Fast Erny's Slow Cooked Ribs

Here we are with another one of Fast Erny's recipes. Last time I posted Fast Ernys Sonoran Lime Chicken  it was a hit. Now that summer is right around the corner, these ribs are a real crowd pleaser. It's the winner of multiple rib contests, and is AMAZING! The meat just falls off the bone, and the recipe is effortless. Go ahead try it out. You will want to eat these ribs every night!
3 1/2# St. Louis Ribs
4 TBS Garlic Pepper
2 tsp Salt
1 bottle BBQ sauce-
5 ounces Franks hot sauce
3 TBS minced garlic
I started with some meaty St.Louis style ribs, they generaly are cheaper than baby back ribs and yield more meat.Wash the ribs and pat dry with a paper towel.  Mix the garlic pepper and salt together and rub all over the ribs. Place on a cookie sheet that has 4 sides. Turn the oven to 400* and place the ribs in (no need to preheat the oven) fill a casserole dish with water about 2 quarts and place in the bottom rack of the oven. Cook at 400 for 1 hour. After the 1 hour turn the oven down to 225* without opening the door. Set the timer for 3 hours. Every few hours check the water and make sure it is full, but mostly keep the oven closed. Combine the BBQ sauce, franks hot sauce and minced garlic to form "secret confidential" sauce. Cover the ribs in the sauce and cook for another 45 min. For a total of 4 hours and 45 min of cooking time. Once they come out- cut the ribs, make sure you get some for you they tend to go fast.

Pizza Bagels

Yep pizza bagels! I'm not sure why I didn't think of them before. I had the mini pizza bagels when they first came out. Let me tell you the ones I made are far better than the ones from the freezer isle. Plus I used regular sized bagels. This is more like a suggestive recipe. I'm giving you the basic idea and way to construct them. But what you put on them is really up to you. I had some homemade marinara sauce in the fridge leftover from spaghetti, but any red sauce, pesto or cream sauce will do. I cut each bagel in half thus making 2 pizzas from each bagel, Then I smeared some sauce all over the cut sides, then added my toppings. I used dry salami, jalapeno peppers, mushrooms and fresh mozzarella. After everything was piled on top I sprinkled the whole thing with red peppers, basil and oregano. I made 10 pizzas, then froze them overnight. After they are completely frozen they can be bagged up for easier storage.  To bake them preheat the oven to 425 and bake for 15-20 min frozen, I imagine it will take half the time if they are thawed or were not frozen at all. Enjoy your pizza Bagels!

Pineapple- Berry Pops

When I came across a bunch of pineapple peices in my cuppard I was determined to make some yummy pops out of them. But  pure pineapple proved to be a bit too acidic for my tastes. With my fridge full of strawberries-(yes again!) Doing a two-toned pop looks cool and layers the flavors. 
Pineapple- Berry Pops
38oz pineapple pieces in pineapple juice
2 TBS honey
2 pounds strawberries stems removed
1/4 cup acai berry juice
1/4 cup sugar

In a blender or food processor- combine the pineapple pieces, juice, and honey. Puree until smooth. Fill each pop mold about 1/2 way up. Using the same bowl -no need to clean it, it's just a little pineapple. Add the strawberries, acai berry juice and sugar. Blend unitl puree. Pour into the other 1/2 of the mold. The pineapple puree is so heavy and the strawberry puree is much lighter so they can stay pretty seperate. I used a knife to create the cool two toned swirl. Now divide into Popsicle molds, freeze for about an hour and add the sticks. Don't add the sticks right away because they will sink to the bottom. I always freeze my pops overnight before removing from the molds. To release from molds, just dip in warm water and pull out. Wrap the pops in wax paper or plastic wrap,then stack in a freezer bag. It's so much better then store bought pops!

Chipotle Lamb Tacos

Lamb was on sale, so I figured I'd try it out. Once it was in my fridge I just stared at it puzzled. Now what do I make with.this unique meat. Don't get me wrong I love lamb. I had just never made it at home or even work. So the journey began. Everyone I asked suggested Greek style foods- which I am not against, I just wasn't in the mood for it. Then I realized we hadn't had tacos for a while. Then the brainstorming began...with the end result of me saying "I may never eat beef tacos again!" This recipe is easy to assemble and cook. In fact we liked it so much the first time - I made it the following night too! But seriously it can be made with any other kind of meat- turkey, beef, chicken, or maybe tofu- why not?!

