Grilled Pork Ribs

I just love to grill in the summer.  It does have its downsides being in Phoenix and standing outside in the roasting heat over a hot grill, but it creates significantly less dirty dishes and doesn't heat up my kitchen by using the oven.  Plus we have a pool, so a lot of times whomever is grilling will take pool breaks or just hang out in the pool while dinner cooks.  It's a pretty sweet system.

I've always been a fan of boneless ribs.  Gnawing on ribs with the bones in them has always seemed gross and honestly a little barbaric to me.  although for a lot of years I wouldn't even eat meat with bones in it because it reminded me that it once was walking around.  Can you tell I lived with vegetarians in college?  I don't think I had my first buffalo wing until I was in my mid-20s.  I've gotten over it now, but I still won't eat bone-in ribs.  Recently boneless ribs were on sale for a super good price, so I bought a package of them planning on grilling them.  I wasn't really sure how to grill them, if I just threw them on there or what, so a little Googling directed me to a brine recipe, and I ran with it.  My uncle makes really fantastic grilled ribs, but I knew I'd need ingredients I didn't have, and I try to limit grocery store trips in the summer since I have to drag both kids with me.  This was also my first attempt at a brine, so I was pretty excited to try it out.

Grilled Boneless Pork Ribs

1 cup water
1/4 salt
1 T. sugar
3 pounds boneless country style pork ribs

In a gallon Ziploc bag, combine water, salt, and sugar.  Add in ribs, squeeze out excess air, and let sit for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Preheat your grill for indirect heat grilling (is that the right phrase?).  My grill has four burners, I turned on all four to heat it up, then reduced the middle two super low.  Lay ribs in the middle of the grill and cook for 10 minutes.  Flip them over and grill another 10.  Their internal temperature should be 145 degrees.  Remove from grill and serve with your favorite barbecue sauce (or make your own if you're an overachiever like me).

*****

I really had no idea how this was going to turn out.  I'll be honest--I had visions of dried out, tough, inedible ribs, and I was working on a back up dinner plan in the back of my head the whole time.  My original plan had been to only cook about half the package of ribs, but Boy #2 was helping me make dinner, and he said we should do all of them so there'd be leftovers.  Thankfully he's a lot more optimistic than his mama because I didn't know if we should plan on leftovers in case they were awful.

These turned out AMAZING.  I don't know why I doubted myself.  Normally my go-to method of cooking boneless ribs is throwing them in the crockpot with a sweet and sour barbecue sauce that's my great aunt's recipe, but this may very well be my new go to.  It was a huge hit with my family.  There were leftovers but not many.  They were good on their own, they were good with the barbecue sauce (although my kids preferred them without the sauce, the husband and I were torn on which was better).  This was an all around winner!!

 My grill could maybe use a cleaning.

 I tried to make this one a little scenic.  See my failing garden in the background?  Those green things are my sad basil plants that are the only remnant of what I had hoped to be a successful summer garden.

Grilled Mac and Cheese with Pulled Pork Panini

I know, crazy huh?! I've mentioned my love of the Panini Happy blog before. Awhile back I was at the grocery store and saw the Food Network magazine at the checkout stand. On the cover was a panini with macaroni and cheese and pulled pork. Holy yummy, Batman!! I made a mental note to look up the recipe online. Then a couple days later I got an email from the Panini Happy blog that this recipe was her latest post!! It was meant to be. Recently pork loin roasts were on sale, so I grabbed one with the sole intention of making this sandwich for the husband and me to try. We had pulled pork for dinner on a Thursday, Friday night I made Pioneer Woman's mac and cheese for my kiddos then after they went to bed the husband and I had these sandwiches. Efficient use of food, huh?

Grilled Mac and Cheese with Pulled Pork Panini
Source: Food Network magazine and PaniniHappy.com

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
4 cups prepared macaroni and cheese, warmed
2 onions, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup barbecue sauce
2 cups prepared pulled pork
8 slices sourdough bread
12 slices sharp cheddar cheese (about 6 ounces)

Spread the macaroni and cheese in an 8-inch-square baking dish to about 3/4 inch thick. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 45 minutes. Cut the macaroni and cheese into squares that are slightly smaller than the bread slices.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until caramelized, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine the barbecue sauce and pulled pork in a saucepan over low heat and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes.

