In honor of Dad

After getting out of having to water the garden once again with all the rain (I know I'm getting spoiled with this, between yesterday and today) I cooked up a storm...first time I've made ribs on my own without my dad looking over my shoulder to be here to supervise the oven if I have to run out the door. After giving me a hard time about it for a few minutes he would have been impressed that I only filled up the kitchen halfway with smoke for a very brief period of time.

I think the ingredients are spot on, but the ribs could probably use more time in the oven. But since it took me until 9:45pm to get dinner on the table, I'm just gonna run with it. I was a little too ambitious today...I made the ribs, creamed spinach stuffed tomatoes, mini pasta with zucchini and feta cheese, and a peach raspberry crisp. All of this for just two people...

 If anyone has tips on how to make ribs fall off the bone good (I wish I had written his recipe down) and wants to leave a comment that would be amazing!

Recipe of the Day: Cherry Coke Ribs

1 large (2 Quart 3 oz sized) bottle Cherry Coke
1 package baby-back ribs

Dry rub:
1 tsp each: salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, ground mustard
1 tbsp each: white sugar, dark brown sugar, onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup beer

Pour the entire bottle of Cherry Coke into a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
Continue to cook (you may have to turn down the heat to medium high, depending on how finicky your stove is) and reduce to a syrup (this will take about an hour, much like the time I tried to boil water at the squad building, you woulda thought I didn't even know what a stove was with how long it took!). Stir occasionally to prevent burning. When you pour it out of the pan, the syrup should be boiled down to 3/4 cup.

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the dry rub ingredients in a bowl. Remove the ribs from their packaging and dry them thoroughly with some paper towels. Place the ribs in a large pan and apply the dry rub liberally onto the top of the ribs. Pour the beer into the bottom of the pan and cover the pan loosely with foil. Place in the oven.

After 1 hour in the oven, remove the foil. Bake for another 15 minutes uncovered. When that time is up, baste with 1/3 of the Cherry Coke syrup. Repeat every 10 minutes (two more times) until the syrup is used up.

After the ribs have been in the oven for a total of 90 minutes, increased the heat to 400. Continue to cook them until they have been in the oven for 2 hours and 15 minutes. (Note: that was the point they had started to smoke, as the coke syrup had stuck to the bottom of the pan and started to burn. Surprise, surprise)

The pan is probably gonna have to soak in the sink for 3 days straight, but like I said the flavor was great. They may even be better over a low heat on the grill, but the rain got in the way of following through on that plan. More of this meal's recipes to come tomorrow!