Easy-Peasy Ribs

Jeff is in the top right corner walking in

Welcome Home!

Jeff's been home from Iraq for about 10 days...we're slowly getting into the family rhythm again.  For those of you who aren't military spouses, it's kind of a hard period to explain...  it's like you're on vacation, but not really.  You're so glad that he's home and you want to spend all of your time together, but don't want to suffocate him.  It's a honeymoon period, but not really.  You want to go back to the way things were last year before the deployment began, but all 3 of us have grown and changed in 12 months.  I'm not in charge of the remote anymore (which is fine with me) and I have to share my stuff again.  But I wouldn't change it for anything.  It's a time of adjustments, assimilation and re-figuring of roles.  It's also a time of growth, change and adjustment. 

A Welcome Home Hug

Two Happy Boys!

With all the excitement of Jeff being home, life is starting speed up again...my some-what lazy summer is fading away quickly and the busy-craziness is about to begin again.  Jeff is back to work, JP started 3rd grade on Monday and school starts for me next week.  I will be insanely busy again teaching 2 classes, taking 2 classes, studying for my preliminary exams and writing my dissertation proposal.  But I will have Jeff around as my biggest cheerleader. 

And I have crock pot recipes like Easy-Peasy Ribs that will make my life just a little bit easier!

Easy-Peasy Ribs in the Crock Pot

1 rack of baby back ribs
2 T. liquid smoke

1 c. ketchup
1 T. molasses
1 T. brown sugar
1/4 t. liquid smoke
1 T. BBQ spice mix (Penzey's makes a few nice BBQ mixes...I like BBQ of the Americas)

Prepare the ribs by removing the thin membrane on the back (bone) side of the rack of ribs.  Cut the ribs into 3 or 4 pieces.  Each piece should contain 3-4 ribs.  Place the ribs in a crock pot that has been sprayed by cooking spray.  Pour the liquid smoke in the bottom of the crock pot.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  

Mix the ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, liquid smoke and BBQ spice mix together.  Remove the ribs and drain the liquid.  Place the ribs back into the crock pot 1 piece at a time.  Slather each piece with the prepared BBQ sauce.  Continue until all of the ribs are sauced and in the crock pot.  Continue to cook the ribs on high for 30-60 minutes more to "bake" on the sauce.  Remove and enjoy!

You may want to double the BBQ sauce if you like your ribs saucy.  Also, instead of placing the sauced ribs back into the crock pot, you can place the ribs on a heated grill, brush on the sauce and cook for 10-15 minutes. 

Spicy Chicken Taco Salad

Spicy Chicken Taco Salad
Serves 4


3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c. Southwest Seasoning (like my Southwest Seasoning found here)


1 head romaine lettuce, sliced and chopped
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can corn, drained
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
4 T. sour cream
2 2-ounce bags of Doritos chips, crushed 

Optional:
Catalina or Russian salad dressing
Salsa 
Chopped black olives
Chopped avocado
Black beans


Place chicken breasts in a small crock pot.  Pour the Southwest Seasoning over the raw chicken and stir around to coat.  Cook on high for 4 hours.  Shred the chicken and turn off the crock pot.  You can serve the salads with warm chicken or cold chicken...it's up to you!


To make the salads, assemble the ingredients in bowls or plates.  Each bowl/plate will need 1/4 of the chopped lettuce, 1/2 of a chopped tomato, 1/8th of the chopped onion, 1/4 of the corn, 1/4 c. shredded cheddar, 1 T. sour cream and 1/2 of a bag of crushed Doritos.  Spoon 1/4 of the shredded chicken onto the prepared salad.  Top with salad dressing, salsa, avocado, black beans, olives if desired. 

Review:  This salad is very easy and yummy!  You can mix up the ingredients according to your tastes.  We enjoy using a little Catalina or Russian dressing to top the salad.  Since the chicken is cooked in the crock pot, it doesn't heat up your kitchen on a hot day.  This is also easy to prepare ahead of time for a quick meal.  I find that using the small bags of Doritos helps with portion control.  Enjoy~

Raspberry Swirl Brownies

 

I got together with my Bunco group tonight and made some yummy brownies!  My Bunco group meets once a month and we play a couple of games of Bunco.  We talk, laugh, gossip and eat some scrumptious food. 

I hemmed and hawed about what to bring tonight.  I wanted to use up some frozen raspberries, I had a package of cream cheese and a brownie mix on hand.  So I looked at several recipes on allrecipes.com and combined a couple to make up my recipe. 

