Country-style ribs cooked slow in a Crock Pot
A few years ago I watched an episode of
”
Semi-homemade with Sandra Lee
”
on the Food Network. The show focused on using a Crock Pot as
the cooking method and some of the recipes looked like they’d be
delicious. But there was just one problem with Lee’s recipes
– they all required additional ingredients to be added every few
hours. It seemed like she missed the point of using a Crock Pot at
all.
Country-style ribs cooked slow in a Crock Pot
A few years ago I watched an episode of “Semi-homemade with Sandra Lee” on the Food Network. The show focused on using a Crock Pot as the cooking method and some of the recipes looked like they’d be delicious. But there was just one problem with Lee’s recipes – they all required additional ingredients to be added every few hours. It seemed like she missed the point of using a Crock Pot at all.
In my house, the Pot comes out on weeks when we crave home-cooked meal flavors without all the work that goes into it. The perfect recipes are those where all the ingredients can go in at 8 a.m. before we leave for work, and all the ingredients come out perfectly cooked by 6 p.m. when we get home from work. And Crock Pot meals are perfect in households where some family members work late since the meal can be kept warm without over cooking.
One of our go-to meals is country-style spare ribs with barbecue sauce, served with mashed potatoes on the side. The meat can be cooked all day while we are at work, and a pot of red creamer potatoes can be boiled up in less than 20 minutes. But my favorite meal is a pot roast with vegetables. I like the Crock Pot version even better than one cooked in the oven for hours.
Country-style spare ribs in barbecue sauce
1 – 1 1/2 lbs. boneless country-style pork ribs
1 jar of barbecue sauce (or make your own favorite recipe)
1 bottle dark brown beer
Salt and pepper to taste
Season spare ribs with salt and pepper. Place in crockpot with the barbecue sauce and beer. Cover and cook on high for eight hours. Check spareribs for tenderness. They should be falling apart, or the consistency of shredded pork. Serve with mashed potatoes, using sauce in place of gravy.
Pot roast with vegetables
1-2 lbs. Pot roast
6 red potatoes, halved
1 bag baby carrots
3 celery stalks, sliced
1 c. sliced button mushrooms
4 garlic cloves, whole
1 – 16 oz. can beef broth (add more if needed to keep vegetables/meat moist)
Garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
Slice and chop vegetables and place in Crock Pot. Season pot roast with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Pot roast can be seared in a skillet or placed directly into the Crock Pot. Add broth. Cover and cook on high for at least eight hours. Check tenderness of vegetables and meat. The extra liquid in the Crock Pot makes an excellent gravy.
Pot roast gravy
In a skillet, melt 2 tbsp. of butter. Whisk in 2 tbsp. Flour and cook until lightly brown. Add liquid from the Crock Pot ½ a cup at a time and whisk in. Continue to add liquid until the desired consistency is made. Season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.
