A Great Memorial Day Weekend

Whew! It was a busy and wonderful weekend here. To kick start it all, I played domestic diva on Friday and scored some great deals at the grocery store and made a delicious meal that will definitely be a summer repeat.

I've been trying to spend around $200 a month on groceries, or about $50 a week. This covers the 2-3 meals I cook a week for hubby, me, the in-laws and a friend who works with us for one of our companies and lunches for me at work and breakfasts. This week was the biggest bill of them all, but I was pretty excited to score everything below for less than $50 (I forgot to include the shredded cheese and bean sprouts in the picture). The big ticket items were spare ribs, bacon and chicken. They took up a little over $25 themselves. I also bought some lighter fluid which took up another $5. I got the eggs and all the fruit and veggies (except the corn) for about $7! I love the farmers market (an actual year-round indoor store) where I score all my produce and I'm really going to miss it whenever we move away.

Here are the meals I'm planning on getting out of the above groceries: chips and guacamole (mother-in-law had avocados already), 2 pizzas for Sunday pizza night (already had some things for toppings), BBQ for Memorial Day (see recipes below), apple cake for someone at work, BLT (have lettuce and tomato in garden), roasted potatoes to accompany meal m.i.l makes, and chicken fajitas (already had tortillas).

Friday I was in the mood for a BBQ so I decided to make spinach salad (recipe courtesy of my dear friend Katie's mom), honey garlic pork spareribs, sweet corn on the cob, baked beans and rhubarb cobbler (to use up some fresh rhubarb someone gave us). It was delicious!


Saturday and Sunday I worked on things for my shop (which is opening in a few days!!!) and had dinner out at On the Border with hubby before church Saturday night. We also rented two movies which the four of us really liked: Valkyrie and Mall Cop.

Monday brought glorious weather and hubby and m.i.l worked on fixing a fence to keep the cows in a certain pasture while d.i.l worked on fixing his John Deere so we can hay the fields. I kept myself busy working on projects for my shop and starting to refinish a dresser I scored for free on Craigs List (pictures to follow in another post). A great day ended with a delicious hamburger cookout.

Here are the three recipes from the BBQ I did on Friday:

HONEY GARLIC PORK RIBS (modified recipe from Taste of Home for grill)

3.5 - 4 lbs. pork spareribs, thin skin removed off bone side, extra fat trimmed
1 cup honey
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground mustard

1. Tenderize ribs by placing serving size portions on a rack (bone side down) in a shallow baking pan. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour; drain.
2. Meanwhile combine the remaining ingredients in a large resealable plastic bag. Place cooled ribs in bag and marinate in fridge for several hours, turning bag occasionally.
3. Cook ribs on grill for about 30-35 minutes to reheat, occasionally brushing with marinade from bag until they get a nice sticky coating.
NOTE: Ribs can also be made in 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes, or until meat is tender, brushing occasionally with pan juices.

SPINACH SALAD

1 lg bag spinach
1 cup bean sprouts
2 hard boiled eggs diced
3 slices bacon, crumbled

Dressing
3/4 cup veg oil
3 Tbl vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup sugar
3-5 green onions chopped

Mix dressing and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Pour over salad before serving.

RHUBARB COBBLER (modified a recipe of Emeril Lagasse)

2 lbs. diced fresh rhubarb (I'm sure you could also use frozen)
1 cup fresh sliced strawberries
1 pint raspberries
2-1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons + 4 teaspoons butter (plus extra to grease dish)
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon (yes, TABLEspoon) baking powder
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon (yes, TABLEspoon) vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk (or just add a little vinegar to your regular milk to sour it)

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 9x9 or 9x13 pan with 2 teaspoons butter. In saucepan, combine rhubarb, berries, 2 cups sugar, butter, and lemon juice. Stir and cook over high heat about 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat. Cream together 2 teaspoons butter and 1/4 cup sugar. Add egg. Slowly add remaining ingredients. Mil until resembles cake batter. Pour rhubarb mix into greased dish. Pour batter on top. Bake 30-35 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on top.