Recipe of the Week

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Ribs

4 lbs. country style pork ribs, boneless
5 cloves garlic, sliced thin
salt and pepper
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. honey
2 tbsp. tabasco sauce
3 jalapenos, stemmed and sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
onion powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder to taste
2 c. of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 c. beef stock or broth

Wash pork ribs and place in slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir carefully until everything is well combined. Place slow cooker setting on lowest notch - 8 to 10 hours. You'll need to start these first thing in the morning to have them ready for dinner. Once they've finished cooking you can make a glaze for them by straining two cups of the liquid (you'll need to let it sit for a few minutes and then skim off the fat) into a pan. Bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. Combine 2 tbsp. corn startch with 2 tbsp. water and wisk in to hot mixture. Strain again to remove any lumps and pour over ribs.

I serve this with garlic and cheese mashed potatoes and green beans.

I've conquered my fear of Vapo-rub...

Strange title to a post, I know, but up until about three weeks ago I hated anything greasy that contained menthol and camphor (Vicks, Mentholatum, the off brand stuff). Why? Because when I was a kid my parents were huge fans of the stuff, my Dad especially. I'm always warm all the time anyway. When everyone else is freezing with 47 blankets piled on, I've got my feet sticking out the end of the bed. I was no different as a kid. However, when I got sick, it was always worse but logically Mom and Dad didn't want me to get a chill so they'd throw an extra blanket or two on my bed...but that wasn't the bad part.

First I had to put on my long johns. Not the nice soft ones they make now that are nice and cozy, but so thin you hardly even know they are there. No, these babies were the off-white square patterned ones that have a texture somewhere between burlap and 80 grit sand paper. I HATED them and they made me itch. I'd bravely put on the bottoms, grumbling to mom that I didn't like them. Before the top went on she'd send me in to see my Dad for the Vapo rub down. I'm sure mom didn't put it on me because she's way too nice and if I'd complained she probably would've wiped it all off. Not to say that my dad isn't nice, but it didn't matter how much you bitched, if it was going to help you, he was going to do it.

I'd go in to see my dad, bottle of Vick's or Mentholatum in hand (whichever one we had) and he smear it all over my chest. Not the nice little soothing glaze that you see them put on the kids in the commercials, where mom's smiling and so is the kid who's getting it put on them. Dad would put that crap on about 1/4 of an inch thick. He might as well have used a putty knife. I could've written my name on my chest and been able to see it for a couple of days if I left it uncovered. I'd be crying or complaining or both by the end of it.

Mom would come in and put the long john top on (which would promptly fuse itself to the goo that was on my chest) - causing more discomfort- and heat, then tuck me into bed. After the lights were off I'd kick off as many covers as I could get away with because I was already beginning to feel like a space heater. At which time the fumes would hit...

By the time I was in bed and had finally gotten rid of the extra blankets, the 1/4 inch of vapo rub had had time to soak through my long johns and instead of the "soothing" vapors that clear your nose and give you the warm fuzzies, being under the covers had given them time to concentrate into noxious fumes that turned my snot as well as most of the hair in my nose to dust. Then my eyes would start watering, then burning. Because I had previously been pulling at my shirt which was fused to my chest at this point, I had Vapo-rub all over my hands. But when you are six and your eyes start burning you rub them. So I did and an all knew sort of hell began...

So as you can see, I had very traumatic experiences with the Vapo-rub. The other week though, Ryker got the flu. While I was at the store picking up a variety of goodies to try to make him better, I ran across the dreaded Mentholatum. After my goosebumps had subsided, I remember something I'd read on those chain emails that may or may not be true. It said if you rub it on someones feet who is sick and put socks on they will sleep better. So I thought, "What the hell, we'll try it." Needless to say it worked wonders. Ryker woke up the next morning professing the best sleep he'd had in as long as he could remember. One week after his flu was gone he was still using it and finally decided to stop in case it was possible to get immune to the wonderful effects. I finally broke down and tried it (without socks of course - my feet get too hot) and it worked great! Best sleep I've had in a long time. I tried it on Brodee this week because he had a cold, worked great. So, if you're sick, try the Vapo-rub on your feet before you go to bed. I guarantee you will sleep like a baby and if you have any lingering bad memories of Vapo-rub from childhood like me, it might even help you get over those too.

