Remember when ABC News broke that "pink slime" story, revealing the super-gross, cheap ground-beef filler that was being used by Beef Products Inc., a giant meat processor?

Well now BPI is suing for $1.2 billion, claiming ABS used "false and misleading and defamatory" statements.

Yeah! It's not gross! C'mon guys, we've been using this stuff for years to thicken-up our ground beef! It's totally fine!

The makers of the now infamous "pink slime" went on to say that it's not slime at all but rather "lean, finely textured beef."

Ohhhhhhh...our bad. Sorry for thinking that your beef trimmings that are heated, spun in a centrifuge and then sprayed with ammonia before being added back to your meat bricks, were gross and worthy of the moniker "pink slime."

Yo Mammas Country Cookin' gets an enthusiastic two thumbs up from us.

We just had lunch here and it was amazing—it met all my suther’n expectations. Co-owner Lisa Maraschiello, who hails from the hills of western North Carolina, clearly knows the ways of traditional Dixie dishes. Unlike most traditional southern staples, however, Yo Mamma's fixin's feature local ingredients and touch of Northwest flare.

Homemade biscuits and gravy seemed to be the signature dish so I ordered the “Old Timer” which was a made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuit, house ground pork shoulder, sawmill gravy with a local fried egg on top—all for $6. The gravy was money. It tasted fatty and delicious and not all synthetic and Sysco-y. The egg on top really pulled the dish together. Did I mention it was only $6 AMERICAN DOLLARS! It was a lot of damn food for six bucks.

Here's your Friday how to. You can thank us later. Like after you've maximized the true square footage of the tiny ketchup condiment cups. Happy fry-dunking y'all.

Read about this mind-blowing nugget of information on Eli Ayrouth's Foodbeast blog. Apparently you just pull the upper ring out to fan the cup into a LARGER cup. Who knew? Ayrouth's friend, the one who passed on this genius tip, that's who.

the old/wrong way:

the new/right way:

It's hot, we're both tired and we still have 2-plus hours of driving left. While the Madras taco options are plentiful, caffeine and snack spots have been scarce. Until now!

Great Earth Natural Foods, situated on D St. on the southbound section of Hwy 97, basically saved our lives this weekend. Tasty and budget-oriented (iced Americano and oatmeal, golden raisin and sunflower seed cookie for $3.15).

The cafe/natural food grocer bakes cookies and savory treats, builds sandwiches like "The Dakota" (turkey breast, havarti herb cheese, mayo, lettuce and tomato on harvest seed bread) on house-baked bread and slings the kinds of wine, soda and snacks you'd normally find at Natures or Whole Foods. Impressive—especially so for a town better know for its carnitas than its cafe au lait.

The grocery portion of Great Earth was stocked with rows of wines, snack foods and other various sundries—a good option when you realize that you forgot to stop at Trader Joe's on the way out of town. 

It’s the day after a big BBQ, and there are two issues. First, after too much meat, and heavy food in general, something light is the order of the day. The other issue is that almost everyone ate too much meat, so there is quite a bit of left over corn on the cob. What to do? I have the perfect solution, and it’s called succotash.

Succotash is an ‘old school’ side dish, traditionally made with corn and lima beans or other shelled beans. Knowing that most people do not like lima beans, I prefer fava beans or edamame. For this recipe, I am also using items that are in season, namely fava beans, English peas and garlic shoots, to go with the corn.

Preparing the dish couldn’t be simpler. Begin by boiling salted water. Remove the peas and beans from their shells, and set aside. The shells are tough, and not tasty, so into the compost they go.

Blanch the garlic shoots for about two minutes, and remove to cool. While cooling, cut the shoots into pieces about the size of the fava beans. The beans will take about one minute of blanching, and the peas, about 30 seconds. After blanching, run each under cold water to stop the cooking.

The beans will need to be removed from another layer of shell, but the blanching process makes it easy. Tear it a bit, and simply squeeze the bean. It'll pop right out.

To celebrate the recent start of my food blog, CulinarilyMinded.com, my family and I decided to eat especially well. The menu for the occasion came mostly from the grill and focused on what’s local. Our centerpiece, and showstopper, was a six and a half pound ribeye roast from Pono Farm. Accompanying this majestic piece cut of beef, was grilled garlic shoots, fennel, and scallions from the valley, Good Earth Farm kale with Pono Farm hog jowl bacon, and salad with Good Earth Farms lettuce and carrots (and their greens! Yes, I eat carrot tops.) which was dressed with Navidi’s olive oil and balsamic.