Preheat the panini grill to medium-high heat.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and brush on one side of each bread slice. Flip over half of the bread slices; layer 1 slice of cheddar, 1 macaroni-and-cheese square and another slice of cheddar on each. Top each with one-quarter of the pulled pork and caramelized onions and another slice of cheddar. Top with the remaining bread slices, buttered-side up.
Working in batches, cook the sandwiches until the cheese melts and the bread is golden, about 5 minutes.

*****

This sandwich was FILLING. I couldn't even eat half of mine. My only complaint was that my pork could have been saucier, but that was my fault, not the recipe's. This was awesome cheesy yummy goodness. A diet buster for sure, but awesome. If you make it, make sure you use a sturdy bread because this is a monster sandwich. And it's not for the carb-shy. Decadent for sure. Mmmm...now I want to make it again saucier and see if it really does make a difference.

I could only fit one on my panini press at a time.

Look at that gooey cheesy macaroni goodness spilling out...

See, definitely needs more sauce.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

So much for my return to blogging earlier this week...I caught the stomach bug my kiddos had and somehow the idea of making and eating the Thai chicken basil stir-fry I had slated for Monday was not at all appealing on Monday. The boy has swim lessons at 5:00 this week, and Tuesday and Wednesday night make it kind of rough since I have a Bible study group each of those nights. Last night we had crockpot bean burritos, and tonight I had planned a crockpot chicken and dumplings recipe, but upon reviewing it this morning I realized it wasn't going to work because the dumplings have to be added in the last 30 minutes of cooking, and I don't want to stick the husband with that responsiblity. So I did some quick searching and found a barbecue pulled chicken recipe I'm going to make instead.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
RecipeZaar Recipe #242547

Ingredients
1 medium onion, thinly sliced or 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Sauce
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 pinch salt

Cut the onion in half and slice into thin half rings. Line the bottom of the crock pot with the onions. Trim the chicken breasts and place on top of the bed of onions. Mix all of the sauce ingredients together and pour on top of the chicken covering completely. Cook for 6 hours on low setting. The sauce thickens and turns into a dark rich brown during cooking. At the same time the onions dissolve into the sauce. When the chicken is falling apart tender, take two forks and shred the chicken.

Serve on top of split buns.

*****

To keep this simple I think we're just going to have some frozen fries along with it (assuming the husband is up to tossing those in the oven for me), some kind of vegetable, and a salad.

*****

Okay, never mind...I now have no idea what we're going to have for dinner because the crack in my crockpot insert has gotten worse, to the point where I can't even use it now. I'm so very, very, very, very annoyed. I do have another crockpot, but it's still packed and 1) the idea of rummaging through boxes in my garage to find it when it's 105 outside is soooo not appealing to me, and 2) it's really too late to start cooking this anyway for it to be done on time for all of us to eat.

Some weeks (like this one) I wonder why I even bother meal planning at all...

Brisket Pizza

Like I mentioned in the original Brisketfest post, the idea for Brisketfest stemmed from an episode of Man Vs. Food where Adam had a brisket pizza in San Antonio. So of course a brisket pizza needed to be one of the things I made with some of the leftovers. The husband's dad came to visit for some hockey playoff games, so we had brisket pizza while he was here. I didn't really have a set recipe in mind, but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Brisket Pizza

1 recipe homemade pizza crust
2 cups barbecue sauce (I used my leftover Rick Bayless barbecue sauce)
shredded brisket
shredded mozzarella or pizza blend cheese

Prepare pizza dough according to recipe. Top with barbecue sauce spread evenly over crust. Spread shredded brisket on top of the sauce, covering completely. Top with cheese. Bake at 450 for approximately 15 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.

*****

The only thing I think I'd change would be to mix a bit of barbecue sauce into the meat, but everyone else thought it was fine as it was. This was a great new pizza and like the brisket tostadas, something I'd make again without hesitation if I had leftover brisket!!

Rick Bayless Barbecue Sauce

I think it's really hard to find a reasonably priced bottled barbecue sauce that doesn't have a bunch of unnecessary junk in it like high fructose corn syrup. I've made my own in the past a few times but wasn't ever super impressed with any of the recipes I tried. So I was beyond delighted to see this recipe in the Rick and Lanie cookbook.

