Fall Off the Bone, Spicy Baby-back Ribs!

Lake House FUN!  Where's my wine, and ribs??  :)

Whoo-Hoo!!! We are on vacation, at a lake house on Cedar Creek Lake, in Gun Barrel City, TX! The lake is beautiful, and we are having a GREAT time! We wanted to make an easy, throw together, slow cooking meal, so we could go and play on lake as it cooked away! We chose to make my sisters AWESOME recipe for ribs!! We threw them together, put them in oven, then went out to play! Came back in, and the house smelled amazing!! These ribs are incredible!

Fall Off the Bone, Spicy Baby-back Ribs!

3 racks of Baby-back ribs
1 large onion- sliced in rounds
3 sweet peppers, different colors
8 Jalapeño peppers- sliced
Lawry's- to coat
Garlic powder- to coat
Cracked black pepper- to coat
Bar-B-Q sauce of your choice

Boys being boys! BB guns and all!  Waiting on dinner! 



WARNING~ Ha! Pics out of order, downloaded off my Iphone! LOL! 

After seasoning up all ribs, place one down on double thick aluminum foil, placed on large cookie sheet, then top with cut up veggies, then put other 2 slabs of ribs on each side, sort of making a triangle~ 

Out of order pic, pretty peppers getting cut up~

Top with your favorite BarBQ sauce!

Make a triangle 'mound'~

Top with another piece of aluminum foil and SEAL very well!  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then switch temperature to 300-325 degrees for 2 1/2- 3 hours!  Keep it well sealed. After the given time, check to see if done.  It should just fall off the bone!

YEP!  Falling off the bone!  These ribs are addicting!  We have to have them EVERY summer, at least 3 times!!  

BEST EVER, Crispy Oven Fried Chicken!

I LOVE Fried Chicken,  but can't always eat it due to the high calories and the complication of dealing with all that expensive and HOT oil, so I have searched for the best recipe for 'Oven Fried' Chicken!  I have mixed together parts from several recipes I have tried!  The best combo of ingredients I found to get a CRISP crust are the mix of corn cereal and pita chips, crushed up together!  Being a family from the South, where fried chicken is KING, for me to find a good 'OVEN fried' was an accomplishment!  All my boys love this one!  Real fried chicken is still the BEST, but this one is the best for lower calories and taste for oven 'fried'!!!  :)

                                                   Crispy Oven Fried Chicken!

8 Bone-in, skinless chicken thighs or breasts 
2 1/2 cups crispy corn cereal (Crispix)
4 1/2 cups broken pita chips (garlic and herb flavored)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 to 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper~ depending on how much spice you like!
2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
3/4 cup light mayo, or regular if you prefer
2 Tbsp spicy brown mustard

Put The Crispix, or other corn cereal brand, into food processor with the pita chips~

Pulse til well crushed!

Transfer to a gallon size ziplock bag, and add all spices and 2 Tbsp olive oil.  Shake well to mix~

Mix up the Mayo and Spicy Brown Mustard together in a bowl, then take a basting brush and brush mayo mixture all over chicken pieces~

Put each coated piece of chicken, one at a time, into baggy with crushed up 'Crunchies',  and shake til well coated and place on foiled,  RACKED, cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.  The rack helps keep bottom of chicken CRISPY not soggy!  When they are all done and well coated, spray the chicken with cooking spray before you put them in the oven! 

Cook at 400 degrees, for approximately 35 minutes or until internal chicken temp reaches 160 degrees~  Hope you enjoy, without all the guilt!!  :)

Hostess Ho Ho Cake! Genius! :)

Just a quick post today~ I had to post my sisters Fun Ho Ho Cake she made up!  So easy, because she makes it with cake mix, and ready made frosting, but it was such a hit!  Hmmm, it was very curious as some of the Ho Ho's mysteriously were gone from cake before we served it!  :)  I wonder what happened with all these Ho Ho lovers around...

                                           Jill's Fun Ho Ho Cake, with Ding Dong 'Crown'!

Made for my dad's 70th, who loves Ho Ho's!

She simply made a Pillsbury Devil's food cake according to directions, then cut a small piece out of center and filled it with some whipped white frosting, then frosted the outside with chocolate.  She made a couple smaller cakes to stack on top of the big cake too.  Then, she simply put Ho Ho's all around, and topped it off with a Ding Dong 'crown'!  Hostess would be proud!
 

