Dads set the tone and build the context for relationships in their home.

Father’s Day is a good opportunity to reflect this tone back by making the day one for food, family, and festivity.

Report after report, study after study, and testimony after testimony, repeatedly tell society that dads live out an indispensable role in the life, health, and evolution of the man for woman, woman for man family unit. (See also here and here.)

A 2006 manual from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, for instance, declared: ‘Fathers have a direct impact on the well-being of their children.’

Fathers, the manual said, also have an ‘indirect influence on the well-being of their children, through the quality of relationships around them.’

Simply put, the quality, and type of relationship a husband has with his wife, will impact the quality and type of relationship a father has with his children.

Children with ‘involved, caring fathers’ are more likely succeed in life, having benefited from a ‘nurturing environment,’ gaining ‘emotional security, confidence, and well-balanced maturity.’

Reflecting the relationship tone back to dad on Father’s Day shouldn’t require a whole lot of messing around.

Most men love simple, and Father’s Day food is a sure way to fund a quality thank you.

Here are five hardy favourites sure to power dad’s next 365-day trip around the sun.

1. Smoked Shotgun Shells. (recipe)

Basic ingredients: mince, cannelloni pasta shells, BBQ sauce, cheese, and bacon.

Basic how-to:

Mix together the mince cheese, and a drop or two of sauce.

Stuff the mix into the pasta shells. Wrap shells in bacon. Pour over sauce. Sit for 6 hours in the fridge in order to soften the shells. Cook in an oven or wood smoker. Serve with salad.

 

2. Beef, Beer and Worcestershire Spaghetti (recipe)

Basic ingredients: Steak or mince. Worcestershire sauce. Low-carb beer. Onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, pasta, and parmesan.

Basic how to: cut steak into strips. Cook with an onion and garlic. Stir in Worcestershire, beer, and tomato paste. Cook pasta. Stir pasta into the pan with the beefed-up ingredients. Serve.

3. Armadillo Eggs (recipe) and Broccoli Slaw (recipe)

Basic ingredients: Turkey mince. Jalapenos. Lite cream cheese. Lite Cheddar. Bacon. BBQ sauce.

Basic how-to Armadillo: Hollow out the jalapenos. Mix the cream cheese and cheddar. Add into that mix cut-up bacon if desired. Stuff hollowed out jalapenos. Wrap said jalapenos in turkey mince. Coat with BBQ sauce. Wrap a slice of bacon around the turkey mince. Coat against with BBQ sauce. Cook.

Basic how-to Broccoli Slaw: Cut and grate 1kg of broccoli. Add mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, spring onion, raisins, and pine nuts.

4. BBQ Chorizo Brussel sprouts (recipe) with Jalapeno poppers (recipe)

Basic ingredients: Brussel sprouts. Chorizo.

Basic how-to: Chop Brussel sprouts in half (can semi-cook them in a pot first and smash — not essential. I don’t do it.). Slice Chorizo into pieces, cutting at an angle. Chop Chorizo pieces in half. Mix in a bowl. Then BBQ until sprouts are brown/golden.

Basic ingredients Jalapeno Poppers: Jalapenos. Lite cream cheese. Shredded Cheddar. (Bacon if desired). Garlic powder.

Basic Jalapeno popper how-to: Cut jalapenos in half, hollow out seeds. Fill with the garlic powder, bacon, shredded cheddar, and lite cream cheese mix. Bake, or wood smoke until cheese is golden brown.

5. Boursin stuffed Chicken (recipe), with Cabbage Apple Salad (recipe)

Basic ingredients — Chicken: Boursin cheese. Chicken breasts. Mozzarella. Prosciutto or thinly sliced ham. (To make the Boursin more budget-friendly, mix one together with a lite spring onion cream cheese.)

Basic Boursin how-to: Tenderise chicken breasts. Cut to desired size. Add a few spoonsful of Boursin. Sprinkle Mozzarella over the top. Wrap chicken around the Boursin. Wrap chicken in prosciutto. Bake or wood smoke.

Basic how-to — Cabbage Apple salad: Shred Cabbage. Slice apple. Mix. Add sauce made up of wholegrain mustard, honey, lemon juice. (Can add rocket, shredded carrot, yogurt and/or mayonnaise)

Enjoy these Dad Delicacies! Happy Father’s Day for all year round!

___

Photo by Kampus Production.