The Paleo Toddler Series: Homemade Lunches and Dinner

After getting together our breakfasts and snacks, it's now time to move on to the next step:  lunch and dinner.

This one is a little harder for me since we love breakfast foods in the house. Seriously, we eat breakfast for dinner every Friday, and if we can't think of something to eat, it's bacon and eggs for dinner.

After scouring my trusty Pinterest, I've posted some amazing looking meals that can double for lunch or dinner to The Paleo Toddler board.

Stock up on grassfed ground beef, turkey,

From Utah to Texas: My First Impression and Recommendations: Food

Holy crap, we did it.  4 days of traveling in a packed-to-the-brim Acura with the dog up front, and the baby, cat and myself in the back so I could tend to the kiddo.  Desert, more desert and more desert.  Stopping in to see some of my favorite people whom I met while living in Washington who are now in Albequrque. Who made us amazing Indian food and plied us with alcohol :). Then West Texas, and the return of Southern accents and huge plates of greasy, fried food.

Plano and Dallas has really changed for the better since I was stationed in Oklahoma while in the Navy

Dry-Rubbed Oven Ribs

*Disclaimer*- I am not a huge meat eater, so almost all meat recipes I concoct have to go off the approval or thumbs down from the hubs. I trust his opinion though since he can be a bit of a food snob, and we are nothing if not brutally honest with each other sometimes lol!

That said, Dustin is a huge meat and veggies guy. Like, I don't think we've had pasta or other grain besides the occasional rice in this house in a long time. We get our beef in bulk from a family farm here in Utah, called the Blue Tree Cattle Company.  While the initial investment is a bit, the actual price per pound turns out to be quite a bit cheaper than stocking up at the local supermarket, and you get quite a variety of cuts and ground beef.  

We had a large rack of ribs that I had no idea what to do with since we haven't had the time nor the weather to smoke those bad boys.  So I started doing what I always do: go to Pinterest.  I found an amazing looking crockpot recipe here, but after making the dry rub, realized I was missing about 3 of the essential ingredients. Who doesn't have ketchup in their fridge or pantry? Us, apparently.  So, I decided to just add a couple things to the dry rub to make it more Dustin friendly (spicy), and throw them in the oven.

I get a text from him at work that night...."The ribs are amazing. M really liked the one I gave him, also."  

Well okay then.  I can make some damn good ribs, check that one off the list.

Dry-Rubbed Oven Ribs

3 Tbs sea salt
3 Tbs garlic (or 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic)
1 Tbs paparika
1 Tbs thyme
1 Tbs rosemary
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs sage
1 Tbs black pepper
*optional* cayenne pepper for a little spice
dash of olive oil

Simply mix all ingredients together to create a slightly moist and crumbly rub, then lather those ribs up!  Don't be afraid that you have too much, the more flavor, the better.  

Double wrap the ribs in foil and stick them on a cookie sheet in the oven at about 265 degrees.  Let go for about 3 1/2- 4 hours until tender.  That is literally all there is to it.  Easy day.