There…I said it. I know it’s not a popular opinion. I come from a family of people who love ribs. We are always on the hunt for a great bbq restaurant, and one of the dishes each place is judged by is their ribs. To me, ribs are too messy and just really stingy with the meat. I would rather have a pork chop. Or a steak.

So when ribs come in my monthly butcher box, I usually give them away to friends. For some reason, this month, I felt compelled to give them another try. I started them out in the slow cooker for ease, and then finished them off under the broiler. I like those crispy bits. And I just kind of made up a recipe.

Here’s what I did:

• I started by pouring about 1/3 of a bottle of Modelo Negra (dark beer) into the bottom of my slow cooker. This turned out to be key. I could taste a hint of the beer in the ribs…delicious.
• I added 1 medium sliced onion and a just a drop of liquid smoke.
• I coated the ribs with equal parts seasoning salt, garlic and onion powder, cajun spice, ground black pepper, cumin, and smoked paprika.
• Then I just cooked on high until the last time I checked them (about 5 hours later) a bone came apart from the meat.
• I pulled the ribs gently out of the slow cooker and placed them on an oven broiler pan.
• I carefully (because the ribs are hot and falling apart) brushed them with my favorite barbeque sauce, Johnny’s Adobo Tequila Bold Sauce…a giant bottle I bought at Costco, of course. And I don’t even like tequila.
• I placed them under the broiler for 5-10 minutes (keep your eye on them) until there were a few crispy spots.

I think a lot really does depend on the quality of the ribs. My butcher meat comes from animals raised with ethical practices, no antibiotics, and who are given quality feed. Buy ribs from a butcher you trust, and you’ll have better luck with the amount of edible meat. The slow cooker method also tends to break down the fat, and makes it part of the flavor rather than an unappetizing part of the texture.

I’m going to be thinking about these ribs for a long time.

 

The mornings have been cooler this last week, and we even had a couple of days of rain. My colleagues and I have started to plan to teach our first graders virtually to begin the year, which brings with it some very challenging circumstances. But everything is going to be fine.

So in the midst of developing schedules and learning expectations, I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. These are moist and delicious, and they have just the right spice mixture to soothe an anxious teacher’s heart. The recipe can be found here. Don’t be worried about the mixture of pumpkin and semi sweet chocolate chips. They really balance each other well, and I haven’t met anyone who didn’t enjoy these muffins.

As always, I have some modifications for this recipe:

• The recipe’s author offers this substitution for the pumpkin pie spice:

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon allspice. I also add 1/2 teaspoon cloves. You can’t go wrong with cloves.

• Don’t skip topping each muffin with 3 or 5 chocolate chips before you bake (odd numbers are more decorative). It really does make them look fancy.

A big thank you to the author of this recipe for spreading so much happiness.

Happy Fall, y’all!