August 20, 2011

Slow Cooked Herb Rubbed Ribs

There are two types of ribs.
The first kind, is the kind you don't want. You know what I'm talking about.
The kind that's dry, stiff, flavorless.

Then you have the other kind.
The moist, delicious, flavorful, fall of the bone type ribs.
The kind that makes you purposely over-stuff yourself because you just don't want it to end.

These ribs are those kinds of ribs.

First you need a rack of ribs.
A casserole dish or anything that holds all of it works fine.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees (or 275 if you have some extra time...and extra patience).


Add some Olive Oil to the top of the ribs. You want to cover that baby up real good ;)

Next add some onion powder
And some garlic pepper



Just sprinkle it all over the top of the ribs.

Next, I added some fresh herbs I picked the other day. I have some Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, and Oregano. If you don't have all these, don't sweat it- your ribs will still be nice and juicy ;)

If you have them, sprinkle your herbs on top of the ribs.



Mm. Doesn't it just look delicious?


Ohh yeah.

Pop it in the oven and wait a few hours. Mine cooked for 3 hours. The slower you cook it, the juicier it will be. If you have another hour or so to spare, turn the oven down lower and cook longer. You won't regret it.

The end result will look something like this:


YUM.

August 1, 2011

Lemon Crinkle Cookies


I have this sort of obsession with Iron Chef.
But it's a healthy obsession, I swear.
Besides completely ignoring everyone and everything around to when it's on, its completely healthy.
So, I decided to have an Iron Chef inspired meal and dessert.
The secret ingredient? Lemons!
Something so simple, so fresh. Perfect for this time of the year.

So, let's start with dessert. Because we can.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

When it comes to dessert, I am a chocolate lover. Chocolate on top of chocolate dipped in chocolate.
Not a lemon lover. Lemons remind me of pine sol and my mothers sparkling water.
But these cookies bring a whole new light to lemon.
Trust me.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.



Whip in vanilla, then be so proud of yourself for capturing yourself pouring the vanilla in the bowl with one hand on a camera on manual focus.
Or just pour it in like a normal person.

Add the zest of one lemon and the juice of half a lemon, and an egg.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add all the dry ingredients (except the powdered sugar) slowly until combined.


When it looks as amazing as this, you are done.
Take a quick taste of the batter when no one is looking, then move on to the next step.

This is the fun part. You could always let your kids do this, or if you are big kid like me kick them out and do it yourself.

Pour a small amount of powdered sugar on a plate (trust me...small amount. Or you will end up with a room full of powdered sugar) and roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll it in the powdered sugar. Place on greased baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 10-12 minutes till they look something like this.
The middles will still look under cooked, but trust me they are done.

Cool for 3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
Enjoy.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies Official List of Ingredients

1 stick of butter, softened
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 whole egg
Zest of 1 lemon, juice of half a lemon
1-1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup powdered sugar