In case you missed it:
LIKE LaMaLu Boutique on Facebook to be entered to win an item of your choice. Winner will be chosen on Thursday 5/9!
Giveaway – Enter to Win An Item from My Boutique
2
The Trick To Tender Fall – Off – The – Bone Baby Back Ribs
It’s no secret to anyone that knows me, that my Dad makes the most amazing baby back ribs ever. Seriously. I will argue with anyone who thinks that they make or know a place that makes better ribs.
I find myself ordering ribs at restaurants because I’m craving my Dad’s and continuously being disappointed by how inferior they are. This has happened time and time again. I even told Matt to remind me not to order ribs, because they just aren’t as good.
Well, I finally took this constant rib craving into my own hands when I asked my Dad his secret. And while, his secret does involve a grill (which I don’t have) – I still decided to attempt to make them for myself.
This trick to tender fall-off-the-bone Baby Back Ribs is this simple: BOIL, BOIL, BOIL. It also helps to have a great cut of ribs and amazing barbeque sauce is key, too.
Tender Fall off the Bone Baby Back Ribs
1 rack of baby back ribs (we buy ours from Harris Teeter)
1 bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce
Steps
1. Fill half of a gigantic pot with water. Turn burner to medium
2. Cut rack of ribs into quarters. Place in water.
3. Boil ribs on medium for 45-55 minutes skimming the foam off the top of the water (discard).
4. Reduce heat to low and allow ribs to boil for 1 hour.
5. Drain. If you do not have a grill, place ribs on cookie sheet and baste one side with as much barbeque sauce as possible. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Flip ribs and baste otherwise with barbeque sauce bake for 10 minutes. Broil for 4 minutes. If you have a grill, follow same basting process flipping when desired (remember the ribs are already fully cooked).
EAT.
See – it’s so simple.
Question: What is your favorite “barbeque” type food? (In NC barbeque is seasoned & chopped or pulled pork – everything else is just grilled).
Skinny Jalapeno Popper Dip
For my New Years Ever party, my friend Jessica made some amazing jalapeno poppers (from Skinny Taste). I was really hooked on them but I’ve been on a dip kick, so when I discovered this recipe for Jalapeno Popper Dip on Pinterest, I knew I had to make it for myself and lighten it up.
Not the prettiest picture, but it is so full of flavor who cares!
Ingredients
- 2 (8 ounce) packages fat free cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup fat free sour cream
- 1 cup shredded 2% Cheddar Cheese
- 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies
- 1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapenos (I used 8 oz because I like mine SPICY)
- 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp margarine, melted
1. Preheat oven to 375. Combine cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar cheese, green chiles and jalapenos. Mix well to incorporate all ingredients. Spread into a 2 quart baking dish.
2. In a separate bowl, combine breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and butter or margarine. Mix until coarse crumbs form (I used a pastry cutter).
3. Sprinkle crumb mixture over dip and bake 20-25 minutes until dip is browned and bubbling.
4. Serve hot with crackers, chips or pretzels.
Makes 10 servings of dip, 140 calories each.
Nutritional Information here.
Question: What is your favorite dip recipe?
One Amazing Salad – Clementine, Goat Cheese and Orange Poppy seed salad.
Do you ever go to a restaurant and have an absolutely amazing dish that you cannot stop thinking about? Well I did, at the Ironwood in Pinehurst NC.
We went on a Sunday night and had an amazing time. Dinner was great, but the salad I had as a starter was PHE-NOM-EN-AL. Really. It was that good.
I ordered the Grilled Peach Salad: Mesclun greens, rosemary grilled peaches, candied pecans, herb goat cheese and poppy seed vinaigrette.
It was amazing. Between the goat cheese, the grilled peaches and the vinaigrette I couldn’t determine what I liked best. Ok, maybe it was the goat cheese.
I thought about this salad for a few days after I had it and decided that I would try to recreate it using what I had on hand (plus goat cheese and Orange Poppy Seed dressing from Kroger).
