMAZING! Talk about Fat Boy Heaven on a plate, this was it.
Read moreIn my last post, I talked about the great pulled pork I made. Here is another dinner I made with it, and it was another winner. What this shows more than anything is that some base proteins can be used for endless meals if they are versatile enough to be re-seasoned to fit the flavor profile of the type of food you want to prepare.
Read moreI was thinking of ideas for dinner and was trying to think of a way to kick up a grilled cheese and came up with this idea while thinking about my trip to Green Bay over the summer. Beer Cheese was on almost every burger I had while I was there, and it was a flavor I loved. I decided to pair it with a simple spicy pulled pork recipe I have been working on for a few weeks. If it wasn't so good in so many things I think the wife and kids would have run away screaming.
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Dinner tonight was a low carb adventure. I found a great recipe for Fried Cabbage that looked amazing, so I decided to give it a try. It really was simple to prep with an amazing new addition to my freezer - Frozen Diced Onions.
Read moreI had a roast in the freezer, so I decided to work on perfecting an idea I have used a few times now that I found on Pinterest for a slow-cooked roast. I ended up perfecting it to rave reviews from the entire family tonight.
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