Martha Monday

Monday Martha is a reflection on something (anything) creative that you accomplished. It can be cooking, scrapbooking, sewing, gardening, home improvements, etc. Celebrate the time you took just to do something you love.

I wanted to do this because I love to be creative and I love all the awesome ideas that Martha Stewart comes up with. Last year I was given the book Martha Stewart Cooking School book. It has taken me this long to crack it open and start spending time learning something I love - cooking.

Feel free to GRAB THE BUTTON at the top of the post (right click & save) and link up (mr. linky at bottom of post). Express yourself and share your creative vibes.

This past week, I didn't chose a recipe from Martha's book. GASP!! I know. I actually found one online in the newspaper that I thought looked good and easy. Because that is always best.

GLAZED COUNTRY RIBS

I feel like ever since I started teaching myself how to cook, we have eaten like kings. So far, we have eaten Roasted Pork Loin and Rack of Lamb. This recipe is just another example. Not to mention I am learning very good safety tips, like how to deal with a fire.

Before I start this post, you should know I just about beat the bloody hell out of the grocery store today because they have their ribs on sale - buy 1 get one FREE. Couldn't have had that sale last week?

As you can see below from my first picture I have absolutely no idea what they meant by 1 inch onion pieces. They all just fell apart when I cut them. Oh well. It's an onion. Oh and that meat pot thingy that the ribs are in? A gift from my mom!! {i heart you mom} First time using it.



Problem #1: I started dinner at 4pm. If you read the recipe, it says to braise the ribs for 3 1/2 hours. Hmm, that would mean the meat itself wouldn't come out of the oven til 7:30pm. Nope, gotta change that.


Problem #2: That jar of red currant jelly, NOT 1 1/2 cups, but rather only 1 cup. Who knew?

The ingredients for the sauce went well otherwise. Though I seriously need lessons on chopping fresh garlic. The garlic is in the small clear dish above. They were slightly large pieces. Mental note: remember to pre-measure all ingredients. It helps when things are boiling.

Problem #3: The sauce never thickened. So it was very, very runny. I knew this was gonna be an issue, but after I started it, we were gonna at least finish it. And by finish I mean, someone was gonna have to eat it. And since I have noticed that Saint WILL NOT take a bite til I have, pretty sure I was the guinea pig.

I braised the meat for probably 2.5 hours total (problem #4?). Then I started pouring the sauce over the meat every 10 minutes for 30 minutes. It sure smelled good, but by then I was really sweating bullets because just about everything that could have gone wrong, kinda did.



When it was ready, I threw some leftover potato salad on the plates with leftover lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. It looked really good, though the lettuce was a tiny bit red.



I broke my rule about dinner and we sat in front of the TV with our plates on our laps. (I am not a fan of the tv with dinner - I mean if you can't spare thirty minutes in front of the ones you love, wth?) We had started a movie and Saint was so cool about still pausing it throughout the entire length of cooking this, so we finished it.

The first bite - OMG PEOPLE!! And when I say OMG, I mean O.M.G. It was that good. Know when you take a bite and your mouth just sighs? Oh yeah, it was that good.

Here is the movie trailer of Date Night because I just loved this movie -