My Gran's BBQ ribs - extra addictive!

So, I gotta say that blogger is a pain in the ass! I have been locked out for weeks!

Anyway, my Gran's ribs. I got the meat on supper sale on Sat, and so yesterday they made their way into the oven! My cooking experience started with a walk down memory lane, and I can safely promise you some more of my Gran's recipes.

Love you Grandma.

Oh Happy Day! My house smelled ammazzzzzing! Give it a try, you'll be sorry!

1 c water
2/3 c white vinegar
2/3 c ketchup
1/2 c brown sugar
2 tbsp of corn starch and some cold water to mix it in

So, I doubled the recipe, and it was great - for the brown sugar, I used 1/2 c of golden sugar, and 1/4 each of dark brown sugar, and even darker brown sugar. What a taste! The dark and darker sugar really (positively) effected the sauce!

First off, I seared the meat and scored the backs of them. (With S $ P)and layed them out in my roaster 1 layer deep (think this makes a difference in how the sauce gets later, so get a bigger roasting pan!) and set the oven to 325 F.

Mix everything except the corn starch into a med pot and boil it up, then mix the cornstarch and water, and add it to the pot. Let it thicken (wisk it here girls) and over the ribs it goes.

I had no propane for the BBQ, so into the oven they went, all afternoon. oh, my .......

Wish I had a photo everyone, cause it was GLORIOUS! Served the crack with rice and steamed brocolli and the husband was happy! (Happy meaty tummy ;-) )

Cake Flour Substitute

From the Zaar, recipe number 87689. I think Erin's had some success with this one but I have to tell you that it caused me some serious problems with Cathey's cake. I ran out of the Bulk Barn cake flour and thought I'd give it a whack. I ended up having to add at least another half cup of milk and two or three extra egg whites to get the consistency to where I was used to it.

I might not have noticed if I hadn't made that white cake recipe roughly a dozen times in the last two weeks (it feels like). I don't know if it would have been a problem if I had done it by weight though because I suspect that my flour is wicked dry. I don't think I want to try it again though because that's just more stress than I needed right before that cake was due because the first one fell apart and I was seriously running out of time for the base cake at that point.

Erin, did you try it with a cake that you had made with regular cake flour previously?

BROWNIES : GUILT BY ASSOCIATION

I have faithfully been making these brownies off the side of the Frys cocoa tin for several years now and I'd never really bothered to change up the recipe very much - why fix what is decidedly un-broken? However last night I decided to make things a little more interesting...with whole hazelnuts and way too much time on my hands, the kitchen was my oyster. Even if I dont like oysters.

1 1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
1 c. cocoa
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
preferred nuts

Prehead your oven to 350. OR DIE TRYING.

I. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan.
II. When liquid, remove from heat and add cocoa. Mix untill no lumps remain. Stir in sugar and eggs, one at a time. (I don't know what it was, but 4 eggs seemed somehow rediculous so I substituted the last egg for an egg-sized lump of apple sauce. It occured to me later that I could have done that instead of the TWO CUPS of sugar, but genius is a lazy bitch.)
III. Add the vanilla and pour into the flour mix, bit by bit so you don't get those dreaded flour-pockets at the bottom. Pour into a pan and toss in whatever nuts you desire. Mix about and then bake for ~40 minutes.
(Check it at 30. For some reason I put them in for 25 the first time around and it actually jiggled when I picked up the pan, so I sent it back for another 15. They were crunchy around the edges but still gooey and sticky on the bottoms. That's more like it.)

ps. I also ended up making a video about them on YouTube. You can check it out here.
-->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKY0K3SOJKM

These ribs were better

I don't have a barbecue. This is one of the great sadnesses in my life right now. I believe that summer heat is made tolerable only by the ability to cook outdoors and not pollute the inside of your house with all of that excess thermal energy from the oven. I've been tolerating the heat smog in my apartment and actually running the oven because I can make things like these ribs. And that potato salad. I can take or leave the cucumber slices.

Put the ribs in a foil lined roaster (I don't think that the foil actually contributes to the cooking but, boy, does it make the cleanup a lot easier). Cover with more foil and roast at 350F for about an hour. Take the foil off, smear with some form of barbecue sauce or glaze and throw them back in the oven uncovered. Baste a couple of times over the next hour and then they're done. Yummy. Nice caramelization, not too tough or dry. I was thinking that they would be really good glazed with the Epicure sauce that we tried at Erin's party, the one with the ginger in it. Maybe a little onion and orange marmalade to thicken and sweeten it. Yummy again.

Served with potato salad. 6 cooked potatoes and 2 hard boiled eggs cut into chunks or slices or whatever floats your boat. Add enough mayonnaise to make it as mayo-y as you like. I added a tablespoon each of Bacon, Cheese & Chive Dip mix, 3-Onion Dip mix, and Lemon Dilly Dip mix (if the combo sounds familiar, it's the magic three from the Extraordinary Cheese Dip). It was a great meal and I have to say that the Ice Capp was the perfect way to end the meal. Thanks Erin! Okay, now I'm not posting anything else until someone else does, it's starting to feel a little too much like The Me Show (starring Me! It's Me! (you'll have to mentally supply the catchy theme music yourself)).