Ribs & more

Matt has some co-workers over for dinner on Thursday, so I decided to attempt ribs for the first time. Very risky, because bad ribs are...bad! I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. They were SOO easy and SOOOO good. The only thing I changed in the recipe is that I marinated the ribs in the foil with a dry rub on them for 8 hours and then the bbq sauce on them for 4 hours before baking them for 2 1/2 hours at 300 degrees. Then I opened the foil and put more bbq sauce on them and cooked them uncovered for 10 minutes at 450 degrees to carmelize some sauce on the top of them. I served the ribs with baked beans, macaroni & cheese, cream corn, Pioneer Woman's famous texas sheet cake and my families favorite poppy seed cake. It was all very tasty!

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake
Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.
Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.


Pat's Baked Beans (I used black beans, kidney beans, great northern beans, pinto beans and baked beans)

6 slices bacon
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (16 ounce) can great Northern beans,
drained
1 (16 ounce) can baked beans
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of drippings, crumble and set aside in a large bowl. Cook the onion and garlic in the reserved drippings until onion is tender; drain excess grease and transfer to the bowl with the bacon.
3. To the bacon and onions add pinto beans, northern beans, baked beans, kidney beans and garbanzo beans. Stir in ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and black pepper. Mix well and transfer to a 9x12 inch casserole dish.
4. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

Macaroni & Cheese
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup cottage cheese (not lowfat)
2 cups milk (not skim)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Pinch cayenne
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
½ pound elbow pasta, uncooked.
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees and position an oven rack in upper third of oven. Use 1 tablespoon butter to butter a 9-inch round or square baking pan.2. In a blender, purée cottage cheese, milk, mustard, cayenne, nutmeg and salt and pepper together. Reserve ¼ cup grated cheese for topping. In a large bowl, combine remaining grated cheese, milk mixture and uncooked pasta. Pour into prepared pan, cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes. 3. Uncover pan, stir gently, sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with remaining tablespoon butter. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes more, until browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.Yield: 6 to 8 servings.


Cream Corn Like No Other
Submitted by: DIANA YOCKEY
Rated: 5 out of 5 by 260 members Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 15 Minutes
Yields: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen
corn kernels, thawed
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup freshly grated
Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a skillet over medium heat, combine the corn, cream, salt, sugar, pepper and butter. Whisk together the milk and flour, and stir into the corn mixture. Cook stirring over medium heat until the mixture is thickened, and corn is cooked through. Remove from heat, and stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted. Serve hot.

BBQ ribs

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds pork baby back ribs (make sure to remove the silver skin, kind of a thin layer of skin against the bone side of the ribs)
1 (18 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays original bbq sauce)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Tear off 4 pieces of aluminum foil big enough to enclose each portion of ribs. Spray each piece of foil with vegetable cooking spray. Rub the ribs with the rub mixture (see below). Put them in the fridge overnight. First thing in the morning brush the ribs liberally with barbeque sauce and wrap them back up and put them back in the fridge until you're ready to cook them.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
3. Bake ribs wrapped tightly in the foil at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 2 1/2 hours. Remove from foil and add more sauce, if desired.

This is what I used for the rub: 1/4c. brown sugar, 1 1/2 Tbsp. paprika, 1 Tbsp. salt, 1 1/2 Tbsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder.

POPPY SEED CAKE

1 pkg. yellow cake 1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding

1/2 c water 1/2 c orange juice

1/2 c oil 5 eggs

2 t poppy seeds 1 T almond extract

Mix 5 min at medium speed. Bake in a sugar and cinnamon coated bunt pan. Bake 45 min at 350. Cool and drizzle with a mixture of powdered sugar, butter, and almond extract.