Hickory House Barbecue Sauce
Copyright 2004, Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures

2 garlic cloves
1 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp vinegar (cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar)
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp barbecue spice (recipe below) or chili powder
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Salt

Peel garlic and crush through galic press into a small saucepan. Add all the remaining ingredients and 3/4 cup water. Simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Taste and season with salt if you think necessary. The sauce is ready to use. It can be stored, refrigerated in a sealed jar, for up to a month.

Barbecue Spice

2 large garlic cloves
1/4 cup plain ground chile or paprika
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dried oregano (preferably Mexican oregano)
1 tsp dried thyme
4 tsp salt

Peel garlic and crush through garlic press into a small bowl. add remaining ingredients. Stir, making sure to thoroughly mix in garlic. If not using right away, store in small jar in refrigerator up to 1 month.

*****

Wowee, wow, wow!! This is definitely some of the best barbecue sauce I have ever had!! It had just a hint of spice from the chile powder and was a great consistency--not too thick, not too thin. Once again, Rick Bayless totally rocked it!

Barbecue spice mix:


Finished barbecue sauce (after I'd taken what I needed for the baked beans):

Rick Bayless Barbecue Baked Beans

Late last year I checked out a cookbook from the library written by Rick Bayless and his daughter Lanie, Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventure. I loved what I saw when I flipped through it, and I ended up buying it on Amazon for $10. Pretty good deal I thought! It's not just Mexican recipes like most of his cookbooks, it covers other ethnic cuisines from places they have traveled as a family--Spain, Morocco, France, Thailand--and recipes from the barbecue restaurant Rick's family had when he was growing up. I'm so glad I thought of that section when I was looking for recipes to make for Brisketfest 2010.

Hickory House Barbecue Baked Beans
Copyright 2004, Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures

1/2 large green or red bell pepper, cut in small pieces
Two 15-ounce cans pinto beans or navy beans, drained and rinsed (or 3 to 3-1/2 cups home-cooked pinto or navy beans well seasoned with salt)
1 cup barbecue sauce, store bought or homemade
1/2 cup water or bean cooking liquid if using home-cooked beans
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 375.

In an 8-inch square baking pan, mix together everything except Worcestershire sauce. Stir well to dissolve sugar completely. Dribble Worcestershire over top. Bake until slightly thickened, glazed and browned on top, and bubbling vigorously around the edges, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool slightly before serving.

*****

I have never been a fan of baked beans, except for a recipe my friend Rebecca makes that has bacon and bacon drippings in it. Who wouldn't like that?! Okay, maybe a vegetarian, but even then I think they'd secretly enjoy it (if they weren't getting sick from it). I figured I have yet to be disappointed by a Rick Bayless recipe, so I was hoping this would turn me on to baked beans.

Man alive, did it ever!! These beans are amazing--so easy to put together, so full of taste and flavor. Yum!! I much prefer making these from just plain pinto beans instead of doctoring up a can of baked beans. This is definitely my go-to baked beans recipe now, and I may even start putting it in my meal plans as a side dish!

Beans ready to be thrown into oven (or gently placed, rather, so they didn't spill everywhere):


Finished product...sorry it's so blurry!

Brisketfest 2010

Recently the husband and I were watching Man Vs. Food on the Travel Channel and saw an episode where Adam was in San Antonio (interestingly enough that's where my in-laws live) and ate a brisket pizza. We were both intrigued and set about trying to find a brisket, which aren't very easy to come by in Phoenix. My mom was in Kansas City recently and found brisket at Costco and bought one and brought it home on the plane. The idea of Brisketfest was born. Our friend Steve used to work in a BBQ joint in Texas and makes an amazing brisket. he and I used to work together, and he'd occasionally bring a brisket in to work to share with all of us, and it was so freakin' good. We brought Steve into the Brisketfest mix, and he ended up buying a nine pound Wagyu Beef brisket. It's basically a kobe beef brisket. It was decided that he would smoke his, and I'd cook the one my mom got, and we'd all feast here.

I've never cooked a brisket before, but I remembered that Pioneer Woman had a recipe on her website, so I decided that's the one I'd make. It was really easy which I liked since I was already a little intimidated going up against Steve the BBQ-master!

Instead of pasting PW's recipe, I'll just give you the link to her page on it. Then you can see all her awesome pictures, too.