Look at all the inside gooeyness!  The hardest part was keeping the kids, and MEN, from sneaking Ho Ho's off the cake before it's time!  Ha! :)

     WELCOME to our party!  Wish you could all have been there! Make the cake, it'll be a HIT!

Cousin Jean's great, EASY, yummy Asparagus appetizer!

We've all seen the great looking, festive prosciutto wrapped asparagus appetizers, but my cousin Jean added an easy TWIST to hers!  PERFECT for any party!  She brought a ton of these over on the 4th of July and they were attacked by my boys, and all the other guests!  GONE in 10 minutes!  We should call them the 'Gone in 10' appetizer!  I don't have the pics of her making them, but they are so simple, that's no problem!

This was just the first round!

Cousin Jean's Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus!

She came with many layers on big cookie sheet, then broiled them in batches!  She simply took the bigger asparagus stalks and wrapped one at a time with half lengths of prosciutto, and bundled 2-3 smaller asparagus together with a whole piece of prosciutto.  Jean's 'TWIST' is that she puts onion and chive cream cheese onto the asparagus stalks before she wraps them with prosciutto!  She also sprinkles them with olive oil, black pepper and garlic powder!  NO salt, as the prosciutto is already salty!!

See the cream cheese oozing out?  Greatness!!  Ha! Broil these on high for about 10 minutes, no need to flip.  Watch well, as the tips of the asparagus can burn easily toward the end!  Put them on a platter to serve, and watch them FLY off the plate!  Expect them to be gone within 10 minutes! :)  GO JEAN!!

4th of July BLUEBERRY Bread Pudding! Football players make 'dinner'!

4th of July is here!  One of my family's favorite holidays!  We are Soooo blessed to live in a FREE America!  I pray it stays that way!  What a happy day to celebrate!!  It's all about the FREEDOM, and enjoying your friends and family!  My son's friends are over today, and some were playing volleyball in the pool, so I decided to whip up some Blueberry Bread pudding!  Thought they'd like it and they did!  It is the perfect dessert on the 4th of July, so I will have to make it again in 2 days!!  LOL~ that's OK, it's easy and they love it!

SUMMER FUN!

How did Cole get so lucky to be on the girl's team??  Hmmmm~  :)


Blueberry Bread Pudding with Golden Dessert Sauce!

1 recipe Golden dessert sauce~ recipe lower

3 Tbsp butter- softened

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups milk

8 cups bread cubes (New Orleans style poor boy rolls, or hoagie buns- well packed)

2 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen, thawed and rinsed well.  Works just fine!)

For topping

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

FOR GOLDEN SAUCE

3 Tbsp butter- melted in sauce pan

1/2 cup sugar- mixed into melted butter

1 cup whipping cream

2 Tbsp Brandy- or Whisky 

Mix the sugar with the softened butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat til somewhat 'fluffy'~ Slowly add milk~

Pour egg and milk mixture over cut up hoagie bread~

Make golden sauce~ start by melting butter and adding sugar. Stir well, then slowly add cream and brandy~ (alcohol cooks out, but taste is great!)

Cook about 10 minutes on low~ Let it reduce, and thicken just a bit~ 

Mix in blueberries to bread and egg, milk mixture~

Put into 13X9 glass pan, level out and top with 2 Tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon mixture, and 1/3 cup golden sauce.  Bake in middle of oven at 350 for 35 minutes, or til set~

Pull out of oven, and let sit to cool a bit!  Ready to placed into individual cups, then topped with more warm golden sauce!

Blueberry, yummy GLORY!  :)

     FUNNY, ADDED BONUS for the day!!!!  ~  I came home around 6PM, after running errands, and these fun football players and girl friends, not 'girlfriends', girl 'friends' (Ha!) were cooking up dinner!  (compliments of my eldest son's friend, Jett!)  What does a dinner look like that a football player would make??  No surprise...typical American 'go to' food!  Looks GOOD!  I'll show ya~ :)


                     Jett's Football Player Dinner, Special!

:)  Make 4 boxes of Mac&Cheese, cooked as normal~  Ha, yes, I'm going there! :)

Broil up some Eckrich Smoked Sausage links, cut in half, lengthwise till they are golden and crispy on sides~

Serve them in a bowl, side by side! 

Wait in line! :)

 Looks GOOD, doesn't it?!  :)  My husband decided to stay home for the Mac & Cheese and sausages! (we were going to go out for dinner, but Jett's food won out :)  Sometimes EASY stuff like this, really hits home!!  THANKS, JETT!!  You ROCK!!~