One of my favorite things about football season is that while there is a chill in the air outside (for the most part, as even in Wisconsin we have some pretty warm weather through September) is that it’s a great time to break out the indoor smoker my wife bought me a few years ago. And while typically I make chicken wings in my Cameron Indoor Smoker, and occasionally ribs–the first two weeks of the season I went a tad healthier to honor the fact that I’m trying to lose weight.

Last week it was chicken tenders–extremely easy as I put them in the smoker frozen, sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkled with salt, pepper and other spices. The cooking time is minimal compared to the low and slow time needed to “tenderize” wings and ribs. I am pretty sure the chicken smoked for about three hours and came out perfect, albeit maybe slightly overcooked before I finished the tenders on the grill. I mixed up some homemade ranch dip by mixing light mayo, light sour cream, a splash of vinegar, onion and garlic powder and salt and pepper. Perfection.

Then yesterday I made a flank steak in the smoker. And it was made even more perfect by the fact that I was in Nashville this past weekend, and picked up some Loveless Cafe dry rub–an awesome sweet, spicy and savory blend to rub on meat before grilling or smoking it. I had the steak in the freezer, so also put that right in the smoker frozen and rubbed it generously with the spice mix. Then I smoked it for about four hours until tender and slapped it on the grill for about five minutes. Done deal: meat snacks! It’s like homemade jerky, but more like a combination of thick steak and jerky that is nicely smoked and seasoned.

Maybe one of these days we will convince Trader Joe’s to advertise here, because I’m about to pimp them again. Seriously, even though it’s a good 20 minute drive from our house, we do most of our grocery shopping there. Their prices are great, they have cool and unique products and they get you in and out (plenty of cashiers and baggers) quickly. Some of their items that we go out of our way for from Trader Joe’s are the Greek yogurt (thick and tasty), whole grain bread with no additives or junk, and my personal favorite–pizza dough. Now, they have whole wheat dough, and an herb dough. But there is nothing quite like the plain white one. And if you, like me, have ever gone on a wild goose chase for a ball of pizza dough, you might bookmark this thought–the one that says Trader Joe’s has amazing pizza dough.

Anyway, if you do grab a ball (heh heh, he said grab a ball…I digress), here is how I make perfect pizza every time……preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Wipe a work surface clean, and then spread it with some white flour. Place the dough down and turn it over a few times to coat with flour, and flour a rolling pin. Roll the dough, adding more flour to prevent sticking to rolling pin and surface (this also makes the dough more elastic). Do this as far as you can in every direction to wind up with a round, thin crust. Grab a pizza pan and place dough on it. I like to use a 14 inch pan, rolling up the ends to make them thick.

Grab a can of pizza sauce (or use spaghetti sauce), and pour a small amount on the dough. Spread it with a spoon, adding more as needed to cover the dough, but not necessarily cover it all the way…there should be red swirls all the way around, with plenty of white space too, if that makes sense. For the cheese, I like to grab some shredded mozzarella and put that in a bowl. Then I shred some sharp cheddar and add that to the mozzarella, then add some grated Parmesan to that. The ratio should be something like 60-30-10. Spread that around the pie, but like with the sauce, don’t over-do the cheese (unless you like it that way). Finally, sprinkle with a dash of dried oregano.

Place the pie in the oven, and bake, rotating clockwise every 4-5 minutes to bake it evenly, a total of about 12-15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly, turning brown but not too brown. Remove, slice with a pizza cutter and enjoy. I know it’s perfect when I hear that “thwap!” as I’m cutting it, meaning my dough is thin and beautifully crispy. Man, I’m hungry! Anyway, enjoy and let me know if you have a chance to try this out.

Man, I could go for a steak right now. This morning, Men’s Health e-mailed me a copy of an article they published two years ago about man food, and it starts with this positively mouth-watering photo of a bone-in ribeye.

I think I’m feeling faint. Iron deficient. Yeah, I need to fire up the grill soon….if not today, then this weekend. Anyway, the article goes on to list other favorite guy foods that they found across the US such as meaty chili and lobster rolls.

And hey, in case you forgot, I posted this easy set of grilling tips a while back for the perfect steak dinner during grill season. Now what are you waiting for?

I haven’t tried a single recipe from the book I’m about to recommend to you, but I know enough about cooking and food to know good recipes when I see them. This book, Recipes Every Man Should Know,written by Susan Russo and Brett Cohen, and released on Quirk Books, is a small, hardcover black book that a guy could literally carry around in his pocket.

The book contains simple, honest and real recipes that are laid out easily and have no crazy ingredients. It’s man food, and a good primer for any novice or intermediate cooks. The book is broken down into hearty breakfast classics; sandwiches, burgers & snacks; meat & potato dinners; bacon, beer & bar food; and chocolate, cheesecake & more. Seriously–there is an entire chapter dedicated to recipes with beer and bacon. I, for one, cannot wait to try the bacon-wrapped meatloaf and beef and beer chili. Yum.

The book also has recipes as basic as how to cook an egg, something that you can’t find in just any cookbook.

And the two authors are credible–with Russo writing for Food Blogga and being a contributor to Kitchen Window on NPR; and Cohen is the author of Stuff Every Man Should Know.

Okay, it wasn’t exactly a lazy Saturday but I was at home writing this past Saturday around noon, and my wife called to say she was on her way home from running some errands with our 3-year old in tow. And that she was hungry. Now, we have both been watching what we eat more often than we’d like to be, but I had gone grocery shopping and shopped when I was hungry. That mean I bought lots of bad stuff….i.e. good stuff. So I asked her….”no restrictions on lunch?” She said, to my delight, “No restrictions.”

So I whipped up my own version of a a sandwich I had read about somewhere else. I took two perfect sub rolls and cut them in half. I sliced up some red pepper and some onion and fried them in olive oil for about 10 minutes on medium low so they would start to caramelize. I took some white American cheese and put slices down on the bottom half of the rolls. I slid the peppers and onions over and added about six thin slices of maple ham to the pan and fried them until brown but not so well-done that they were like bacon (not that there is anything wrong with bacon, but we wanted softer ham for this). I put the ham on top of the cheese on each bun.

Then I sprayed another nonstick pan with cooking spray and when it was hot, cracked four eggs into the pan. I flipped the eggs gently after the white started to set, and then removed from heat after about 30 more seconds.

Then I put some peppers and onions on each bun, and topped each with two eggs, still intact, and broke each yolk onto the sandwich. I think my wife’s words were, “This is f–king delicious.” Yeah, no rules, just good food. We were not hungover, but I believe this would be a monster sandwich to eat when hung over. Or just if you’re really, really hungry for lunch or even breakfast. Or late at night…or hey, anytime!

Note: We were so hungry that we forgot to take a photo, so the one above is a replacement until we make these kickass sandwiches again.