This recipe is for a fancy-Dan prime rib that is to-die-for. It’s gently smoked and garlicky. YUM.

I have an outdoor smoker that I love. You can check out the one I have here. I have the model 1400 and I really dig it.

One thing about the recipe below and my smoker is that I don’t have to soak the wood chips in water for use in mine. You just put the wood chips directly in the wood box — sparingly. So keep that in mind depending on what kind of smoker you’re using.

And check out the selection of prime rib here. Oh, sweet juicy goodness.

Grilled, Smoked Prime Rib
(serves six to eight)

1 5 lb. Prime Rib Roast
2 Clove Garlic minced
2 Tbsp. Ancho Chile Powder
1 Tbsp. Ground Cumin
1 Tbsp. Paprika
1 Tbsp. Oregano
1 Tbsp. Sage
Salt and Pepper
Wood chips for smoking, such as hickory, apple or cherry

Combine the spices and garlic in a bowl with the garlic, salt and pepper and mix to combine.  Coat the Prime Rib heavily and evenly and set aside until the coals are ready.  Get coals ready for grilling and soak wood chips in water, wine or apple juice for smoking.  When the coals are extremely hot, sear the roast over the hottest part of the grill evenly on all sides.  Add the wood chips to the smoker and move meat to the coolest part of the grill.  In a flat smoker, this is farther from the firebox.  In a column smoker, this is higher up from the coals.  In a separate outdoor smoker, this is at the very bottom. The ideal smoker heat and time is 300 degrees for two hours.  If you don’t have a thermometer on your smoker, continue checking the coals and/or wood chips.  Use a meat thermometer until your roast has an internal temperature of 130 degrees.  Remove from the smoker and let rest thirty minutes before slicing.

I think our steak dinner was my husband’s favorite birthday gift this weekend. The iTunes card, shirts and Wii games did not quite live up to the allure of meat on a grill.

Hey, can you blame him?

The grill really got a workout this weekend.

We like them kinda crispy on the outside sometimes.

These babies also got the Tabasco Worcestershire sauce treatment and that stuff is just as good on steaks as it is on burgers.

Needless to say, we needed a cool glass of ice water before bed that night. We had had some spicy fare. But it was all worth it.

Now, it’s back to work and real life. No more birthdayland/long-weekend days.

But . . . there is one more steak left over in the fridge to make the weekend last just a little bit longer. I might have to arm wrestle my husband for it.

Labor Day was a happy day at our house. The burgers were smoking (literally) and we swam and played all day long.

It’s these kinds of days that we live for. We’re relaxed, the kids are having fun and everything can wait until tomorrow.

Food plays a huge part in the happiness of our household. If we’re well fed, we’re a happy bunch.

If not . . . look out.

So, there are always well-laid meal plans on days like Labor Day. We make sure that’s in place and everything else just seems to work itself out.

We had a few friends over, we discussed our alma mater’s humiliating loss this weekend in football and we mostly were thankful to be gainfully employed and living in the greatest country on the planet.

We talked about our friends in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast and how we were glad most everyone left before Gustav got there.

And in their honor, we made our burgers nice and spicy with this . . .

Holy mackerel! That’s Tabasco Worcestershire sauce on the left. Yup, it’s spicy. But we’re all about keeping our Louisiana brethren in business. It’s our little way of helping out.

Then, we took those spicy burgers and put pepperjack cheese on a few of them. Yow!

Now that’s good stuff if you like ‘em hot and spicy. If you don’t, we’ll make ‘em with something a little more tame for you. We aim to please.

We were thoroughly satisfied with our great work and we patted ourselves on the back. And this was just lunch! Tomorrow, I’ll show you what we had for dinner . . .