Raspberry Swirl Brownies


1 package brownie mix
10 ounce package of frozen raspberries, slightly thawed
8 ounce block of 1/3 Less Fat "Neufchâtel"cheese (or regular cream cheese)
1/3 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
plain fat free yogurt


Mix the brownie batter according to the package, except decrease the oil by half.  Replace the oil you didn't use with plain, fat free yogurt.


In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar and egg together.  Smash the raspberries and add to the cream cheese mixture.  Swirl raspberries in, but don't mix until combined. 


Preheat oven to directions on box of brownie mixture.  Spray a 9x11 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour half of the brownie mixture into the prepared pan.  Spoon the cream cheese and raspberry mixture onto the brownie batter in the pan.  Top with the remaining brownie batter.  

Drag a knife through the brownie mixture, up and down and back and forth to swirl the cream cheese and raspberry mixture in with the brownie batter.  Bake according to the package directions.  

Review:  These were very good brownies!  Everyone at Bunco enjoyed them.  The cream cheese added a tang, while the raspberries added depth and great flavor.  Next time, I would add 1 T. of flour to the cream cheese and raspberry mixture.  The flour would make the cream cheese mixture a little bit more firm.  This brownie recipe will go into my recipe file.  Enjoy~ 

Quick and Easy Sloppy Joes (aka Maid-Rites or Loose Meat Sandwiches)

My mum made Sloppy Joes when I was growing up.  It is a quick and easy meal and oh, so tasty!  When Jeff and I were dating, I made Sloppy Joes for dinner.  Our conversation went like this:

"Here you go, enjoy your dinner (this was before I called dinner supper)!"

"Oh, these are Maid-Rights."

"Maid who???"

"Ya know, Loose Meat." 

I replied, "Loose what???"

I had never heard of Maid-Rights or Loose Meat.  I knew these tasty sandwiches as Sloppy Joes.  Oh wait, I had heard of Loose Meats...back when Roseanne was a popular TV show, she had a restaurant that served Loose Meat.  That was before Google and the ability to have information at your fingertips in seconds flat.  I don't know what I thought Loose Meat was, but I never imagined it to be a Sloppy Joe!

Jeff has come to love my Sloppy Joes.  As I said earlier, they are quick, easy and good.  We usually have Tator Tots and corn...if I start the Tots cooking, by the time they are done, the Sloppy Joes are done, too.  Enjoy~

Sloppy Joes
serves 4-6


1 lb. hamburger (I use 96%)
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped (or 1/2 t. onion powder)
2 cloves of garlic, pressed (or 1/4 t. garlic powder)
2 t. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 c. relish
3/4 c. ketchup


Brown the hamburger with the onion and garlic (or onion and garlic powder, if using) until the meat is done.  Add the Worcestershire Sauce, relish and ketchup.  Stir well to combine.  Turn to low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve on a toasted hamburger bun or English muffin.  Top with cheese if desired.

Review:  I usually use English muffins instead of hamburger buns (because that's what we usually have on hand!) and I top it with a slice of cheese.  You can add more/less ketchup to taste.  More ketchup makes for a sloppier joe, but will increase the number of sandwiches you can make.  Sometimes I serve this without any type of bread, just a scoop on a plate.  Jeff enjoys corn mixed into his Sloppy Joes.  He's an Iowa boy at heart and loves the meat and corn mixture...toss in some potatoes (tots!) and he's in 7th heaven!  Enjoy~

BBQ Beef from Kelli

I made BBQ Beef on Friday night for my inlaws.  It was a new recipe and it was good!

For those of you who don't know, I am a full time grad student.  I'm also a full time GTA (Graduate Teaching Assistant), a full time mama and a full time military wife.  Those of you who are military wives (or military husbands) know what I mean when I say I'm a military wife...you get what all of that implies.  And yes, I'm very busy!  Soooo anyways, in my research class, we had a potluck on the last night of class.  Cassie brought Black Bean & Corn Salsa.  Check out her recipe on her blog, Thoughts from Casablanca.  It was good!  Kelli brought the BBQ Beef.  As soon as I took a bite, I knew I'd need the recipe.  It was good.  It was better than my BBQ Beef and as soon as there was a break during class, I asked her for the recipe.  And so Kelli sent out an email to everyone in the class with her recipe for BBQ Beef.  It's easy!  It's good!  It's easy!  It's good!  Make it this week!  You'll be glad you did!


BBQ Beef
1 boneless beef chuck roast (about 3 lbs)
1/2 c. ketchup
4 T. brown sugar
4 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. Dijon mustard
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. liquid smoke
1/4 t. black pepper

Place the beef in a crock pot.  Mix the sauce together and pour over the beef.  Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Shred the meat and serve with crusty rolls for a BBQ beef sandwich.  Easy Peasy.