Chipotle Lamb Tacos
1 pound ground lamb
1 TBS Olive Oil
1 small can chipoltle chillies in Adobo sauce
1 bunch Cilantro chopped
1/2 avacodo diced
1 cup shredded cabbage (optional)
1 lime cut in wedges
6 oz feta cheese
10 corn tortillas

Preheat the oven to 275*.  Wrap the corn tortillas in foil and place in oven to keep warm for 10-15 min.
Meanwhile in a large skillet brown the lamb, with the Olive Oil. Once the meat is browned up remove any fats that might still be in the pan. Depending on how spicy you want it, be careful on how many chipotle peppers you add  next, but for sure add all the sauce! For us we love spicy! So  I added the entire can to my lamb - and boy was it spicy- but a good amount of heat for us. Then stir in a 1-2 TBS of chopped Cilantro.
Now just assemble the tacos in any fashion you like with a warm corn tortilla, I started with avocado, then lamb, feta, squeeze of lime  and a sprinkling of cilantro. We didn't do cabbage but that would be great on the tacos as well. Really this is a easy recipe that can be pulled together rather quickly. I hope you try out the lamb! It was really tasty!

Chocolate pretzels

Woo Who Rain! I'm only half kidding! But I made it into kitchen and made some yummy cookies. Aren't they cute? Little chocolate pretzels. This was a fun project for my little helper.  But he couldn't make the pretzel shape, so he made various shapes. The one that was his favorite was the "L" shape.  I wonder why?! ha ha. I paired these with a caramel sauce and they were fantastic. Way better then my complete mess up last week. 

Chocolate Pretzels:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup salted butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

sugar crystals

In a medium bowl combine the flour and cocoa powder. In a electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Then add the flour and cocoa powder mixture. Mix until combined. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour or freeze for 30 min. Preheat the oven to 375* Roll the dough into 20 small balls. Roll each ball into a rope. With each rope form a heart shape with the ends overlapping to cross in the center.  Sprinkle the cookies with some crystal sugar.  place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 12-15. transfer to a rack and let cool. 

I cheated and used pre-made caramel sauce that I had in my fridge for some ice cream.  But here is a link for some great caramel sauce that I make from time to time. Caramel Sauce from the food network.  I hope you enjoy these fun cookies!

Dreamy Strawberry Pops

When I was young my favorite flavor of popsicles, icee, slurpie, hard candy was RED. What does red even  mean? That is just wrong that the color red can be thought of as a flavor ( and yes I know it was something like cherry, strawberry, watermelon) but it was fake none the less.  Now I can put a stop to all the extra sugar and preservatives that goes in my kiddo's body. That's why I make pops, so he can have a healthy cool treat in the summer. When I got a good deal on strawberries I thought I could stock up my freezer with some yummy strawberry pops.
 Dreamy Strawberry Pops
3 pounds strawberries, stems removed and cut in 1/4
1/4 cup sugar
24 oz plain yorgurt
2 oranges zested

In a food processer puree the strawberries and sugar. Then add the yogurt and orange zest. puree until smooth. This filled my 12 cup food processer up, so if you have a smaller one are are using a blender do it in batches. Now divide into Popsicle molds, freeze for about and hour and add the sticks. Don't add the sticks right away because they will sink to the bottom. I always freeze my pops overnight before removing from the molds. To release from molds, just dip in warm water and pull out. Wrap the pops in wax paper or plastic wrap,then stack in a freezer bag. It's so much better then store bought pops!

What Cookies?

I took the last few weeks off since  it was super duper nice outside. Which living in Seattle we only get an average of 71 nice days a year. Now I gotta take advantage of it when I get it.  I buckled down and made cookies today- were they awesome? NO. Are they Rollin' Momma worthy? NO. So you don't get a recipe today.
In my 20 years of baking I have made thousands nay millions of cookies. I am here to tell you that mistakes have happened. Have I used baking powder instead of baking soda? yeah. Forgot the salt? yeah. Forgot 1/2 the butter? yeah. Forgot eggs? yeah. The list goes on and on. I'm not a perfect baker.With this particular recipe I did everything right and they were just not awesome. I wasn't sure what they were supposed to taste like and it just wasn't tasty. But I will remind you of some great tried and true recipes until next week.

• Lime Meltaways- this was one of the first cookie recipes that I perfected after many fails. I even burned my hand pulling them out of the oven when I was 15 and swore I was never taking anything out of the oven again!
• Ranger Cookies- Classic cookies with many different varieties  When I first made this cookie I was sceptical but they turned out to be Amazing!
• Homemade Samoas- With a little bit of work you too can have Samoas all year long!

Thanks for stopping by and I will have a new cookie recipe for next week's Cookie Thursday!