            A piece of meat this wonderful could not simply be salted and thrown on the grill, only to be drenched in sauce. What was needed here was a nice rub of grey sea salt, black pepper, and za’atar. Za’atar is a spice blend consisting of sumac, sesame seeds, cumin, thyme, Greek oregano and marjoram and can be found at the Savory Spice shop.

            The coals in the grill were piled high on one side, and the ribeye received a nice, but relatively quick sear. After each side got its 2-3 minutes, I slid it to the other side of the grill and went to indirect heat mode. After adding some more charcoal to the fire, and a branch of thyme on top of the ribeye, I let it go for the almost an hour and a half. During this time I turned it periodically, but I did little else.

            About five minutes before I removed it, I brushed it liberally with chimichurri, an Argentinean herb sauce, which added tang and herbal depth without covering the flavor of the meat. We served it with a nice Spanish Tempranillo, but you could use any full-bodied red wine, and called it dinner.

I am still reeling from the amazing weekend and Top Chef Competition. What presented itself as a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of the finest local chefs and food quickly turned into much more. As one of the emcees for the Top Chef competition, this writer had the privilege of witnessing all the excitement, behind the scenes and on stage, and even had the opportunity to be part of the fun.

The excitement began early as the threat of rain loomed, the stage did not want to cooperate and the set-up crew scrambled to begin things on time. Events truly began to turn crazy as the program was just moments from beginning when it was noticed that Tetherow Grill, one of the competing restaurants, did not have its chef present for the opening round battle.

“Joe, you’re going to have to go on,” was all that I remember hearing.

“Well, of course I’m going to have to go on, I am one of the emcees. Now, let’s do this,” was my response. But, I knew what was going on. I was going to have to compete in the opening battle. I had no knives, no equipment, and no help. In short, I wasn’t exactly ready to go up and participate in this battle against Mt. Bachelor.

This very well could be one of the best live music events in Bend that you haven't heard about. . Every year, new and popular local bands take the stage . This year, Throw Like A Girl and Buck and The Digs will be up first. But what is local music without food venders surrounding the music? Portello's, Pisano's, Thai Thai, and more will all be there. On top of everything, all this is a benefit for F.A.N (Family Access Network). If you'll be out of town for this one, don't worry because there are two more after, including The Quons and Downhill Ryder on July 17th and Bo Reynolds & Deb Yeager and Rob Fincham August 21st. Start off your summer under the sun with some excellent music and tasty food to enjoy. Twilight Tunes #1 begins at 6pm on Tuesday the 19th at Compass Park in NW Crossing. If grass isn't you're choice of comfort, feel free to bring blankets and lawn chairs. Throw Like A Girl will be first on the stage.

It's been awhile—longer than owner/chef Tim Garling would have liked.

But after the usual number of setbacks and delays associated with new construction, the Jackalope Grill is close to opening its doors downtown. Garling expects his Pacific Northwest haute cuisine restaurant to be open for business by the last week of June.

Situated on Lava Rd., next door to Visit Bend, Tim and Kathy Garling’s new spot should attract more foot traffic than did their previous location on S.E. Third St. Garling says that business has been slow and he assumes it’s because most folks are under the impression that Jackalope is closed. Not true. The restaurant, which for years has sourced seasonal, local and organic ingredients, will continue to operate from its eastside location until June 15.

Once out, the actual move shouldn’t take more than a week or two. Garling, for one, is excited about the new spot. Among the highlights at the new downtown location is a full bar with bar seating and an outdoor patio that will seat 40. The downtown location will be intimate, a must for Garling who was professionally trained in France, and is very close in size to the old spot.

Garling also plans to have a bar menu with small plate items priced at $10 and under. 

It's getting easier and easier to find local food and I'm not just talking about CSAs.

Two locally grown food-related organizations are launching parallel campaigns that aim to connect food buyer with local producer.

Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council is launching a new campaign called "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" that should make it easy for people to tell what food at a business is locally produced.

Buy Fresh, Buy Local will also put out a directory. So, if you are looking for goat meat or locally grown basil, you can look it up in the directory and know which grocery stores and restaurants are selling that thing.