Pioneer Woman's Brisket

It was really good, although I was a bit concerned when I took the pan out of the fridge to put it in the oven and discovered the marindade was gelatinous which kind of grossed me out. Who am I kidding...it really grossed me out. But I put it in the oven anyway, and was so pleased with the results!! I think I calculated mine would need roughly three hours, but it ended up needing quite a bit more, I'd say it was at least 30 or 40 minutes until it was fork tender and separated easily.

I don't think it really compared to Steve's, but for my first attempt it was pretty darn good. I also made some Rick Bayless recipes to go along with the brisket, but thsoe will be in their own posts. Did you know his family owned a barbecue joint while he was growing up? What can't that man do?! Back to brisket, I don't know what Steve did to his brisket but it was pretty darn amazing. Of course his could have had a lot to do with the grade of meat he was using.

Brisketfest ended up being quite the feast. Two briskets, homemade barbecue sauce, homemade baked beans, cornbread, potato salad, coleslaw, and of course Shiner Bock beer in honor of our Texas dinner. My mom made the potato salad (red potatoes, ranch dressing, and bacon...yum!) and coleslaw (it had pineapple in it...I need to get the recipe from her because it was really good and a cool twist on coleslaw).

Brisket in its marinade:


See what I mean about gelatinous? Kind of gross.


Steve's brisket (I wish I could stick a fork in my computer screen and eat some more of it):


My brisket:


My Brisketfest 2010 plate:

Barbecue Macaroni Salad

Another friend of mine had a baby recently, and I took them dinner Monday night. I wanted something easy because we were supposed to have our Bible Study group here at 6:30. I had bought a pork loin roast last week and hadn't run it through my Food Saver yet, so I figured I'd throw that in the crockpot for pulled pork sandwiches and kill two birds with one stone. Actually more than two birds since 1) I didn't have to Food Saver the pork, 2) it gave me dinner for my friend, and 3) it gave us a dinner that would be finished on time. I wanted something easy to go with it that I could make ahead of time and would make enough for us and to take to my friend. This macaroni salad recipe was in the Cook's Illustrated I bought on Saturday, and it sounded interesting and worth trying.


BBQ Macaroni Salad
From Cook's Illustrated Summer Grilling

1 lb elbow macaroni
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped fine
1 celery rib, chopped fine
4 scallions, sliced thin
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
salt & fresh ground pepper

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and macaroni and cook until nearly tender, about 5 minutes. Drain in colander and rinse with cold water until cool, then drain once more, briefly, so that pasta is still moist; transfer to large bowl. Stir in bell pepper, celery, scallions, vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper, and let sit until flavors are absorbed, about 2 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise and barbecue sauce and let sit until salad is no longer watery, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve. (The salad can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Check seasonings before serving.).

*****

I was a bit apprehensive about how this would turn out, but it was pretty tasty. I realized when posting this that I used a tablespoon of chili powder instead of a teaspoon, so mine had a bit more kick to it than it normally would have. I kind of liked it that way, though. I'd maybe cut back on it a little if I was taking it somewhere, but I think just a teaspoon might not be quite enough. I used organic whole wheat macaroni for the pasta and a yellow pepper instead of red. I would definitely make this again. It came together really fast and the taste was unique for a macaroni salad.

Sweet and Sour Ribs

How did it get to be Sunday afternoon already?! The boy is down for his nap, the husband is sleeping on the couch (which kind of sucks since there are dishes to be done in the kitchen), and I'm trying to get the baby down for a nap. Once nap time is done, I'm going for a pedi and then grocery shopping. My feet can use some pampering, and I was virtually a single parent the past two days, so the husband said he'd treat me. Excellent (said in Monty-Burns-esque voice). I'm trying to get back in the habit of using coupons when I grocery shop, so we'll see how I do today. There's lots of stuff on sale that I have coupons for, so I'm hoping to save more than I spend...I love when that happens!

Anyway, dinner is already cooking away in the crockpot, which I love. Who doesn't love crockpots?! Did I ever mention how I stood coveting the All Clad Slow Cooker at Sur La Table a couple weeks ago? Man, would I ever love to have that grace the presence of my kitchen. I was pretty tempted to treat myself to it, but in the end I just couldn't justify it. Someday.

I still had some boneless pork ribs in the freezer, and I was trying to use up stuff I had on hand this past week because both of my freezers were ridiculously full. This is one of our favorite dinners, so the stars all seemed to align.

