Brown Sugar. Cinnamon. Bacon. They are the three best friends you could ever have.

ingredients:
1 pound of bacon (1 slab)
1/8 cup brown sugar (approx)
1 Tablespoon cinnamon (approx)

As you know I hate frying bacon – so the oven is a good alternative with minimum clean up. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Line the bottom of sheet pan with foil. On top of that, place a wire rack.

Take the bacon and cut it in half. Essentially you will have double the amount, in small half pieces.

Take the bacon piece and twist it, laying it on the rack. It’s a little more difficult with these small half pieces, but just work with it and it will stay. I like to do this because I think it crisps evenly without having to turn it (I hate taking the time to turn things – lazy).

Now sprinkle the brown sugar and the cinnamon evenly over each piece. Be as heavy handed or as light with the ingredients as you want. The amount is just an approximation.

Bake for 20 minutes, then serve.

The kids love these and I like to serve them with Ovaltine Pancakes. And since they are smaller pieces that means you can eat more, right? Right.

Say you like ham (SAY IT.) but you don’t want to commit to a giant Easter sized portion. You can buy one big ol’ slice of ham called a ‘ham steak’ and call it a day! And frankly, you can feed your whole family on that one slice.

ingredients:
1 ham steak
3-4 Tablespoons orange juice
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Put the ham steak in, and pour in the orange juice.

Sprinkle ONE of the Tablespoons of brown sugar over the ham. Once the juice starts to bubble and the ham starts to heat, flip the steak over and sprinkle with the rest of the brown sugar. Cook through until the sugar caramelizes a bit. Cut into pieces and serve.

If Thomas Keller aka Best Chef in America, aka James Beard award winner, aka Michelin star go-getta, aka king of the French Laundry, knew how I bastardized his tri tip recipe, he might kill me. Or take away my autographed cookbook, but they’ve have to pry it out of my cold dead hands!! Just look at that penmanship!

In Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home it says right in the book, ‘don’t cook tri tip for too long ‘ so of course…I put it in a crock pot for 8+ hours. HEY. Don’t judge. I’m trying to make life easier! It came out good, I promise.

ingredients:
2-1/2 lb tri tip roast
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
small pinch of cayenne
1 lemon, sliced thin
water or beef broth

I know what he’s saying. Cook it too long and it can become flavorless. But in a crock pot, slathered with spices, it works, honest. Trim the fat off the tri tip. If it doesn’t fit in the pot, cut into two or three pieces.

Mince the garlic, sprinkle with the salt and scrap at it with your knife to get a paste. Rub this into the tri tip.

In a small bowl mix together the paprika, black pepper, rosemary and cayenne. Rub that into the already garlic seasoned meat.

Slice your lemon thin and add the slices to the top of the meat. (Yes, that is a lemon, a giant one. Don’t ask.)

Down the side of the pot (not over the meat) add just enough water so that the meat sits in about 1″ of it.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

You can serve this with potatoes, rice, or I like to make little sandwiches for the kids out of it. It’s flavorful and soft – perfect tri tip. For the rest of his recipes I won’t betray the word of Thomas Keller, I swear. Well, not this week anyway.

On the weekends I like to do hearty recipes that are full of flavor and take some time…but not work. I do not feel like working for it. I’ve got better things to do on a Sunday like clean up the Legos that I’ve accidently stepped on while I curse under my breath…

These ribs are so easy to do and it’s nice to just let them cook for hours and not have to worry about it.

ingredients:
2 racks baby back ribs
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cups ketchup
1-1/2 cups water
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoon dry mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat your over to 350 degrees.

In a large oven proof pan, lay the sliced onions down. This is the same technique I use for roast chicken, it’s to basically infuse the meat the onion, as well as lift it off the bottom of the pan. If you don’t like onions, leave ‘em out, no biggie.

Cut the ribs into portions, by ones or twos is fine, they’ll be falling off the bone anyway. Lay them on top of the onions, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ketchup, water, worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, dry mustard, garlic and salt and pepper. Stir together to combine.

Pour the sauce over the ribs and the onions. Cover the pan with foil, and bake for 2 hours. Take the foil off and turn the ribs, then bake for another 45mins to an hour uncovered, depending on the size of your ribs.

Both kids (the meat eater and the cheese-atarian) both loved this dish!

