Monthly Archives: June 2015

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

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For this month’s Secret Recipe Club I had the honor of being paired up with the owner, Sarah of Fantastical Sharing of Recipes.  Sadly, it won’t be a surprise that I had her blog since she sends out the assignments, but hopefully I can surprise her with what recipe I chose from her massive list.

I combed through her recipe index, pausing on Almost White Castle Burgers, Fauxtisserie Chicken, Dulce de leche Cheesecake Bars. My husband helped me decide on Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs since we had been craving some ribs and he’s always a sucker for barbecue sauce.

We recently purchased a slow cooker, so have been looking for new ways to use it. Unfortunately, we have the smallest Crock-Pot in existence so we have to be careful when reading recipes. We made ⅓ of the recipe and it fit perfectly into a 3 quart pot. It was hard to find only 2 pounds of ribs but our local grocery store luckily had smaller portions pre-packaged.

These ribs turned out finger-licking-good (literally). The meat fell right off the bone and the charred bits from the broiler were my favorite part. Served with chips or smashed potatoes, I was transported to a outdoor summer picnic (while still sitting in my air-conditioned dining room.

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Gingerousse

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Inspired by the recent publication of a homemade green tea vodka in Bon Appétit magazine, we decided to put some of my tea to work.

One of the great things about my husband working from home is that when I plop down on the couch after a muggy, sweaty, and stinky commute from the office, he knows just the thing to cheer me up. “Want a cocktail?”

He couldn’t decide on which of our fruit liqueurs to use, so combined them all with a Peach Apple Crisp Black Tea-infused vodka we had started making over the weekend. After topping with some ginger ale it smelled like a delightful, fresh sangria, and it was just as refreshing.

If you haven’t tried infusing your own spirits, I encourage you to! It’s incredibly easy and fast. When trying out new flavors, you can try just a cup or two at a time to ebb some apprehension.

Pan-Seared Cod with Curried Basmati Rice, Snow Peas & Mint

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Thanks to my lovely friend Laetitia at French Twist D.C., I recently got a free Blue Apron meal box delivered. It was a welcome treat after returning from a week long family vacation that left me exhausted and not wanting to go anywhere near a grocery store.

This took all the work out and left me with a pre-measured meal for two that was pretty easy to whip together, healthy, and tasted good to boot.

One of my favorite things about this service is the fact that everything is in one place on the large, glossy recipe card. You can get the printable recipe for this cod at Blue Apron, or look below.

I usually don’t like snow peas because they are stringy and tough, but these were snappy and fresh tasting. I had never thought of using lime zest in this way before and was glad I did. I do think it’s a bit wasteful with a lot of extra (mostly recyclable) packaging, including the ice packs, but it is a nice occasional treat to come home and have the grocery shopping and meal planning already done!

I can’t wait to try my other two meals this week: Turkey Steam Buns with Quick Cucumber-Radish Kimchi and Seared Pork with Sautéed Spinach & Smashed Potatoes.