Slow Cooker Fall Off the Bone Ribs

Happy Monday! Today I am sharing a quick post on a recipe I have made a couple of times over the summer. Joe requested ribs a few times and after some initial hesitation (I don't like eating meat off a bone), I did some searching on Pinterest and found the perfect recipe. I mean if they fall off the bone I don't need to worry about biting into a bone, right? Enter Carlsbad Cravings' Fall off the Bone Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs!

Carlsbad Cravings Slow Cooker Ribs

It wasn't quite as easy as some other slow cooker recipes as it involved making a rub and sauce and searing the meat in the oven before putting in the cooker, but the effort was worth it. I actually prepared the meat and the sauce the night before, stored in the fridge, and popped it all into the cooker in the morning.

I don't have many photos because my photography skills are pretty poor especially when compared to Jen's.

Verdict: Although time consuming, the first time I made these ribs they were absolutely perfect. The meat was tender and fell off the bone as promised. I was afraid the preserves in the sauce would be too sweet, but it all came together deliciously. The second time, I may have left them in the oven a little too long (I had way to much going on in the kitchen and multitasking isn't my strong suit) and in the slow cooker a little too long and they did't come out quite so well. Still very good, just not as perfect as the first time. I am not sure how often I will make these once I am back at work, but they are perfect for a summer Sunday when you can enjoy the smell of them cooking all day.


Fall off the Bone Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs
recipe from Carlsbad Cravings
(my notes in red)

  Ingredients:
  4 lbs baby back pork ribs

  Spice Rub:

• 1 1/2 Tablespoons paprika
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional for more heat)
• 
  
• Barbecue Sauce:
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup seedless blackberry preserves
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoons reserved Spice Rub (from above)
• 1 tablespoon liquid smoke (optional)* I didn't use this

  Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F Line a baking sheet with sides with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Cut ribs into 6 sections then rinse and pat dry.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together Spice Rub ingredients. Remove 1 tablespoon Spice Rub to use in your barbecue sauce. Rub all remaining Spice Rub evenly all over the meat then place ribs on prepared baking sheet. Bake ribs for 15 minutes ON EACH SIDE (30 minutes total) to sear meat.
4. Meanwhile, add all of the Barbecue Sauce ingredients to a medium saucepan and gently simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce and refrigerate to use after ribs are cooked. (I did all this the night before and stored the ribs in a pyrex dish in the fridge overnight).
5. Spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray (I use a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner - not as pretty but sooooo easy for cleanup) then add a thin layer of remaining barbecue sauce, followed by ribs. Layer sauce then ribs until complete, tossing to coat as needed to ensure ribs are evenly coated in barbecue sauce.
6. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours or on LOW for 7-9 hours OR cook until ribs are fall apart tender. Rotate ribs once during cooking so they cook evenly. Cooking time may vary between slow cookers.
7. When ribs are tender, remove from slow cooker and brush with some Reserved Barbecue Sauce if desired or use sauce for dipping. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Happy Friday everyone! We made it through another week! If you checked out my "Day in the Life" post over at The Domestic Wannabe on Wednesday, you saw that I made Slow Cooker Pulled Pork for dinner. I had my first taste of this version at my friend Michelle's and asked her for the recipe before JJ's 1st birthday party (I will post on that before he's in college, I swear). I was surprised that it was actually a Spark People recipe! I pinned it a couple weeks ago to make sure I never lose it:

Source: SLCOLEMAN on  Spark People

It's a great option for weeknights - I just prepare the sauce the night before and throw everything in the pot in the morning before work. When I get home, all I need to do (most of the time, see below) is shred the pork and make some sides.

It looks gross, but I swear its delicious!

When I got home from work, I took a look in the cooker and saw that the sauce was really really watery, which is unusual. I double checked the recipe and realized I forgot to add the brown sugar. To try and save it, I added a couple teaspoons of brown sugar and some cornstarch to thicken it back up. I set it on high and stirred it every once in awhile while the rice was cooking. After I shredded the pork, I threw it back in the sauce to soak up a little more flavor. 

Overall, my save was pretty successful. It definitely tastes a little better when prepared right from the beginning, but it was still really good.

The Verdict: I've made this a bunch of times so its obvious I like it. It's sweet and juicy and makes great leftovers.

