Barbecue Beef Ribs

Ingredients

• Beef Ribs
• Barbecue Sauce

While it’s not rocket science, making good Barbecue Beef Ribs may seem a little daunting to the novice.  Some people promote pre-boiling, baking, or marinating.  I promise that it’s not hard–you just have to be willing to get your hands dirty.  If you are grilling your ribs, slice them apart, cover ribs with barbecue sauce, and place on grill on medium heat.  They should cook for 45 minutes to an hour.  Periodically (every 15 minutes or so) turn and baste with additional barbecue sauce.  If you are using the oven, preheat to 325*.  Leave ribs together and cover entire rack with barbecue sauce.  In a roasting pan, place rack of ribs on rack of pan and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, basting every 15 minutes or so (no need to turn).  Cut apart before serving.

 

Foil Dinners

A fun activity as everyone should assemble their own!  Generally, a foil dinner consists of a meat, a few vegetables, a ‘liquid’ (oil, water, or condensed soup), and a few seasonings.  There is no ‘one way’ to assemble a foil dinner, so I have included our family’s favorite combination.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 oz hamburger meat/person
• Sliced Mushrooms
• Diced and peeled potatoes (russet, red, or yukon golds)
• Diced Onion
• 1/2 T Margarine/person
• Garlic
• Oregano
• Salt

Form meat into a patty and place in the center of a 1.5-2 ft square of aluminum foil (use two layers of foil, shiny side up to direct heat inward).  Top with vegetables, margarine, and seasonings.  Bring two opposite sides of foil together and roll.  Roll up remaining two sides.  On a third sheet of shiny side up foil, place dinner upside-down and repeat wrapping maneuver.  Mark the top with name/initials using a permanent marker to identify after cooking.  Place in firepit or on the grill turned on high for about 30 minutes.  Peel away foil to check for doneness.

 

Outdoor Cooking

After having the wettest May in 40 years and a June to match it, the weather has finally turned and everyone is complaining about how hot it is!  With the forecast in the high nineties at the end of the week, I thought I should focus on what we can do to keep our houses cool and still prepare scrumptious food.  This way, we don’t have to live off of salads and sandwiches all summer!  (Although those can be scrumptious as well).  When most people think about outdoor cooking in the Northwest, hamburgers and hot dogs seem to be common fare.

A few tips about Hamburgers on the Grill:

• Blend your hamburger meat with an egg before shaping into patties and they will stay together better (about 1 egg to 1 lb of meat)
• Toast buns on the top rack when patties are nearly finished and put condiments on both sides of the bun to ensure that burgers are neither dry nor soggy
• Slice pickles at a diagonal instead of lengthwise or in a coin shape
• Slice mushrooms +/or onions and wrap in 2-3 layers of aluminum foil with butter or margarine and a small amount of garlic or garlic salt for a more sophisticated burger

Other Outdoor Cooking Ideas (in case you’ve had it up to here with burgers and hot dogs)

• Teriyaki Chicken (as a shish kabob)
• Other Shish Kabobs
• Ribs
• Foil Dinners
• Sticky Buns

 

Everyone’s Favorite Potato Salad

I have never had another kind of potato salad that I liked, probably because most had ‘crunchies,’ which I don’t like.  My husband does not like pickles.  Growing up, he also believed he did not like potato salad, although his mother assured him there were no pickles in it.  He only discovered after we had been married for two years that, not only did he like my potato salad, but his mother had been putting pickle juice in hers all those years!  I have brought this potato salad to every pot luck and BBQ I have ever attended and it has never failed that at least one person has asked for the recipe.  I tried to find the origins of potato salad and reports vary wildly; however, it appears that my recipe is a cross-breed between German and American versions.

Ingredients:

• 5 Medium Potatoes
• 5 Eggs
• 3/4 C Mayonnaise
• 1 T Mustard
• 1 t Vinegar
• 1 T Milk
• >1/2 t Onion Powder
• 1/4 t Garlic Powder
• 1/2 t Celery Salt
• <1/2 t Dill Weed
• 1/2 t Pepper
• 1/4 t Paprika

Hard boil eggs (slowly bring to a boil, turn down and simmer 15 minutes, remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes, drain and fill pan with cool water, let sit until eggs are cooled).  Peel and quarter potatoes.  Boil until soft enough to spear with a fork (about 15 minutes).  Blend liquids and spices in large bowl.  Drain potatoes and add to liquid/spice mixture.  Peels eggs.  Slice 4 eggs in three directions and add to mixture.   Stir well.  Even out surface with a spoon.  Slice the last egg in only one direction and arrange slices along the top.  Shake a small amount of paprika over the top.  Can be served still warm (YUM) but keep refrigerated.