Ribs! Need I say more??;)

Happy Sunday night, everyone!  I hope everyone has had a great weekend!  I sure have, and am so happy to have many other things to look forward to this week!   Next weekend, my husband and I are participating in this amazing and worthy event, so I'm really looking forward to staying rested and fully of energy this week leading up to that.  Then we have a fun night with friends to celebrate my 30th - all I know is people are coming to our house - I don't know who, I don't know what we're eating, drinking, etc...the husband has told me "he's got it"...well alright!  Also, Aruba soon, woohoo!!!!    Oh - and I'm already thinking of what to do for the husband for Valentine's Day - I always make him something and it's so fun to think of something new every year!

But, back to the ribs!  I think the husband loves ribs as much as I love Titanic;)  (I'm watching it as I type) - simple recipe, and I do love simple meals on Sundays.  Usually it's slow cooker Sundays, but the husband requested ribs and who am I to deny the man ribs?  Made with mashed potatoes, salad, and a different cornbread recipe than the other day (on the side of the Quaker cornmeal container = so much better than the other night), easy peasy!  Because of this, I was able to enjoy a wonderful wonderful wonderful Sunday:)   Can you tell how happy I am:)

What you'll need:

• 2-3 lb rack of ribs 
• salt and pepper
• brown sugar
• cumin
• paprika
• chili powder
• barbecue sauce

Preheat oven to 225.   Place a sheet of foil on a baking sheet and spray with Pam.  Place the ribs, meat side up, on the foil.  Mix together all ingredients BESIDES the barbecue sauce.  Rub the ingredients all over the ribs, deeply setting the rub in.   Bake for 3 hours.

At the 3 hour mark, pull pan from the oven and spread on any type barbecue sauce you'd like - homemade or store-bought, and return to the oven for another 30-45 minutes, until at it's tender-best.  Then enjoy!  I forgot to take a picture until they were almost gone!

Here's a picture of the successful cornbread - so yum I've packed some in my lunch for tomorrow:)

Stay tuned for another post about the stew I made Friday night - I hope you'll have a chance to read, comment, and give advice about each of these:)  Oh, and I'm a one of my fave parts in Titanic - when Jack goes to dinner with Rose's family:)  

Thursday night = time to try a new chili recipe!

Happy Thursday everyone!  I'm trying to keep myself up to watch figure skating online starting at 10:30pm...I don't know if I can make it!!  But I must see Sasha Cohen and if she can still skate!

Okay - back on topic - dinner tonight!  Dinner tonight was a recipe I adapted from this lovely website.  Overall, I'd give it an 8 - the husband ate it up and really enjoyed it - I think I just happened to get a piece that wasn't as spicy/Mexican tasting as his, and I wasn't thrilled with the cornbread on top - I think I prefer mine on the side, and a little sweeter.  Here is what I made, how I did it, and what I would do next time:)  Don't forget to check out my pork recipe from yesterday too!

Chili Cornbread Casserole:

What you'll need for the chili:

• 1 lb ground hamburg, cooked in a fry pan and drained of any oil
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium white onion, sliced or diced to your liking
• 1 tbsp, or more, again to your liking, chili powder
• 1 tbsp CRP
• 1 can diced tomatoes with chiles
• 8 oz of marinara sauce
• 2 15 oz cans of kidney beans, drained
• salt to taste

 This is quite the time-consuming/multi-tasker recipe!  I had the pan with the ground beef, the pot with the other chili stuff, and another pot with some stuff for the cornbread going simultaneously, plus some stuff going on the counter - phew! 

First of all, preheat oven to 400.  In a fry pan, cook your ground beef as you normally would, chopping it into smaller pieces. 

While the meat is cooking, in another medium to large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Once heated, add the onion.  Stir and cook for 2 minutes, or until onions start becoming translucent.  Add the chili powder, crushed red pepper, and a 1/2 tsp salt to this, and stir it up until the onions are coated.

Pour the canned diced tomatoes with chiles into the pot and stir well.  Add the marinara/tomato sauce, and stir again.  Don't forget about the hamburg cooking - make sure to stir that too!  Simmer the chili combo for about 10 minutes, and then add the kidney beans.  Continue to simmer over medium low heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  At this point, I added more chili powder just to give it an extra kick.   Turn the heat to low while you're waiting for the hamburg, if it's not done yet, and/or while you're making the cornbread, unless made the cornbread while the chili was simmering, like I did:)

For the cornbread, you will need:

• 6 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp flax seed meal
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup soy milk
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup mango peach juice - you read that right - or you can use agave nectar, or anything else sweet tasting, even sugar
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup flour

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan.  When the water is boiling, add the flax seed meal - stir continuously for 3-4 minutes, reducing the heat to medium low; stir until the mixture becomes gooey.   Remove from heat

While I was waiting for the water to boil, I combined the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  To this I added the mango peach juice, oil, milk, and flax mixture (once it got gooey) - stir all of this until just combined.

 

Now you're ready to combine everything and bake!  Pour your chili mixture into a 9x13 baking pan, covering the chili mixure with the cooked hamburg.  Spoon the cornbread mixture over the chili/hamburg mixture, spreading it as much as you can to cover the entire casserole **I did not cover the entire casserole, just in case I wanted a few bites with just the chili and no cornbread**

 

 

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick goes thru the cornbread and comes out clean.  This is the husband's plate:

First of all, I guess it's time to put away the Christmas tablecloth:(

But, overall, the recipe was quite good - like I said, I think the piece I had didn't have as much spice as I would've liked, but the husband said his 2 pieces did.  I would've like a little more sweetness to the cornbread, so I think I'd try a different cornbread recipe next time, or just add some sugar to this one possibly.  I would also add some cheese into the casserole (the husband added some to his plate) and definitely some avocado on top once it comes out of the oven.  I would definitely try it again, just with some changes:) 

Last night I had dreams over and over about making guacamole!  Any recommendations on recipes for this or meals to make it with?  My body is telling me I have to make it next week I think!

I'm off to start planning next week's meals...9:42pm...getting tired...don't know if I'm going to make it for skating...working all day is tiring!  ;)  See you tomorrow night:)