Kelli suggested not to use the bigger crock pots because it doesn't cook the same.  So I stuffed the beef into my medium sized crock pot.  Kelli also said that she mixes up the sauce the night before, so she can just put everything together quickly in the morning.

Review:  It was good!  The meat was very tender.  The sauce was a little watery, but still flavorful.  I didn't use a beef chuck roast...I used a rump roast instead and it was fine.  Next time:  Before I shred the meat, I'm going to drain most of the sauce/liquid.  I will make another batch of the sauce and add it to the shredded beef, stick it back in the crock pot and voila!  This is an quick and easy recipe to put together, and oh, so good!  Enjoy~

Easy Grilled Chicken and Grilled Veggies

My inlaws left this afternoon after spending a few days with us.  They live about 260 miles away...close enough to visit, but far enough so they don't drop in unexpectedly!  It was great to see them and we had a wonderful time.  We traveled to the zoo in Salina yesterday and did some shopping.  My father-in-law, Leonard, did a few things around the house since Jeff is deployed, which I was very grateful for!  We played cards, did some geocaching, talked a lot and ate some pretty darned good food (of course, I'm biased a little bit!) 

Before they left this afternoon, I made a big dinner/lunch (another post for another day.)  It was terrific, but again, I'm a little biased!  The meal was different from my planned menu since we went out to eat last night and had a picnic lunch at the zoo.

Easy Grilled Chicken
Boneless/Skinless chicken breasts

Ken's Steak House Lite Northern Italian with Basil & Romano salad dressing
Gallon Ziploc-type Bag

Place the s/b chicken breasts in a Ziploc type gallon bag.  For every 3 chicken breasts, add 1/3 of the bottle of Ken's salad dressing.  So 3 chicken breasts = 1/3 of the bottle, 6 chicken breasts = 2/3 of the bottle, 9 chicken breasts = 1 bottle (you will need to use another bag if you're using 9 chicken breasts...it would be a little crowded in 1 bag with the dressing!)

Zip the bag and stick in the refrigerator for 4 hours, or up to 2 days.

Place the chicken on a med/hot grill.  Discard the salad dressing/chicken juice.  Grill 4-5 minutes and turn.  Continue grilling until chicken is no longer pink and cooked through....15-25 minutes, depending on the heat of the grill.

Review:  I've used a lot of different Italian salad dressings over the years and have found that I like Ken's Steak House Lite Northern Italian with Basil & Romano the best for marinating chicken.  It makes the chicken moist, and doesn't have a strong vinegary flavor.  Enjoy~

Grilled Veggies
1-2 medium zucchini squash
1 medium yellow squash
2 medium onions
1 medium green pepper
1 medium red pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
8 ounces whole mushrooms
3 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. olive oil
2 T. Italian seasoning (Penzeys makes a good one, as does McCormick)
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
Gallon Ziploc-type bag
Bamboo skewers

Slice the zucchini and yellow squash lengthwise.  Chop into 1-inch chunks.  Seed and cut the peppers into large chunks (2 inch x 2 inch or so chunks.)   Put the spices, oil and vinegar into the Ziploc-type bag.  Add the chopped zucchini, yellow squash and pepper chunks.  Seal the bag and squish around so that all pieces are coated with the spice mixture.  Shake it up, baby!  Twist and shout!    (Click on the link!  My mum sings this song every time something needs to be shaken....and so do I!)Place in the refrigerator for 4 hours, or up to 2 days.

When you're ready to cook the veggies, slice the onions in half, then with each half, lay the sliced part on your cutting board and cut at 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 2 o'clock (you'll get 4 chunks of onion per half.)    Take the marinated veggies out of the refrigerator.  Thread the marinated veggies, mushrooms, onions, and cherry tomatoes onto wooden skewers.  You can put them in any order, but I like the zucchini or yellow squash on the ends...they don't shrink as much while cooking and fall off less than peppers, tomatoes, onions or mushrooms.  (You may want to soak the skewers in water before doing this step.  I never remember to do it, and the ends get a little charred, but that's OK.  If you don't want the ends of the skewers charred, soak them in water for 20 minutes.  It's up to you...)

Place on a med/hot grill.  Grill 4-5 minutes and turn.  Grill 4-5 minutes more.  It may take you more or less time depending on the temperature of your grill.  I like my veggies a little crisp with a little char on them them.  (Cook according to your tastes...not mine!)


Review:  I LOVE these veggies!  I've experimented with more/less oil, vinegar, spices and ready made Italian salad dressings, and this is what I've come up with.  The veggies are moist, flavorful, without being too vinegary.  I don't like to marinate the mushrooms (they get soggy), the onions (they fall apart) or the tomatoes (they get squished.)  However, feel free to change a few things to make it fit your tastes!  Enjoy~