A recipe for ribs in the oven that actually works and other fun stuff

Having more days off means inventing more projects. At least for me. I had a craving for ribs and had never made them from scratch. I came across a recipe from my Food & Wine Annual Cookbook for Mo’s Sticky Ribs and I have to say, it was really easy and really delicious. The only thing I added was a shot of sweet Thai chili sauce to the recipe’s sauce mixture. I might try it with guava jelly instead of apricot next time too.

I couldn’t just eat the ribs alone, so I decided to go with a kind of BBQ theme and made this German-style potato salad from Bobby Flay. His instructions say to use your pans on the grill, but I just did it on the stove. Here, I added some sliced cornichons for some more tang and texture and some snipped chives in addition to the parsley. You’ll see that it says that it should be served warm, but it’s delicious straight out of the fridge.

Finally, because I didn’t seem to get enough sugar, fat and starch, I decided to make baked beans as well. Below is my aunt Nola’s recipe for New England Baked Beans. These are always a hit at family gatherings and a nice item to bring as a side dish to pot-lucks and such.

3 cup Bushes Original Baked Beans

Bacon (a few slices cut in 1 inch pieces to top beans)

1 large onion

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tsp dry mustard

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients except bacon.
*You can mix them in a  greased 2-quart dish or, when doubling, a 9×13 pan.

Scatter the bacon pieces on top. Cover with lid or foil. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 2 hours. Uncover during the second hour.

With this one, take note that you are using the original baked beans. I’ve bought the wrong kind in the past and they have been a bit too sweet for my taste.

Et voila!

Three super tasty recipes to serve together or apart!