Dinner Tonight: Ribs and Kraut

A southern comfort food staple - Pork Country Style Ribs with KrautThe wife is out of town this week and I was looking for some good old fashioned comfort food for dinner tonight.  I decided to go to an old standby, Ribs and Kraut.  This is super simple in the Crock-Pot, and is a great tasting dish.  Traditionally it is served with mshed potatoes on the side, but I tend to stay away from heavy carbs during the week.  This is a winner with the kids, and one of my favorites.

Southern Ribs and Kraut

 

YIELD
 4-6 servings
ACTIVE TIME
 15 minutes
TOTAL TIME
 6 hours, 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

    • 3 lbs. Boneless Country Style Ribs
    • 32 oz. jar of Sauerkraut
    •  Salt and Pepper to taste
    • 3 Tbs. Olive Oil

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Add oil to large frying pan and heat to medium-high
    2. Season ribs with salt and pepper on all sides
    3. Brown ribs and transfer to crock-pot
    4. Cook on Low for 5 hours or high for 3 hours
    5. Drain kraut and add to crock-pot, continue to cook for 2-3 hours
    6. Serve and enjoy!

Dinner Tonight: Corndog Muffins

Great Pinterest find for a quick mealI was looking around on Pinterest for creative ideas and ran across this one.  They came out great and were super simple.  The original post was for mini-muffins, but I was looking to do these for dinner so used normal muffin tins.  I should have doubled the recipe, as everyone wanted more!  These work well, and will be a big hit for your Super Bowl parties.

 

Dinner Tonight: Oven Roasted Sausages, Potatoes, and Peppers

Great Pinterest find, was a huge hit at our house

This was an interesting find on Pinterest, and the ease of preperation was a definate plus.  This will be an easy winner in any kitchen.  The great flavors combined to make a very comforting dish with an italian flare that was a winner at our house.  I could have made two pans and it would have all disappeared.

 

Source: lilasapron.com via Drew on Pinterest

Dinner Tonight: Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

Unique ingrédients kick-up frozen meatballs

Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

 

YIELD
 4-6 Servings
ACTIVE TIME
 5 minutes
TOTAL TIME
 2 hours, 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS

    • 2 lb bag of Frozen Meatballs
    • 1 can (8 oz.) Jellied Cranberry Sauce
    • 1/4 cup Siracha chili sauce
    • 1/2 cup Soy Sauce
    • 2 tbs. Brown Sugar
    • 2 tsp. Lemon Juice

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Thaw meatballs
    2. Combine remaining ingredients in crock-pot on low, mixing thoroughly.
    3. Add meatballs. Cook for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes

NOTES

Serve alone on toothpicks as an appetizer, or for a meal over white rice

FatBoy Creations: Fatboy Cheesesteak

Fatboy's Take on a steak sandwich!I love a nice steak sandwich, but get tired of philly-style cheesesteaks. I wanted something cheesy and full of flavors I love, and this is what I came up with. It was a hit in my house, see how your family likes this little piece of FatBoy Heaven.

Fatboy Cheesesteak

YIELD
 4-6 Sandwichs
ACTIVE TIME
 20 minutes
TOTAL TIME
 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

    • 1 lb. Bacon
    • 2 lbs. Thin-cut Carne Asada Steak
    • 1 tub Philly Cooking Cream - Italian Cheese and Herb flavor
    • 1 lb fresh whole leaf spinach
    •  Hard hoagy style rolls

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Brown bacon in large deep cast iron skillet until crispy, drain on paper towels and set aside
    2. Cut steak into 1 inch wide strips on the bias
    3. Fry steak in bacon grease until cooked through medium-rare, drain grease
    4. Add Cooking Cream and stir into steak, coating well and cooking until cream starts to brown
    5. Cut rolls
    6. Layer fresh spinach, then steak, then top with chunks of Bacon and serve

Dinner Tonight: Leftovers become an awesome Asian soup

An amazing soup comes from adding some simple ingredients to leftoversThe other night I made a Five Spice Pork and had some leftovers in the bottom of the crock pot.  I saved them and put them in the fridge thinking that it would be good for lunch the next day, but then I had a better idea.  Since there were such classic asian flavors in the pork, I could make an easy Asian broth to turn them into a soup.  Here's what I did.

