Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Raspberry Chipotle Baby Back Ribs

Erin at The Queen of Tarts Blog posted a Raspberry Chipotle Ribs recipe the other day that just had to be a part of my 4th of July menu! 

My family loves baby back pork ribs, and with raspberry & the tasty heat from the chipotles in adobo, I knew it would be a hit.

The sauce is so easy to make!  Took all of 5 minutes to assemble and mix the ingredients, then 5 minutes to simmer.  It is so good, everyone kept "tasting" it.  My husband even dunked a celery stick from the veggie tray in it.  He pronounced it, "mighty good"!

Leftover Sauce is a GOOD thing!

The BBQ King grilled the ribs to perfection.  But you'll have to take my word for it.  I was so intent on getting everything on the table, I forgot to take a photo until we were finished! Everyone LOVED these ribs!

DISCLAIMER:  Under normal circumstances, I would never show "after" photos of a meal.  But...


Raspberry Chipotle Ribs

As for the leftover sauce?  Erin suggested pouring over a block of cream cheese and serving it with crackers as an appetizer.  That is a definite possibility.  But it will more likely show up on grilled chicken in a day or two!

Please try these ribs!  If you like sweet/spicy BBQ, you're going to LOVE these!


Sunday, July 3, 2011

Strawberry Cake

I promised a Facebook friend, Melissa from "Cooking with Mel" I'd post the recipe for my microwave Strawberry CakeYes, I said microwave.  It was HOT here yesterday, but I wanted a dessert because I had invited a friend to dinner.  AND, I had strawberries that had to be used...if you know what I mean!

Below, are photos of the cake, one from the cookbook and one of my cake.


Cookbook Photo


My Cake

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 pkg (18.25 oz.) yellow cake mix - I used white cake mix since that's what I had
3 eggs
1 can (21 oz.) strawberry pie filling - I finely chopped & macerated my own berries in sugar

Directions:
Prepare a microwaveable bundt/tube pan by greasing  and sprinkling with the granulated sugar.  Mix the cake mix and eggs together thoroughly.  Add the pie filling and mix until well blended.  Pour batter into the baking pan.  Microwave on High Power (100%) for 10-12 minutes, until the cake is just moist on top.  If your microwave doesn't have a turntable, you'll want to rotate the pan 1/4 turn, every 2 minutes.

I used my Tupperwave Stack Cooker for this.  I used the 3 qt. casserole with the cone.  In my new microwave, the cake only took 8 minutes.  Since microwaves are all different powers, you just have to experiment.  You can have a cake that resemble a brick if you overcook it. :o)



Stack Cooker - Click HERE for more info

You can combine just about any flavor cake mix and pie filling.  WARNING:  Yellow cake & blueberry filling give you something the color of swap water.  We'll not discuss how I know THAT!

You'll also notice that my cake doesn't have little piped bits of cream & strawberries.  No, we piled on the whipped cream, made fresh in my Whip 'N Prep (in about a minute) and fresh sliced strawberries!

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!