There isn’t really a recipe for this, because I just eyeballed everything (and I didn’t really want to know how much goat cheese I was eating). My salad consisted of: arugula (can’t get enough of it), goat cheese, clementine (what I had), honey roasted peanuts, chopped bacon, ground chicken (had to have some meat on my salad) and Orange Poppyseed dressing from Kroger.
While it wasn’t my salad from the Ironwood, it was still pretty great! If you are in the Pinehurst area, I definitely recommend checking out the Ironwood.
Question: Have you ever had a dish so good you couldn’t stop thinking about it?
Peanut Butter Sriracha Cookies
When I was first introduced to Sriracha about 2 years ago, I immediately fell in love with it. It’s spicy yet still has flavor, not just heat. A few weeks ago (time is just FLYING around here), when it was national peanut butter day, and I wanted something sweet, I opened the fridge and discovered that I had Sriracha. Obviously, the universe was telling me to MAKE these cookies – RIGHT now.
And so I did. And they were fantastic. I used this recipe except, I used 1/3 cup of Sriracha because I like ‘em hot and spicy. I like these so much that I’m pretty sure I’ll never make regular peanut butter cookies again. Fair warning though: You must be a fan of Sriracha to enjoy.
Question: What is your favorite brand of hot sauce? Do you like the sweet and spicy combination?
- My favorite hot sauce, is actually Tabasco Chipotle. I LOVE IT. And I’m going to buy a gallon of it next time I run out.// <![CDATA[
// ]]>
Superbowl 2013 Appetizer Recommendations & HAPPY BIRTHDAY
First, I would like to wish Andrea a HAPPY 25th birthday!!! She has the best birthday ever – I am biased though, because it’s MINE TOO!! I’m celebrating tonight with some of my family and tomorrow with my friends!
I’m sure we’ll break out the mustache markers for the wine glasses!
Well, it’s been another year (eek) since my last Superbowl post and two years since my first ever Superbowl post and the death of my crockpot.
Here is a roundup of recipes I recommend for your Superbowl party:
Loaded Potato Bites – perfect appetizer for everyone and you can easily make them vegetarian (or even vegan).
Red Velvet Cake Brownies - a great sweet treat. And since they are made from cake mix they are super easy.
Jalapeno Popper dip from the Girl Who Ate Everything – this is what I’m going to be making and I cannot even wait.
Cream Cheese Sausage Balls from Plain Chicken – what is NOT to love about these? I’m using spicy sausage to make mine!
My favorite ever cupcakes – doctored up cake mix. You can’t beat the simplicity of using cake mix as your base.
What recipes are you making for the Superbowl? Please share!
Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Sausage and Cheese Ravioli
…. Alternative title: Throw Things into Pot and Hope It Works Soup.
On Saturday, (when I had a break from my new business) I made a soup out of the following things: Trader Joe’s Organic Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup, Neese’s Hot Country Sausage, Cheese Ravioli, and Trader Joe’s Corn and Chile Tomato-Less Salsa.
This soup was inspired by this recipe that I found on Pinterest. It also is kind of similar to my Tomato and Garlic Soup with Cheese Ravioli recipe (except wayyyy easier).
Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Sausage and Cheese Ravioli
8 oz spicy ground sausage, browned and drained
32 oz tomato & roasted red pepper soup base (I used Trader Joe’s boxed)
12 oz cheese ravioli, cooked according to package instructions
1 jar Trader Joe’s Corn and Chile Tomato-Less Salsa
1. In pot, heat tomato & roasted red pepper soup and Corn and chile salsa to a simmer. Stir well.
2. Add sausage, and cheese ravioli. Simmer covered 2-4 minutes.
Serve!
I topped mine with some shredded parmesan and red pepper flakes and it was amazing. I love how easy soup can be – it’s always fun to “bulk” up store bought soups and make them into something special.
Question: What is your favorite kind of store bought soup?