Recipe of the Week

So life has been fairly boring and I haven't had anything that I felt was terribly exciting to share (maybe nothing I write is exciting - but I like to think that some of it is!). Life will get more interesting in the coming weeks though. I'm starting to receive cheesecake orders for Valentine's Day. I'm limiting myself to 20 - I did 14 last year without the help of my two extra ovens - so I should be able to manage 20 just fine. I've gotten 7 orders so far. In March, I'll be heading to Denver for a week for work. I found a non-stop flight so that should help limit my anxiety about getting on the plane (I'll also be visiting the doctor for some happy pills so that I don't alienate my co-workers who will be joining me on the flight). I'll keep you posted.

Here's the recipe for the week - one of Ryker and Kai'le's favorites...

BBQ Shepherd's Pie

1 lb. hamburger
1 can corn, drained
1 can sliced carrots, drained
1 can green beans, drained
1 small can baby peas (LeSeur are the best), drained
2 cups of BBQ sauce (your choice of flavor)
6 cups of mashed potatoes (either homemade or out of the box)
1 1/2 cups of shredded Italian cheese blend (I buy the Kraft in a bag)

Preheat oven to 425. Brown and drain hamburger. Season with whatever you like (I use salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and a bit of paprika). Add canned veggies and heat through. Add the BBQ sauce and heat until boiling. Pour in a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Cover the top with prepared mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and everything is heated through. Serve with a salad and cheesey bread sticks.

Recipe of the Week

The kids love breakfast for dinner. Ryker and I do too. Since I find breakfast way too heavy to have so early in the morning we have it about twice a month for dinner. It gives me my breakfast food fix and the kids actually eat everything on their plates. Here's one of my favorite things to make it's called a Dutch Baby:

My good friend Kristi taught me how to make this years ago. I usually stayed at her house on Friday or Saturday nights and we would get up early and make this and then eat it while watching Mesquite Rodeo on TV - oh the good ol' days!

Dutch Baby
6 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick (1/2 c.) butter - don't use margarine - it just isn't the same
Powdered sugar and lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425. In a medium (9 in) cast iron skillet (or other oven proof skillet - with high sides), place stick of butter. Place in oven while you prepare other ingredients. Combine eggs, sugar, flour, milk and vanilla in a blender. Blend on high until all ingredients are well combined. After butter has melted in skillet (but not browned), pour batter directly on top of butter. Return to oven and bake 20-25 min or until no longer jiggly and it is puffed and golden brown. Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Kai'le Angelle Jones

Kai'le is officially a Jones!!! Ryker, Kai'le and I visited the Canyon County courthouse yesterday to see the judge about Kai'le's adoption by Ryker. After months of wading through the legal system (on our own) we were able to finally produce the correct paperwork, all the social worker mumbo jumbo and the "trying to find George" rigamarole. The judge granted Ryker and I full custody of Kai'le, terminated George's parental rights and Ryker officially adopted Kai'le. Her new name is Kai'le Angelle Jones (as if we didn't know that already). We will need to send off for a new birth certificate where Ryker will be listed as her father. She gets a new social security card and then I have to go about changing everything from school records to shot records. All in all, it was a very exciting day. Kai'le was actually more excited than I expected her to be. Since she already thinks of Ryker as her dad and tells everyone her name is Kai'le Jones, I just figured it would be like any other day for her. However, she was very excited! She thanked the judge with a big grin and told everyone, including her teacher that she was officially a Jones.

It was a happy day for all of us and now we can simply move forward, as we have been all along, with our family intact and everyone sharing the same last name.