Ingredients:

8 cloves of garlic

Large piece of fresh ginger

32oz Vegatable Broth

Leftovers from the Honey Apple Five Spice Pork

Bok-choy or raw spinach

Directions:

  1. Seperate pork from the the other pan drippings and solids in the leftovers and set aside
  2. Add remaining leftovers to pot
  3. Peel garlic and slice thinly, add to pot
  4. Peel ginger and cut into 1/2 inch pieces, add to pot
  5. Add vegatable broth
  6. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20-30 minutes
  7. In a frying pan, saute greens in water until wilted
  8. Place some greens in each bowl
  9. Brown reserved pork until crispy in same frying pan.  Divide and add to each bowl
  10. Cover greens and meat with broth and serve!

Dinner Tonight (and tomorrow) - Apple Honey Five Spice Pork

Great crockpot asian pork with Chinese Five Spice

A very common combination in american cooking is apple and pork, but I was looking for a way to bring something more to the flavor profile this time.  When I started thinking I realized that a lot of the same flavors that we use with apples are present in Chinese Five Spice recipes, and thought this would be a great combination.  The pork came out fall apart perfect with a great combination of flavors.  It was at once both familiar and exotic.  This one will get made again here in Fat Boy Heaven.

Apple Honey Five Spice Pork

YIELD
 6 servings
ACTIVE TIME
 20 minutes
TOTAL TIME
 7 hours, 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

    •  Pork Loin, 2.5-3 lbs.
    •  Red Delicious Apples, 3 sliced
    •  Honey, approx 4 T
    •  Chinese Five Spice, 2 T

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Lay the apple slices (from two of the apples) in the bottom of the crockpot.
    2. Sprinkle with five spice.
    3. Cut slits in the pork loin (approx 1/2″-3/4″).
    4. Drizzle some honey into the slits.
    5. Then place apple slices into the slits.
    6. Place the pork loin into the crockpot.
    7. Drizzle the top with the remainder of the honey.
    8. Place the rest of the apples on top.
    9. Then sprinkle the whole thing with five spice.
    10. Cook on low for 7 hours

NOTES

Serve with veggies

Non-Geek Alert: Facebook is about to make it far too easy for people you don't know to see everything you have ever posted...Again

Facebook has rolled out it's new Graph Search to a limited number of people today, and will roll it out to everyone soon.  What this means for most of us is a lot of work if we have ever, in the entire time we have used Facebook, posted anything we don't want what experts call our "Social Graph" to be able to find with a quick search.  As the article below points out, essentially it makes everything you have ever posted or been tagged in visable to not only friends, but the much broader "Friends-of-friends" group.  For those of us with friends that will add anyone who asks to their friends list this can be a little disturbing.  Looks like we all have some house keeping to do on our timelines.

3 Privacy Settings You Must Change Before Using Facebook Graph Search:

3 Privacy Settings You Must Change Before Using Facebook Graph Search - Tweaking your Activity Log just became a necessary and tedious new part of being a Facebook user. Thanks to the service's new Graph Search feature, all that profile info you've painstakingly updated over the years (employer, home town, relationship status, movie likes, etc) and all the photos you've added over time, are now to become data in a database of the social network's trillion connections between a billion users.

 

Time keeps on ticking - The first library without books is getting ready to open...in Texas of all places

I would have expected to see this in Portland, San Francisco, or New York.  It is suprising to see it happen first in San Antonio of all places.  I love the idea, and hope it works well enough for other cities and counties to give it a try.  You can already checkout ebooks in many library systems, but why deal with the hassle of paper books when you don't need to.  In this age of smart phones, ebook readers, and tablets galore all that really needs to happen is for a format to be decided on.  Here we are hoping for EPUB, but that would cut out the millions of Kindle's amazon has alrady won the market with.

Bexar set to turn the page on idea of books in libraries - San Antonio Express-News:

Bexar set to turn the page on idea of books in libraries

 

Kickstarted to release: The Cookoo Watch

In May of 2012 a group called ConnectedDevice, led by Peter Hauser, looked to Kickstarter to help back an idea for a connected watch.  The idea was to have a real watch that also would connect to your smartphone, providing notices if you received an SMS message, a phone call, or new email on your smartphone without needing to reach for the phone.  The idea evolved into a product that is now in the hands of backers and was officially launched this week at CES.

The Kickstarter Edition of the Cookoo Watch arrived this morning

While the company was not able to hit all of it's goals (at launch it is not compatible with Android due to so many different BlueTooth implementations), it has accomplished the biggest one: They have shipped watches that are truly watches whether connected to your iPhone or not, and which are powered by replaceable batteries instead of requiring frequent recharging.  You can view the original goals and timeline of the project here via KickStarter.  While I have only had the watch for a few hours, I am impressed.

