Outback Steakhouse – Joplin, MO

Sunday morning when we got up, Tbug, hubby and I decided to go over to my parents to ride horses.  A lovely crisp Sunday morning….

Let’s just say my feet got a little LOT cold.  In fact, I was sitting on the fence for a little bit and when I got down to jump on the back of a horse I about fell because I couldn’t feel my feet.  So after horses were unsaddled and put away Tbug and I went and laid on the floor with our feet next to the fire place.

When we got done riding we decided that it was lunch time and Tbug we were all hungry.  After debating for a while we decided upon Outback Steakhouse.  So we all loaded up and headed for Outback.

While we were looking at our menu’s to decide what we wanted to eat they brought us bread.  Heck, that’s the fast trip to my food lovin’ heart!  Luckily they brought 2 pieces to begin with because Tbug and I ate probably a loaf between just us.

Hubby and dad did the lunch combo (btw, they only serve lunch on weekends, just FYI).  Part of hubby’s combo included soup.  He went with the Clam chowder.  I didn’t try any, I wasn’t quite sure I could muster up the courage to try it.  Hubby said it was REALLY good.  I’ll take his word for it.

I went with a combo as well and dad’s side along with my side of our combo’s were a salad with Ranch.  Ok truthfully, this salad, the dressing, the croutons are what dreams are made of. haha.  No truthfully this salad is what takes me to Outback.  I really like this salad.  I’m not sure if it is the croutons or if it is the dressing or what, but their salads are really good.  This coming from the girl who used to think a salad consisted of ranch dressing, cheese and croutons.

After our salads/soup were finished, dad and Tbug played tic tac toe.  The cat won a lot of games sadly.

Tbug ordered the kids ribs with a side of french fries.  This kid is the messiest of rib eaters.  She said they were good and ate every last bit of them.  She added pepper to her fries and I must admit that’s a really good addition.

So dad and hubby went for the combo, the other portion of their combo was the Outback Burger.

The Outback Burger
Topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and mustard.

Now hubs is funny because when he gets burger’s he’ll do the ketchup but he doesn’t like tomatoes.  A lot of people can’t understand that but ketchup is cooked, tomatoes aren’t.  I stole a bite of his burger and I must say it was good.  They both went for a well done burger which I generally don’t do but it was good.

One of my absolute favorite things at Outback is the Alice Springs Chicken.  Chicken, bacon, cheese, what’s not to love!  So the first time I saw the Alice Springs Chicken in a quesadilla form I was sold.

Alice Springs Chicken Quesadilla
A bold twist on a classic.  We stuffed ours with our freshest grilled chicken breast, sauteed mushrooms, crispy bacon, melted cheese and our honey mustard sauce.

I actually don’t eat the sauce so I have no idea what the sauce tastes like, but the quesadilla or the chicken itself.  Totally would recommend it.  You have no idea how good it is.  In fact, I want to go there now and eat these again, no joke.

So we decided to go for dessert this time around after we looked through the dessert menu.  While we were waiting Tbug decided that we were going to play “rummy” with the coasters.

During our waiting time we saw the dessert menu and saw a photo of this Chocolate Thunder from Down Under.

Chocolate Thunder from Down Under
An extra generous pecan brownie is topped with our rich vanilla ice cream, drizzled with our warm chocolate sauce and finished with chocolate shavings and whipped cream.

Brownie, good.  ice cream, good. chocolate sauce, gooooood.  We got one and split it between the 4 of us, but Tbug wound up finishing it off.  I must say, the calories were totally worth it right then :).

Oh, and one last thing I found that just seemed really cool to me so I had to share… my friend Earl’s daughter Moo has to eat gluten free.  We’ve all been learning about gluten free because of this, but while I was on their website, they have a gluten free menu.  Interesting right!?!?