#14: BBQ Ribs (slow cooker)

Dear Tiffany,
In case you didn't know, barbecue still tastes good in January.  Its just...its cold outside.  And me, I'd rather come home to my house smelling wonderful and barbecuey and dinner ready to eat, than coming home and having to babysit the barbecue in the cold.
I put these ribs in the crock pot before work today, and then I was thinking about them all afternoon.  Mouthwatering.  Imagining the smell that would fill up my nose as I walked in the door.  Ahhh...
Of course, then I got home and reality hit, right after that smell.  See, my newest attempt at creating a good habit is "no Bible, no dinner."  You know, "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:3).  Spiritual food is more important than physical food, right?  The idea is that if I do my Bible reading earlier in the day, I'll be more alert for it and actually be able to absorb what I'm reading.  So today I got home, realized I hadn't done my Bible reading, and spent my time in God's word with my tummy rumbling.  And then, thanked God for providing me with some great food, and sat down to eat my ribs.

I got this idea from Stephanie O'Dea's blog, and I made it her way the first few times, but I like mine with a little more zip so I added more pepper and the chipotle chili pepper to spice it up.  Of course, she has kids so that wouldn't work so well for her!  (when you have a bunch of little Sams and Tiffanys someday you may want to set the pepper to the side and have 
Sam add his own).  The chipotle pepper really gives it a flavor boost, not just a spicy boost.


The Basics: 
Prep time: About 5 minutes, then several hours in the crock pot.
Good for leftovers: yes
servings: 4-6
cost: under $10


Ingredients:
1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce
2 lbs beef or pork ribs
1 tsp chipotle chili pepper (or more if you like it spicier!)
1 medium-small onion
2 heaping spoonfuls minced garlic
dash of black pepper (I actually use more like a 1/8 of a teaspoon or something, but I didn't measure it)


The Process:

Arrange your ribs in the crock pot.  Its ok if you haven't thawed them yet.  Chop your onion and add it, along with the garlic, pepper, and chipotle pepper.  Drown everything in Barbecue sauce.  Put the lid on and cook for 5-6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.  Mix it up really well so all the ribs are coated with sauce before serving- you may want to mix in some salt as well, or just let each person add salt to taste.   It will need it, but I'm kind of a salt-it-yourself person.  Your ribs will be falling off the bone; unless, like mine, they were boneless, in which case they'll just be falling apart.  This goes really great with corn on the cob, baked potatoes, or a yummy bread.  


These are so good, its just kind of ridiculous how easy they are.  You can do the same thing with barbecue chicken; it just absorbs the sauce so well after cooking all day.


Enjoy!
-Joy