What you need

• pork ribs (washed and dried)
• bottle of beer – your choice (I actually used Coors Light – thanks Tom) and it was awesome, but I can imagine that a bottle of Honey Brown Ale would be even better!
• 1 onion sliced
• salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
• your favorite bottled bbq sauce

What you do

• slice onion and place all over the bottom of a roasting dish (I use a rectangular glass dish for this)
• place washed and dried ribs, skin side down on top of onions
• season to taste
• pour beer into dish
• cover with foil tightly and put in oven at 350 degrees for 2-2.5 hours (or until really fork tender)
• once roasted and tender, remove from oven and toss on the bbq, liberally brushing with sauce!

SOOOOOO GOOOOOO

In this book there are stories and songs (with sheet music), activities and a cd to boot!  This morning we read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie and then we made Pops Peanut Butter Munchies, that followed the story.  We ended up drawing pictures of our families as we waited for the cookies to bake (thats one of the activities in the book)!  Then we snacked on our chewy treats.  They were the simplest cookies I have ever made and they reminded me of the cookies my mom made for me all the time…and I never learned how…until today!

What you need

• 1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky, it doesn’t matter)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup white sugar

What you do

• mix everything together in a bowl
• roll into 1 inch balls and drop onto greased cookie sheet
• bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees
• press with fork while still soft from the oven
• eat with milk and your children!

What you need

Salad

• potatoes – peeled and cut, enough to fill a large pot of water
• 8 eggs
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 1 bunch of radish
•  paprika
• tomato wedges

Dressing

• miracle whip
• pickle juice
• mustard
• salt and pepper

What you do

• Hard boil eggs
• Peel and cut your potatoes and place in large pot of water.  Bring to a boil and cook until just fork tender
• Wash and dice your green onions and radish
• Once potatoes are done, drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.  Place into very large mixing bowl.  Use a pastry knife to run through potatoes, leaving them in a chunky state
• In a separate bow, use your pastry knife to finely cut up hard boiled eggs
• Add diced eggs to cut potatoes and then add in green onions and radish.  Set aside.
• In another bowl combine ingredients for dressing and stir to fully combine.  Dressing should be thin.  Please taste before you add it to salad and adjust seasonings if needed.
• Add dressing to salad and combine.
• Taste!  If it needs more dressing, please make up more.
• Put salad in fridge to chill.  When you serve salad you might notice that it needs more dressing as it has dried out (absorbed the dressing).  This is the time to make and add more.
• Smooth out top of salad and lightly sprinkle top with paprika.
• Place wedges of tomato around the top in a flower pattern

What you need

• eggs
• pot
• water

What you do

• place eggs in cold water until covered
• bring to a boil
• turn off heat and cover pot
• set aside for 30 minutes

Since cooking my hard boiled eggs this way, I have never had that grey line that come between the yolk and the white.  I have also never had to clean my stove from spitting water.  Nor have I had an egg crack and spill a little of itself out into the pot!  Perfect eggs.  Each time!

Hamburger Soup (I love this one)
 
1 lb ground beef
1 onion (chopped)
2 c celery (chopped)
1 green pepper (chopped)
1 c carrots (chopped)
2 c potatoes (chopped)
 
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp parsley
2 – 5 1/2 oz cans tomato paste
1 can beef consume or onion soup
4 c water
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 can tomato sauce
3 c cabbage
 
Saute beef, onion, celery and peppers in oil. Add all other ingredients EXCEPT cabbage. Simmer uncovered for 1 hour. Add cabbage and simmer another hour.
This is a delicious meal served best with fresh buns. It is easy to freeze and tastes even better the second day

I am passionate about food.  Not just eating of course, but cooking it, shopping for it, growing it.  The entire process from planting my little seeds to wiping my mouth after a great meal enthralls me.  Many, many years ago my cousin Carson commented that ‘eating was not a spectators sport’.  I think I have adopted his saying as my life’s motto. 