Things to Consider: Double check you included all the necessary ingredients! Also, the recipe makes a lot and is freezer friendly - so you can make it once and have it multiple times!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

by SLCOLEMAN posted on Spark People

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped celery 
1 cup chopped onions 
1 cup ketchup 

1 cup barbecue sauce 

1 cup water 
2 tbsp vinegar 
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
2 tbsp brown sugar 
1 tsp chili powder 
1 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp pepper 

1/2 tsp garlic powder 
3 lbs boneless pork roast 

Directions:
Combine all ingredients except roast in the slow cooker. 
When well mixed, add roast. 
Cover, cook on high for 6-7 hours. 
Remove roast. 
Shred the meat and return it to the sauce. 
Note - You may want to thicken the sauce some.
Great for making sandwiches or using in other recipes. The sauce is good on rice too.

St. Patrick's Day Recap

Happy Wednesday everyone! I just wanted to post a little St. Patrick's Day recap. We played it pretty low key - just invited my parents over for a little corned beef and cabbage. I made the same recipe last year, but barely mentioned it so I figured I would give a full review this year. Here is the pin I had from last year:

Source: Food Network

Of course my version came out nothing like the photo, but it was still tasty. I rough chopped up some red potatoes, onion, carrots, and celery and dropped them in the bottom of the pot. Add 4lbs of corned beef, one tablespoon of pickling spices, a bottle of stout and enough water to cover everything.

 

Cook on low for 8 to 9 hours. Then remove the meat and veggies and toss in the cabbage for a half hour (with the temp on high). The results:



It is impossible to take a pic of corned beef and make it look appetising. But I swear, it was delicious.

Just like last year, it came out great. Not slimy like corned beef sometimes can be and not too dry. And the house smelled delicious all day. I should note that the cabbage took a little longer than the 30 minutes called out in the recipe.

JJ wasn't a fan of the beef (he is a picky eater, especially lately), but enjoyed some of the special cookie his Grandma brought him and some chocolate shavings off the dessert she brought too.

 

I'll end my post with a shot of the Irish Blessing I wrote out of the pantry chalkboard (if you follow us on instagram, @pinstersisters, you got a sneak peak):


...And may trouble avoid you wherever you go" - I ran out of room to finish it!

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
recipe from: Food Network.com
Ingredients

• 2 stalks celery, halved
• 4 carrots
• 1 medium onion, cut in 4 wedges
• 4 to 6 red potatoes, quartered
• 1 4-pound corned beef brisket
• 12-ounce bottle stout or dark ale
• 1 tablespoon corned beef spices or pickling spices (or spices that come with the brisket)
• 1 medium head cabbage, cut into 6 wedges

Directions

 

Place celery, carrots, onion and potatoes in the bottom of a large slow-cooker or crock pot. Rinse the corned beef brisket and place over vegetables. Add the bottle of stout, spices and enough water to just cover the meat. Cover and cook on LOW for eight to nine hours.

Remove the meat and vegetables from the pot and cover with foil to keep warm. Increase heat to high and cook cabbage until softened but still crispy, 20 to 30 minutes.

Slice brisket across the grain, serve with vegetables, mustard and horseradish sauce. Pass extra cooking liquid at the table.

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast

Well I didn't anticipate us going this long without a post, but I guess life just gets in the way of blogging :) This post has been sitting, 25% typed out in draft form for weeks...

I have had time to make this recipe twice now, so its about time I review it. Balsamic is a favorite in this house. In salad, on subs, drizzled on tuna. Delicious. So when I saw this pin:

 Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast from A Cook's Quest

I knew I had to give it a try. Below are the couple pics I remembered to take.

I browned the roast the night before:

Browning the roast

and also cut the onions the night before and threw them in a ziplock in the fridge. I even mixed up the sauce the night before so all I had to do in the morning was dump it all in the crock pot.

Prep the night before made it easy to dump in the next morning.

The delicious final product (but crappy pic)

Verdict: It was delicious! The sauce was incredible - especially on the mashed potatoes. The onions were tender and sweet and the perfect compliment to the roast. Clearly its repeatable - I've made it again!