The Cookoo is a watch first, and connected device second, an important goal for mainstream acceptance

The watch was remakably easy to set up.  You download the connected application from the iTunes store and launch it.  It finds the watch, and you set alerts and button functions.  You can use the button to check-in to a location on Facebook, drop a waypoint pin on a map (handy when parking in large mall or sporting event lots), and even remotely snap a picture.

The settings are easy to configure, and pretty comprehensive, with more options coming

The command button can be configured to automatically check you in to the nearest location on FaceBookThis is a great product, that will get even better with time thanks to an open API and wide spread availability.  Keep an eye on this thing, it is going to be important.

Crowdfunded COOKOO Smart Watch Launches Worldwide At CES 2013 - Forbes:

Crowdfunded COOKOO Smart Watch Launches Worldwide At CES 2013

 

Bacon Night! - Apple Bacon Tomato Soup

It is really easy to find new recipes using bacon, but finding new recipes that intrigue me with new flavor profiles takes some doing.  I love doing soup this time of year, mostly because it makes for great leftovers that usually hold up well in the freezer for quick meals when we need them.  I found this recipe at All Recipes in an email they sent out a few weeks ago, and decided to give it a try.  Super simple to make and great flavors have added this to the FatBoy rotation.

Apple Bacon Tomato Soup

 

YIELD
 8 servings
ACTIVE TIME
 15 mins
TOTAL TIME
 45 mins

INGREDIENTS

    • 5 slices bacon
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 1/2 white onion, chopped
    • 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
    • 2 cups beef stock
    • 1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto beans
    • 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
    • 2 stalks celery, chopped
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 1 medium apple, thinly sliced
    • 1/2 cup red wine
    •  salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, coarsely chop, and set aside.
    2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and saute white onion and garlic 3 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in beef stock, pinto beans, tomatoes, celery, and bay leaf. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer.
    3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir the apple in the red wine until soft.
    4. Mix bacon, apple, and remaining red wine into the soup mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until well blended.

Dinner Tonight: Redeye Mole Chili

I was looking for a new dinner recipe a few weeks ago and stumbled across this great recipe from Rachel Ray for Redeye Mole Chili.  The combination of sweet spices from the mole with a classic redeye sauce (a southern specialty featuring coffee) makes a unique and new addition to my recipe box.  Give it a try, you won't be sorry.

Redeye Mole Chili

 

YIELD
 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

    • 3 cups beef stock (if using ground beef) or chicken stock (if using ground turkey)
    • 2 ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
    • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    • 4 slices lean smoked bacon, chopped
    • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef sirloin or ground turkey
    • 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
    • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
    •  Salt and pepper
    • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
    • 1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed
    • 1 15 ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
    • 2 tablespoons instant coffee
    • 1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika
    • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
    • 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • 2 cups shredded or crumbled extra-sharp cheddar cheese
    • 1 small red onion, finely chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. In a large saucepan, bring the beef stock and ancho chiles to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until softened, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and puree.
    2. Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until smoking. Add the bacon and cook until crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the beef, increase the heat to high and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat to medium, add the yellow onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes; season with pepper.
    3. Stir the tomato paste into the chili for 1 minute. Stir in the ancho liquid, black beans, tomatoes, coffee, paprika, coriander, cocoa and cinnamon and simmer for 5 minutes; season with salt.
    4. Serve the chili in shallow bowls. Top with the cheese and red onion.

Dinner Time - Slow Cooker Maple Pumpkin Pulled Pork

I love experimenting with new ways to use ingredients, and thought this would be a great flavor combination.  It exceeded my expectations.  The delicate moistness of the pumpkin holds up well to the maple but the bourbon and worcteshire sauce help smooth the transition.  When combined with the salty goodness of the pork it is amazing.  Give this a try, you won't regret your visit to Fat Boy Heaven.

Slow Cooker Maple Pumpkin Pulled Pork

If you like pulled pork, you're going to love this beautiful recipe for slow cooker pulled pork. Rich & salty, with just enough sweet to make you crave it nightly, you're gonna love this recipe twist!

