my first (successful!) attempt at ribs

I had to run to the store today to get stamps and a few other essentials, and I can't help but wander around a bit when I'm at our grocery store. It's a wonderful place to waste money and time. They had baby back ribs on sale today, which kind of intimidated me...but I went for it! I also grabbed a bottle of Fisher & Weiser's Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, which Mike and I noticed the last time we went grocery shopping. It was a little pricey so we decided against it...though I notice that when I go to the store myself, I end up with a lot of the other items that have also been placed in this category.

I came home and researched the best method to make ribs for approximately an hour. One of the good things about being off of work due to this surgery is that I can do things like dedicate an hour to finding the best way to cook ribs.

I am by no means a rib expert, but here's what I came up with:

1 whole rack pork baby back ribs

1 cup brown sugar

5 tablespoons Morton & Bassett Cajun Spice blend, though you can use any combination of spices that you'd like

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon onion powder

1. If the ribs have that gross membrane on one side, remove it.

2. Prepare the dry rub by combining the brown sugar, cajun spice blend, salt, and onion powder. Rub the mixture all over the ribs, pressing down a bit to make sure it sticks. I cooked these ribs on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet, so at this point you can stick them on the rack (put down some foil on the cookie sheet to keep it clean) - cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

3. After they marinate, let the ribs sit at room temperature for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

4. Remove the foil from the cookie sheet and fill it with about 1/4 inch water. Cover tightly with foil, and bake for about two hours.

5. We then moved the ribs to the grill and grilled them with some of the raspberry chipotle sauce, which was reeeeeeeally tasty.

I've been wanting to try this ribboned asparagus salad from smitten kitchen for so long, and I thought tonight would be a good time to try it. The cold, crunchy salad was great with the ribs, and the simple dressing is right up my alley.

We were stuffed :) definitely a yummy dinner!

green olive and almond tapenade

I'd like to start off by apologizing to my mother. Mom, I know you've been proud of me up until this point in my life, and I'm sorry to let you down. But I'm posting a recipe that has olives in it. I hope you can forgive me.

I was in the mood for a salty snack today and decided I'd try to make some tapenade, which is one of my favorite things - but have you ever seen it in the grocery store? It's so expensive! I'm also on an almond kick lately. They've got a ton of health benefits, so I've been adding them wherever possible. I thought the combination would be pretty good, and I was right.

Green Olive & Almond Tapenade

1 cup green olives

1/2 cup almonds

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon capers

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

pepper, to taste

Throw it all into a food processor and combine.