Things to note/consider: The first time we had it, Joe made the sauce. He did a much better job. When I tried to separate the fat the second time we had it, I don't think I got one bit out. As a result, the sauce was sort of thin. Still good, but it was better the first time.

To make it even easier to throw together, I had the potatoes peeled and chopped and sitting in water overnight, so they just had to be drained/rinsed and boiled while the sauce was being made. It was a delicious weeknight meal that tasted like it took a day's worth of cooking. The leftovers were great too. Highly recommended!

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast
from A Cook's Quest

3-4 pound boneless chuck roast
Seasoning Salt

Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
black pepper to taste
1-2 T olive oil (depends on your pan)
1/4 cup water to deglaze pan
2-3 large onions, peeled and thickly sliced
1 cup beef stock, reduced to 1/2 cup (can use a can of beef broth, but be sure to reduce it)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup tomato sauce

Rub meat well with seasoning salt, onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper. Heat heavy pan with small amount of olive oil and brown roast well on both sides. This will take a few minutes; don't rush the browning step.

While roast browns put 1 cup beef stock in saucepan, bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, then let cool slightly and mix in balsamic vinegar and tomato sauce. Peel onions and cut into thick slices. Deglaze pan with 1/4 cup water and add to sauce mixture.

Place onions in bottom of slow cooker. Put meat on top of onions and pour beef stock mixture over. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, until beef is tender. The meat might be partly submerged in liquid after this much time.

Remove meat from slow cooker and cover with foil to keep warm. Drain liquid from Crockpot and remove as much of the fat as you can with fat separator or skimmer. Cook down liquid by about 1/3, and serve sauce with meat and onions.

In other news, I still have a large backlog of things to post. I hope to catch up this weekend to get some more current stuff up here. Also - my amazing husband got me a fancy new camera for my birthday so the picture quality from me should get better (once I figure it out!). Have a great weekend everyone!

Slow Cooker Honey Parmesan Pork Roast

As I have said before, I like using the slow cooker at least once a week. It makes meal planning easy for me, and it so nice to come home to a meal that's basically done. I pinned this one awhile ago, and finally got around to making it a couple weeks ago.

Slow Cooker Honey Parmesan Pork Roast

Source: Six Sisters Stuff

It was super easy: just mix the ingredients, pour over the meat, and turn on the cooker. Our current nighttime routine is for me to feed JJ when I get home, then we go for a family walk and some playtime after. Then Joe gives him a bath and when I am getting him in his pj's and feeding/reading him to sleep, Joe finishes up what needs to be done for dinner. In this case, he had to make the sauce and boil/mash the potatoes (I had them washed, peeled, cubed, and sitting in a bowl of water in the fridge the night before). On Sunday's I try to plan out/organize as much of the week as I can, it really helps keep me sane and not freaking out at 8pm about what to cook. This routine is sure to change soon - JJ is starting solids and we want to eat as a family, but for now we try to get in as much baby time as possible without trying to shove food down our throats.

Anyway, here are my (few) pics:

Meat in cooker

Mixing up sauce

Pour sauce over meat and set cooker! Super easy!

It's hard to make slow cooker food look appetizing, but I swear it was good.

The Verdict: It was tasty. I think I overdid it a little (is it supposed to look black?) but it was still pretty moist. Like I said, it was super easy and I usually have most of the ingredients so for those reasons alone it might make it into the crockpot rotation more.

Things to Consider: Since we are out of the house all day and the meal is usually cooked by mid afternoon, I think I should start cutting the cooking times back by 30 minutes. I mean it's sitting in the "keep warm" setting for hours so its still getting cooked, right? This might help the black appearance. Also, I would probably cut back on the cheese a little. But as I said above, it was good and will most likely be repeated.

Slow Cooker Honey Parmesan Pork Roast
Ingredients:1 (2-3 pound) boneless pork roast
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp dried basil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place roast in slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, honey, soy sauce, basil, garlic, oil and salt; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160°.

Remove meat to a serving platter; keep warm. Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a small saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice roast; serve with gravy (I also made mashed potatoes and the gravy was delicious on them!).

PS - I am looking for some spring/summer slow cooker recipes. I feel like most of what I put in there is a hearty, winter type meal (stew, pot roast, etc). Anyone have any lighter suggestions?