Escaping Winter Doldrums

With new snowdrifts threatening to swallow my truck lurking just outside, I escaped to the yearly routine of planning our upcoming vacation. For those of you who know me well, I am a planner - right down to the quickest route to get where we are going, what we'll do when we get there, the good places to eat and where we will stay. Does everything work out as planned? Not exactly - but it makes me feel better and gives me something to look forward to and be excited about. We always manage to throw in something fun and unexpected - like last year - Ryker, Kai'le and I took a float plane ride. As most of you know I'm not the biggest fan of flying, but I did it and it was awesome. Sadly, just a month later that very same float plane and very same pilot crashed into the very same lake we'd landed on. Out of the 5 people on board 3 survived including our pilot but it still struck home pretty hard. Either someone is telling me to keep my ass out of planes or we are just very lucky.

Sadness aside, I began to plan this years adventure. We were initially going to go to Sequoia/Kings Canyon and on to Yosemite (and throw in a visit to my grandma who lives very close by). We were also going to take our future vulcanologist Kai'le to Mono Lake to look at the cool tufa formations and then on to the ghost town of Bodie - where I haven't been since I was three - in the hopes of recreating a famous picture in our family (and the Sorenson's) on the double-seated outhouse. However Ryker's electrical final, 22 steers and a multitude of other going's on in the month of May has postponed that trip. We needed something a little farther south if we were going to travel in April.

We decided on three of Southern Utah's National Parks. We are going to visit Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef. I have never been to Capitol Reef and I haven't been to Zion and Bryce since that fateful trip to Bodie - so 30 years give or take - and Ryker has never been at all. Kai'le cried when she found out she wasn't going on the aforementioned trip to Yosemite, but once I showed her all the cool sites - she lit up like a Christmas tree. If you'd like to check out what Utah has to offer - here are some sites of the Parks and where we have decided to stay. I'm looking forward to a fun vacation and getting out of the cold and snow for a little while.

http://www.desertpearl.com/

http://www.redriverranch.com/

http://www.brycecanyonlodge.com/

http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/zion.htm

http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/bryce.htm

http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/capitol_reef.htm

Recipe of the Week

Indonesian Pork Kebabs w/ Spicy Pineapple and Coconut Rice

Pork Kebabs:

1 lb. ground pork
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbps. ginger, chopped
salt, pepper and onion powder to taste
2-3 Thai bird chili's, chopped (if you can't get these fresh at an Asian market - you can use about 2 tsp. Sambal Olek - an chili paste you can find in most supermarkets)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Combine all ingredients except egg and mix thoroughly. Add egg and mix until completely incorporated. Take about a 1/4 cup of the mixture and pat into a log shape. Thread onto metal skewers and place on a rack over a baking sheet. Place under the broiler for about 5 min on each side or until lightly browned and juices run clear. Serve with Coconut Rice and Spicy Pineapple.

Spicy Pineapple

2 large cans pineapple chunks, drain and reserve the juice
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cardamom
1-2 tbsp. Sambal Olek - 2 tbsp. will be quite hot, 1 will only be moderately hot
3 tbsp. corn starch

Place all ingredients except reserved pineapple juice and corn starch in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil. Boil for about 5 min. Mix corn starch with reserved pineapple juice. Add to pineapple/chili mixture. Stir until mixture returns to boil and begins to thicken. Cook until mixture is quite thick (reminiscent of pie filling) - serve hot.

Coconut Rice

1 1/2 c. short grain, rice
2 c. water
1 can coconut milk

Thoroughly wash rice until water runs clear. Combine rice and 2 c. of water in a rice cooker. Add can of coconut milk on top (do not mix into rice). Cook as you would any rice in the rice cooker. After rice cooker turns to warm, let rice sit for about 5 to 10 minutes. Mix with rice paddle until combined.

Happy New Year

This one will be short and sweet - just wanted to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!!!