R

Back to the Alphabet project that we seem to neglect for weeks at a time, but nearing the end.

R meal was spent on one of the last nights outside under the trees at the picnic table. I always feel a little couped up at the end of the summer because I have to eat inside, as I almost never eat inside if it's nice enough not to.

R night was a great meal. An actual meal that we all put together.

We had:

Ribs

Red Skins

Rice Crispy Treats (Shaped like pumpkins)

Rhubarb Pie

Rolls

And some sort of Raspberry Yogurt that was fantastic

I found the idea for the rice crispy treats a while back, and had intended to make them apples, but the apple phase passed and we were on to pumpkins. They were easy as can be. Just follow the normal recipe for rice crispy treats and add a box of orange jello. Shape into pumpkins. Let set and then add the stems. You can make the leaves our of candy as well, but we don't really eat the candy, so we used real ones that we just picked off.

Rhubarb pie has always been my absolute favorite. My Grandmother in North Dakota used to have one on the counter waiting for me when I would arrive after my long 14 hour drive. I would always have at least one slice before I went to bed. Sometimes two....because she made it just for me and I didn't want to share.  Then I would have one for breakfast too. And lunch.

 Now there is a secret to our ribs... actually there are a couple. I will only share one as the other, is well, secret.

In order for ribs to be fantastic, at least  for me, they need to be tender. A few years back, my husband discovered a way to make them that way and taste absolutely fantastic.
Coffee. Really really dark coffee.
If you bake them in the oven for a a few hours over coffee, the moisture soaks in and "smokes" them. Absolutely fantastic (And I'm not much of a meat eater, but I sure do love these)

The other secret is in the sauce. You'd have to ask my brother in law about that. He's been perfecting it. I have a general idea of what he does as I've made my own BBQ sauce as well, but he made some this summer that is finger licking good.