YIELD
 8 servings
ACTIVE TIME
 5 minutes
TOTAL TIME
 4 hours

INGREDIENTS

    • 3 pound pork roast
    • 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
    • 2/3 cup brown sugar
    • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
    • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
    • 1 teaspoon maple extract
    • 2 tablespoons bourbon
    •  hamburger buns

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Place pork roast in a slow cooker. Add the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt, Worcestershire sauce, bourbon, and maple extract. Use a spatula to mix together the pumpkin mixture over the top of the pork. Cover and set slow cooker to high. Cook for 4-6 hours, or until pork is tender.
    2. Using two forks, pull the pork apart until well shredded. Stir well into the pumpkin mixture. Cover and allow to cook for another hour, until the sauce thickens.
    3. Spoon mixture onto hamburger buns. Serve and enjoy!

Dinner Time - Steak Gratin

When I was planning this weeks menu I noticed that top sirloin was on sale, and was trying to figure out what I could do with it.  I remembered my Dad making homemade Mac and Cheese when I was a kid with hamburger, and have always loved the flavor combination.  I took that and ran with it to kick things up a few notches with this Steak Gratin.  The rich flavor of the sirloin combines well with the lighter marscapone and parmesan cheeses to really let the meat shine.  The addition of a little bit of dried mustard with salt and pepper takes the flavor just a little bit higher without overwelming.  If you are looking for comfort food, welcome to Fat Boy Heaven.

Steak-Macaroni Gratin

 

ACTIVE TIME
 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

    • 4 tbsp. butter
    • 1 lb. sirloin, sliced
    • 1 small onion, finely chopped
    • 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
    • 3/4 tsp. dry mustard
    • 1/2 tsp. salt
    • 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
    • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
    • 2 cups mascarpone cheese
    • 1 cup Parmesan cheese
    • 1 lb. pasta, cooked al dente
    • 1 cup fresh bread crumbs

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a med.-size oval baking dish.
    2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in deep skillet over med.-high heat; add steak and onion; sauté until vegetables are tender, about 5 min.
    3. Stir in flour, mustard, salt, and pepper; cook 1 min.
    4. Gradually whisk in milk; stir until slightly thickened, about 3 min.
    5. Remove from heat. Add cheeses and stir until cheese melts.
    6. Mix in pasta. Remove to baking dish.
    7. Melt remaining butter; add bread crumbs and sauté until golden. Sprinkle crumbs over pasta. Bake about 20 min.

Review: Numark TT USB Turntable

Some times you want to listen to something that just didn't have wide enough appeal to make the leap to CD in the 80's, and hasn't made it from the dusty bins of the publisher's vaults to join the back catalog of media on iTunes.  That was the case for me with an old recording of J.R.R. Tolkien reading selections from "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and other poems that are part of the Middle Earth cannon.  The Album was recorded in 1967 and is titled "Poems and Songs of Middle Earth".  It includes among other things the only published recording of Tolkien reciting poetry in Elvish.  Yes, it is geeky but then so am I.

To record it I pulled out the Numark TTUSB Turntable with USB and went to work.  The turntable is a wonderful made, belt driven, Hi-Fi turntable that has remarkable quality.  The platform is cast alluminum, and everything is top quality here.  Included in the box is a disc with both Mac and PC versions of the software to make recording super simple.  You just hit record on the computer, hit play on the turntable, and the software records the contents of your album.  It will seperate the tracks, and then ask you to identify the album.  Once the naming process is complete the software adds the recordings to iTunes automaticaly and then asks if you want to record anything else.

High quality, great sound, and super simple.  It doesn't get any better than this.  Now if I can just find a way to avoid having to record all of my wife's old Wham! records......

Dinner Time - Kentucky French Toast with Bourbon Candied Bacon

I wanted something warm and tasty for dinner tonight, and started thinking about new ways to cook bacon.  Once I decided on candying it with bourbon and brown sugar I started thinking about what to cook with it.  Eggs and pancakes seemed to easy.  I decided on a bourbon and cream french toast that I am calling Kentucky French Toast.  Freaking amazing!  Give this little taste of fatboy heaven a try!

Bourbon and Brown Sugar Bacon

Sometimes bacon needs a little dressing up, like when it is served for dinner. This is a simple way to change it up and still get the salty fatty goodness that only bacon can provide.

INGREDIENTS

    • 1 lb Bacon
    • 2 oz Bourbon
    • 1/2 cup Brown Sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Preheat oven to 350
    2. Mix bourbon and brown sugar to thick paste
    3. lay our full slices of bacon on baking sheet lined with parchment paper
    4. spread brown sugar mixture over bacon
    5. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until bacon is crisp but not burnt

 

Kentucky French Toast

I saw a recipe for Irish Toast on AllRecipes.com and decided to change it up with my favorite cooking bourbon instead of irish whiskey.