It wasn’t until we moved to our own home a couple of years ago that I got the bug to actually grow my own food.  I think it was partially sparked by living in the country and living across the street from a Martha Stewart-esque women who seems to grow every fruit and vegetable in her garden (which I longingly look at from my front window). 

This year I thought I would start simple.  Peas.  What could be more simple than that?  Nothing.  My inspiration actually came from being mom of the day in my daughters preschool this spring, and helping the children plant bean seeds in plastic cups.  I thought, if they could grow a veggie, so could I.  Off to Walmart we trekked.  We picked up an organic growing starter kit and organic pea seeds and we were off to the races. 

It was pretty easy to add the water to the round pucks,watch them expand and plop in  seeds to each inflated mound of dirt.  It was simple to place the container on top of my TV cabinet in the living room, which gets full morning sun.  It was glorious to watch those little peas sprout up and grow.  Miracle.  I grew something and it survived, other than my children that is.

On the Mother’s Day weekend I had Steve rip out a section of our postage stamp sized back yard and we planted our pea sprouts.  They were so small and I was so scared.  But, they grew and grew and grew and they grew some more.  And, wouldn’t you know, this summer we ate our fare share of organic, backyard grown peas.  I have to admit I didn’t eat alot of peas.  Emma and Hannah ate most of them.  I did manage to pick a bucket to share with our neighbour though (that’s just what you do in the country). 

My goal was to provide a loving snack in the backyard for my children while they were outside playing.  The peas were such a sucess that I think I must do this every year.  I never actually cooked any of the peas I grew.  The peas barely made it inside the house before they were expertly ripped from their shells by tiny fingers.

  Emma with  a fresh pick ready to be torn into!

Growing peas was such a snap that I ventured forth this summer and have planted both strawberries and raspberries.  Next year I just have to make sure I get outside before my vulture like children do, and eat all my hard gown bounty.

Pail of peas, freshed picked

What you need

• 1.5 pounds of hamburger
• 2 onions
• 5 carrots
• 3 stalks of celery
• 4 potatoes
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 small can tomato paste
• 1 pkg low sodium onion soup mix
• beef stock (2-3 cups, depending on size of pot)
• 2 cups macaroni noodles (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

What you do

• brown hamburger in stock pot with garlic
• add diced onion, celery and carrots
• once meat is browned, drain fat off
• add tomatoes, paste, stock, onion soup mix and potatoes
• season with salt and pepper
• bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for an hour
• cook macaroni noodles according to directions on box and drain
• dish noodles into bowl and top with hamburger soup…served best with a slice of sourdough bread on the side to dunk with!

** If you want more flavour, add powdered beef stock.  Watch out that your soup doesn’t become too salty though.

My family will say that I cook this soup alot.  I mean, at least 2 times a week a huge pot of soup is sitting on my stove.  I love it in the winter.  It smells great simmering and it feels warm and cozy inside.  Like a hug from the inside out!

First you need to wash and dry your meat.  Drying your meat is very important, don’t skip this step.  Place ribs on a cookie sheet or shallow roasting pan, silver side up.  Now you season them…..in no particular order I season each side with:

• garlic powder (liberal amount)
• salt
• pepper
• paprika
• cayene pepper
• chilli powder
• cumin (just a small amount)

Once I have seasoned both sides of the meat and the silver side is now down, I place them in the oven to slow roast at 225 degrees for a few hours.  I guarantee you, your house will smell wonderful as these ribs slowly roast, getting soft and juicy.  This is a great make ahead dish.  These ribs can be sitting in the fridge just waiting to be tossedon the grill when it is time to eat.

Once they are done roasting I toss them on the barbecue for a short time to just grill them up and add sauce to them.  I am actually a huge fan of The Keg’s Rib & Chicken Sauce and more times than not, this is what I use.  I do make my own sauce up sometime, so check back for that sauce.

I love these ribs.  I love that they are fall off the bone tender and they are so full of flavour.

Great go withs are corn on the cob, Susie Salad and foil wrapped bbq’d tatoes….yumm!