Since I spent New Year’s making over 250 pounds of mochi, I haven’t had a chance (or need) to make any at home. So this bag of sweet mochi rice has just been sitting here. Staring at me. I thought a good use of it would be to make a meatball, kind of like the ones called ‘porcupines’, just think of these as Japanese PORKupines. HAW! Ok, not that funny.

ingredients:
1 cup mochi rice (soaked for 2 hours)

1 pound ground pork
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon mirin (Sweet Rice Wine“>sweet rice wine)
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
dash of pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped

Put the mochi rice in a bowl of water and let sit for 2 hours. This will soften it up and get it ready for steaming. When you start to make the meatballs, drain the rice well, and set aside.

Combine the pork and all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix together until incorporated. Form little meatballs, say 1″ balls or so, then roll them in the drained mochi rice.

Place them in a steamer and steam for approx 20-25 minutes.

The mochi rice makes these a little sticky, but very tasty!

The Baby woke up asking for BBQ for breakfast. There is no separating this kid and his meat, he must dream about it in his sleep. However 7am does not seem like the ideal time for me to get up and start smoking a brisket.

Yes, that is a picture of him when he was just a year old, going after a smoked turkey leg. His love of BBQ has only grown. Here are some of his favorite BBQ recipes and sides – a menu of what I would make for him if say, it wasn’t so early in the morning. Hm. Now I’m hungry. Maybe the Baby is on to something…

Tropical ribs for the slow cooker
Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Maple Glazed Ribs
Marinated Tri Tip
Sweet Spiced Pork Loin
Bacon and Cheese Biscuits shaped like piggies!
Sweet Cornbread Muffins
Goldfish Mac n’ Cheese
Pasta Salad with Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Sweet Potato Cupcakes

So I got this book, What Hawaii Likes to Eat. What caught my eye was a chili recipe – now it says right in the book ‘Zippy’s won’t give out their recipe, here’s our version’. Uh…yeah. This is NOTHING like Zippy’s chili, however I can tell you, it’s a good hearty chili recipe just the same.

I made a few adjustments and made it in a crock pot. I was having a party and wanted to make my life easier. And I needed to watch back episodes of the Amazing Race. I have priorities you know.

ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
2 onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 (28 oz) can stewed tomatoes
2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
1-1/2 (14.5 oz) cans kidney beans
5 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
a pinch of crushed red pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Brown meat in a large skillet. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are soft.

In a large bowl, combine the meat mixture with all the other ingredients. Stir well.

Pour into a crock pot and set on low for 4 hours.

I like to eat this over rice, topped with a little onion and cheese, but you can always serve it the way Zippy’s does – over hot dogs or burritos.

Ground chicken meatballs are pretty common in Japanese cooking. However I called mine Chicken Meatballs, What because that is what the Baby said when he discovered that I’d hidden edamame beans inside the meatballs. D’oh. It was worth a shot. Let me tell you, the Kid, LOVED them…the Baby, he feels a little betrayed right now.

ingredients:
1 pound ground chicken
1 egg
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon mirin
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup panko
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup edamame beans, shelled

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

If your edamame are still in their pods, shell them and place the beans in a small bowl, set aside for later.

In a small bowl combine the soy sauce, sugar, mirin and cornstarch.

Mix together with the ground chicken and the egg.

Add the panko and the black pepper, mixing well with your hands. Form small flat patties in your hand, and place one or two edamame beans in the middle, then seal it up to form a meatball. You shouldn’t see the beans. Shhh.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, turn over and then bake for another 10-15 until the meatballs are cooked through.

Even if you don’t want to trick your kids, just leave the beans out and these meatballs are great on their own. No trickery involved.

How has O.G. lived for so long? Eating a lot of things that are bad for you, wrapped in more things that are bad for you. As if all that ground beef wasn’t enough, she had to go and wrap it in bacon. Heart attack? Yes. But she is 88 years old, so what can I say?

ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup bread crumbs
5 slices of bacon
1 TB brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a loaf pan, I have a very cool meatloaf pan that automatically drains the meatloaf as it cooks, great especially since there is bacon in this recipe…

In a large bowl combine the beef, milk, eggs, salt, pepper and breadcrumbs. once combined, press into your loaf pan.

On top of the loaf, lay strips of bacon down. Trim or tuck in the edges on the sides. Now to go even more over the top, rub 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar into the bacon.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.

Let sit for 5 minutes, then serve.

Since the Kid has been complaining about the quality of his lunch (read here) I’ve been trying my best to change it up. I’ve been documenting what’s worked with the help of Yoda. Actually I just think it’s funny to take pictures of him lording over meatballs.

Brown Sugar Meatballs recipe, here.

*Part of a series of posts documenting the Kid’s lunch.