Sweet and Sour Ribs
1 can Contadina sweet and sour sauce
1 cup barbecue sauce
Dash of soy sauce
3 T. brown sugar
Boneless ribs

Cut fat from ribs and boil 10 minutes. Mix first four ingredients together. Place ribs in crockpot and pour sauce over to coat. Cook six hours on low. Or, place ribs in baking dish, pour sauce over ribs, and bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes, cover and bake for 40 more minutes.

*****

I can never find the Contadina sweet and sour sauce, so I make due with something else. usually I get the Kikkoman bottle, but I compared the ingredients of that to the ingredients in the La Choy bottle, and I liked the La Choy ingredients a lot better. I don't remember why exactly. I forgot to put the soy sauce in, so I'll throw some of that in when I go back downstairs. For side dishes I'm going to make macaroni and cheese, some kind of vegetable, and corn bread. Yum!

Sweet and Sour Ribs

Ah, the start of a new year. I know it's five days in, but the husband is back at work, and now it's back to the daily grind. I have big plans for 2009, we'll see if any of them happen. Not really big plans, plans for things I want to start doing around the house. My friend Kelly has a blog for getting organized, so I'm hoping to implement some of her ideas to get things in order around my house. I need to formalize my plan, though, otherwise it won't ever happen. When I first started staying home I made a schedule for myself of what laundry got done on what day (I swear I do laundry every freakin' day) and what chores happened on one day. Then I started slacking. I figure with two kids I need to get back in the habit of being organized, and I want a clean house again. Now that baby stuff is everywhere, the clutter is driving me crazy. So one of the things on my list for today is to work up a schedule.

But, since I am a first class procrastinator, I thought I'd update the blog with tonight's dinner. This was on my to do list for today, so I guess I'm not really slacking. :)

So, sweet and sour ribs. I used to make this all the time, and it was one of our most favorite dinners. What's that you say...don't remember seeing this on my blog before? Well, you probably haven't. I haven't made it in years because for some reason grocery stores stopped having boneless ribs on sale. And I'm entirely too cheap to pay full price for them, even though we love this recipe. I was at Costco last week (by myself!! What a treat!) and walked past the meat section to see what their prices on various things were. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw boneless pork ribs for $1.89 a pound. Lordy mama...I was so excited!! I even called my mom to tell her. I have to share when I get excited, what can I say. I'm so excited we can start having this on a regular basis again. I heart crock pot dinners because it minimizes the craziness of getting things together at dinnertime. I had a minor panic attack when looking for the recipe because it wasn't in my recipe folder like I thought it would be. Then I thought, "Maybe I actually filed it away in my recipe box." Sure enough...there it was! Crisis averted. Not really--I could have just called my mom and gotten the recipe from her.

Sweet and Sour Ribs
1 can Contadina sweet and sour sauce
1 cup barbecue sauce
Dash of soy sauce
3 T. brown sugar
Boneless ribs

Cut fat from ribs and boil 10 minutes. Mix first four ingredients together. Place ribs in crockpot and pour sauce over to coat. Cook six hours on low. Or, place ribs in baking dish, pour sauce over ribs, and bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes, cover and bake for 40 more minutes.

*****

My crockpot cooking time is estimated, but I'm pretty sure six hours on low is right. I remember coming home at lunch one day when I worked to put them in the crockpot, and we usually ate between 6:00 and 7:00. Also, I have only been able to find Contadina sweet and sour sauce once in all the years I've been making this, so I usually just buy the bottle of Kikkoman sweet and sour sauce and call it good.

We were going to have baked beans with this, but I forgot to buy them yesterday, so I'm not sure what we'll have. I need to go through the pantry and see what all is in there. I saw a Pasta Roni mix I'd like to get rid of, so maybe we'll have that, a vegetable, and I might make some corn bread if I have a mix or have everything on hand for it. Actually I just got a recipe for some kind of corn casserole, so if I have everything maybe I'll make that instead of corn bread.

*****

These ribs were just as good as we remembered them!! I think I cooked them a little too long (I ended up doing four hours on high because I had a baby to deal with and couldn't get them in the crockpot in time for six hours on low) because if you got a bite without much sauce, it was a bit dry. but the sauce was oh-so-yummy. I could have eaten it with a spoon. We had pasta roni, corn bread, and salad with it. I'm glad I found cheap boneless ribs so we can have this more often.