YIELD
 6 servings
ACTIVE TIME
 5 mins
TOTAL TIME
 50 mins

INGREDIENTS

    • 1 (16 ounce) loaf French bread
    • 4 large eggs
    • 2 fluid ounce Bourbon whiskey
    • 3 fluid ounces half and half
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 tbs pumpkin pie spice
    • 1/4 cup butter
    •  confectioners' sugar for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Cut the bread into 12 slices. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, bourbon, half and half, and vanilla extract until well blended.
    2. Heat some of the butter in a skillet over medium heat until the butter is hot and the foam has disappeared. Press each bread slice into the egg mixture, then fry in the hot skillet until nicely browned on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Add more butter to skillet as needed. Brush each slice with butter, and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Dinner Time - Sloppy Cheeseburgers

I was trying to think of a new way to change up the sloppy joe concept, and struck on this one. Who doesn't like cheeseburgers? I served them on hard rolls, because I didn't feel like baking today and they were the only firm rolls in my grocers bakery today, but next time ill try them on pretzel buns as sandwiches instead of open-faced like we served them tonight

YIELD
 10 Sandwiches
ACTIVE TIME
 15
TOTAL TIME
 4 hours 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

    • 3 lbs Ground Beef
    • 3/4 cup ketchup
    • 1 large onion, diced
    • 3 tbsp worshtershire sauce
    • 3 tbsp mustard
    • 1 lb medium cheddar cheese
    • Garlic
    • Salt
    • Pepper
    • Garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Brown ground beef, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in worshtershire sauce, and simmer adding onions to soften
    2. Add beef and onion mixture to crock pot
    3. Add ketchup and mustard, mixing well
    4. Cube cheese and add to meat mixture, covering cheese
    5. Cook on high 3-4 hours until cheese is well melted and incorporated
    6. Serve on a firm bun or roll

Dinner Time - Easy Baked Chicken and Dressing

I love stuffing, and wish it was more common to eat year round instead of just at the holidays. To make up for it's lack throughout the year I find myself looking longingly at the Stove Top boxes when I walk through the grocery, but cannot bring myself to eat that crap. So periodically I make this dish to make a normal day feel like the holidays, just a little bit.  Chicken came out cooked perfectly, nice and juicy without any pink.  Dressing was flavorful and moist.

Easy Baked Chicken and Dressing

ACTIVE TIME
 20 minutes
TOTAL TIME
 80 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • Stuffing

    • 1 lb bag of Stuffing Croutons
    • 2 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
    • 1 stick butter or margarine
    • 1/2 cup diced Celery
    • 1 Large onion - Diced
    • 1 Large Egg

  • For Chicken

    • 3 lbs Boneless Skinless chicken breasts (3-4 depending on size)
    •  Salt
    •  Pepper
    •  Garlic Powder

  • For topping

    • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Preheat oven to 375

  • For Stuffing

    1. Place croutons in a large mixing bowl
    2. Add liquid ingredients, mixing well
    3. Lightly beat egg and stir into the mixture
    4. Add veggies and mix well
    5. Pour mixture into large baking dish

  • For Chicken

    1. sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
    2. place chicken on top of stuffing

  • Topping

    1. sprinkle cheese over the top of baking dish and cover with foil
    2. bake at 375 for 1 hour

Fatboyheaven goes BIG for The Pantry at Rock Creek Church

This morning the family and I got up early and headed down to Rock Creek Church to cook Fat Boy Stew for 115 people at their Food Pantry for the 2nd Saturday meal. Just take the recipe for Fatboy stew and multiply it by 10 and you have the idea. It was great to give back and help with what has become a family project at the Pantry, and we had a lot of fun catching up with a great group of volunteers.  

If you would like to help this holiday season, the Pantry at Rock Creek Church provides food for more than 100 families every week through their partnership with The Oregon Food Bank.  Donations to The Oregon Food Bank can be designated to benefit The Pantry, as can gifts to Rock Creek Church at 4470 NW 185th Ave., Portland, OR 97229.

Here was the grocery list:

230 cups total volume

5lbs sausage - polish links/ brats
10lbs hamburger -
12 lbs frozen mixed veggies
12 cans diced tomatoes
24 cans pinto beans
10lbs potatoes
5 large onions
Chicken stock base
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Sea salt
Ground black pepper
Cumin
Chili powder
4 gallons water

Brown the ground beef and sweat the onions until translucent

Add the sausage

Add the tomatoes, mixed veggies, and beans

Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for at least an hour