Monday Meal Planning!

Hey y'all, wanna talk menus this week?

We are cooking on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. After that we have a little adventure!

Monday:
Oven-baked ribs - recipe below
Mashed cauliflower - my recipe here except now I use the steamable frozen cauli bags
Roasted okra with olive oil and cumin (thawing a bag of frozen okra as we speak)

Tuesday:
Italian Caper Chicken - my recipe here
Steamed broccoli with lemon
Mashed cauliflower (leftovers)

Wednesday:
Chopped Salad - we like Harris Teeter's Southwest chopped salad
Leftover Italian Caper Chicken

I'm heading to the store shortly for the ribs (Harris Teeter shoppers: they are half off this week), two bags of the frozen steamable garlic cauliflower (also half off this week at HT -- Bird's Eye brand), cream cheese for that recipe (3/$5 this week at HT), a lemon, the chicken (also on sale - Perdue Perfect Portions, it's so "chickeny" tasting!) and the chopped salad. Those pre-made bags of chopped salad with all of the ingredients inside are weekly staples for us because they are fast, tasty and healthy!

Okay, so the ribs!
I never neverrrrr cooked ribs before because I just assumed they were best done by restaurants. BUT let me tell you about a recipe my mom shared with me that is simple and delicious. The meat will literally fall off of the rib bone and whoever you're cooking for will think you're untouchable in the kitchen.

Ingredients:
Rack of ribs
Heavy duty foil
Barbecue sauce of choice
Salt, pepper, dry rub of choice -- I just use Aldi's steak seasoning instead of these 3

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Hardest part of the entire equation is taking the "silver skin" off of the back of the ribs. This thick membrane of the ribs can be removed by scoring it a bit with a sharp knife and then just running your finger under it to peel it back (non-meat-people: I'm sorry). Anyway, the ribs cook better without it on and the seasonings reach the actual meat. Here's a one-minute You Tube that shows how to master it.

After that's done, you're going to coat the ribs with your seasonings on both sides. My mama uses salt, pepper, and a dry rub. I sometimes just use steak seasoning and call it a day. Now, seal those ribs up TIGHT with heavy duty tin foil and put them on a baking sheet. You want them to be wrapped well and securely in the foil.

Cook ONE HOUR at 450 degrees, then reduce heat to 250 degrees for the next 2-3 hours.

Midway through, drain the juices.

Thirty minutes before those bad boys come out of the oven, coat them liberally with barbecue sauce using a basting brush. Keep them uncovered and continue baking so that the sauce gets nice and caramelized and gooey.

I'm sorry I don't have a photo -- but just imagine heaven on a plate.