Fourth of July Weekend: The Food Edition

I hope you all had a good 4th of July weekend. I did. I managed to do a whole lot of nothing on the 4th. I went to the gym and they were doing a special holiday schedule and the class I took was 90 minutes long. I was useless the rest of the day. It's okay though, because when the boys went to go watch the fireworks I knit and watched some pretty craptastic cable.

First off for the weekend, I tried a new recipe. I have figured out that I'm kind of drawn to variations of the brownie cookie. So when I saw this one, I decided I could fit it into the weekend schedule. I let The Kid and his friend decide on the toppings. Sprinkles always win, but mint chocolate chips and butterscotch were also used and so were an unusual combination of all those things ... hmm. I saw in the comments of the recipe that after filling the wells of the mini muffin pans some bakers piped the remaining batter into circles. This is exactly what I did on parchment paper and I would probably do this again especially if I were going to use this batter for ice cream sandwiches. Ooooo!

Also up for the patriotic weekend were some ribs. Remember how I like to complain that I do not have a grill so I must constantly compensate? Smitten Kitchen had a recipe that spoke to the complainer (that's me) and I have to tell you they really turned out quite well. I did reduce the brown sugar, because the household is not super crazy about the too sweet mixed with the savory. We used some gourmet BBQ sauce on the side though we did try to make a bit of the sauce recommended in the recipe. It reduced too salty, but I admit to sprinkling a bit on my husband's potato salad. Hey guess what internet, it turns out I might not be so anti potato salad after all. Is it the dill pickle and the lack of hard boiled egg? I dunno. But I ate it and I liked it. :)

What are your feelings about potato salad? What's your favorite summer salad? I admit, I had planned on making pesto pasta salad with olives and bell peppers and artichoke hearts but I didn't really do much that day. I sort of acquired the goods, left the recipe out and mentioned this is what I wanted to make. It seemed while I took a shower and a nap (apparently I like naps and potato salads now. Who said your 40s aren't full of new adventures?) the Manfriend decided to rub the ribs and salad some potatoes. Once I was socially engaged again I sort of consulted with him from my knitting chair as he continued to execute and implement the meal.

It was impressive. "I'd" do this again. I'm really grateful that Smitten Kitchen provided various oven temperatures for different times. She's fantastically practical in her way of knowing you think you're going to have plenty of time for "slow and low" and then suddenly it's only a short period of time you have left. We opted to take the foil off the last 10 minutes and crank it to 400 to kind of crisp them up. They weren't crispy  crispy, but they were definitely good.

Lastly in the highlights of holiday weekend eating at home. I've featured these before, but I think they are becoming a summer food ...



Korean BBQ Shortribs. I know, I know, you're all asking, "But how, Ellen?!? You just told us for the 80th millionth time you don't have a grill! Did you GO OUTSIDE to a park where there is sunlight and people?!?"

hahaha, seriously I'm laughing at YOU now, silly Internet!

No! We used  our handy dandy cast iron skillet. The big one, because that's what the Man Friend wanted for some gift giving occasion last year.

It's just store bought marinade, but jazzed up with some cloves of garlic, white onion, and green onion and a little black pepper. When it's time to put them in your skillet, pull all the marinade bits off so they don't burn.

It creates this carmelization that makes you worry if your cast iron skillet will survive, but it's totally worth it. Just don't wait too long to clean your skillet :)

Maybe what made this meal taste so ... well, tasty, was that we made it together in the kitchen. I made the stir fried cabbage with a little fish sauce, garlic and white pepper and The Kid helped us make some home made karaage from 2 boneless skinless thighs that had to be cooked.  We rounded it out with some more left over veggies and steamed rice. It was a simple meal from a happy kitchen.

What did you eat over the weekend? I don't care if you're not American, I assume it was still July 4th everywhere and at some point and you ate, ha! I hope you ate well. And don't forget! Tell me and the rest of our pals about your summer salads!