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| toasting the day we got engaged... go blue! |
whew! hi again! just now coming back to life after labor day! hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend; we definitely did! (dude check the success of that semi-colon there... writerly nerd here).
in ann arbor the seasons change a bit more dramatically than other places of the world. besides the fact that we get all four seasons weatherwise (and to a pretty hardcore extent might i add), we have the influx and exodus of tens of thousands of students as well as the college sports calendar ushering in spring, summer, fall, and winter. add to that all the special events (restaurant week, the film festival, top of the park) and you pretty much could live in this town without ever once looking at a calendar (in fact i did just that throughout most of college).
now that the students are back, there is more to look forward to than just frat boys in the semi-nude throwing keystone light cans off rooftops. it is start of college football season!!
now don't for a minute think that I am sporty spice or anything (high school theater geek here... hand eye coordination... what's that?) but when you are born and bred U of M fan / alumna... well, let's just say if you aren't into college football yourself, you're just not gonna understand.
in honor of the first game of the season i did two things:
(do not consider this an endorsement for brobible.com, they simply asked if they could republish content from my other blog)
and i whipped up some homemade spinach dip and barbeque ribs for a bunch of our friends who came over to watch the game!
now i don't like to brag or nothin' but these ribs are just plain delish. personally, i can't understand why anyone would make ribs without a crockpot. they are so easy, so tasty, and so tender (literally falling off the bone with greasy goodness). this is without question one of my top recipes to make when we are having company because it feeds so many people so simply. you'll notice i doubled the recipe, since we inexplicably own two crockpots, and nobody's going to be stingy with their portions when tailgating. here's how it's done:
you will need:
a crockpot (the bigger the better)
a rack of pork spare ribs
onion powder
garlic powder
chili powder
salt & pepper
a bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce (thicker is better)
optional:
a whole onion (sliced)
one-two peaches (sliced) or other fruit
you will notice that a rack of ribs does not fit super successfully into a four quart crockpot. the most difficult step, step one, is to defy science and mash that baby in there. i usually find cutting them down the middle and kinda sushi rolling them is decently successful. it doesn't really matter how they fit, they'll cook down after a while.
once you've fit those suckers into the crockpot the hardest part is over. generously season the meat with garlic powder, onion powder, a couple dashes of chili powder, and the salt and pepper. don't worry too much about coating everything, the flavors will blend together while they cook.
once they are seasoned, smother them with the entire bottle of barbeque sauce. again, no need to worry about coating them, they'll get saucy as they cook.
if you are so inclined, you can toss in a sliced onion or sliced peach for extra savory flavor or sweetness. i didn't bother this time, but if you want to go all out, who am i to stop you? stick the crockpot on low and cook for at least 6 hours.
that's it! once they're cooked, grab a pair of tongs and serve yourself. you won't even need to worry about cutting up portions. they will fall apart, they are so tender.
when it comes to cooking i'm heavy on the enthusiasm and light on the finesse/paying attention/timing so recipes like this are pretty much how i roll. hopefully i'll be able to share my spinach dip recipe soon (also one of the easiest things you'll ever imagine).
we definitely kicked off labor day weekend on a tasty note! after dinner we played monopoly and ordered a dozen really expensive cupcakes for delivery (fat kids r us). michigan beat CMU (duh) and we all spent the rest of the weekend playing in the river and going to the beach (i'll post pictures from our day in saugatuck soon).
hope everyone had a scrumptious and fun weekend! happy hump day!
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