Slow Cooked Barbecued Country-Style Ribs

My niece, Becky, is on her way to another adventure.  

She will soon start her internship to complete her program of study.

She stopped on Saturday for an overnight with Grandma
and a "congratulations lunch" on the farm.

Doug and I brought the Slow Cooked Barbecued Country-Style Ribs 

and Doug's Famous Apple Dumplings.  His recipe can be found on this blog,

  http://denisebullcooks.blogspot.com/2012/12/dougs-apple-dumplings.html   

Mom requested them, and everyone reaped the rewards of Doug's labor.

We enjoyed visiting over good food and created more great family memories.

Slow Cooked Barbecued Country-Style Ribs

Ingredients:

3 to 4 pounds boneless pork country-style ribs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, halved, thinly sliced
1/2 cup apple juice
1 bottle (16 to 18 ounces) barbecue sauce, about 1 1/2 cups
Preparation:

Lightly grease the crockery insert of a 5 to 6-quart slow cooker. Wash pork, trim excess fat and pat dry with paper towels. Put the sliced onions in the bottom of the slow cooker, then place pork on top. Sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper, brown sugar, and minced garlic; turn the pork ribs to coat all pieces. Pour apple juice evenly over the pork. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours. Drain liquids from the pork. Pour barbecue sauce over the pork and stir slightly to distribute the sauce. Cover and cook on LOW for 1 hour longer.
Serves 6 to 8.
Taken from http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotporkandham/r/r80418g.htm

 Gather the ingredients.

 Lightly grease the crock pot.

Put sliced onions in the bottom of the cooker.

Place the pork on top that has been washed, trimmed, and patted dry.

Sprinkle the pork with seasonings, brown sugar, and garlic.

Turn to coat the pieces.

Pour apple juice over the pork.  The apple juice acts as a marinade and helps to keep
the pork moist and tender while cooking.

Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.

Drain liquids from the pork.

Pour barbecue sauce over the pork and stir to distribute the sauce.

Cover and cook on LOW for 1 hour longer.

Caramelized, flavorful, and tender.

 Becky and Doug

Doug's, now famous and often requested, Apple Dumplings.

 Delicious!

 Becky's quilt she made will make her feel comfortable in her new home.

 Grandma and Becky tracing her travels.

 Doug, Denise, Grandma and Becky

Safe travels and congratulations!

Chinese Pork Dumplings- Cooking with Lei

Lei's Chinese Dumplings

Doug and I were graciously invited to our friend, Lei's, house for a traditional Chinese dinner.

Then after dinner, she demonstrated how to make dumplings.  This is one of my favorite Chinese dishes, so I welcomed the chance to learn how to make them.  They are very delicious.  By all means, give them a try.  It may take me some time to master the beautiful shape that Lei has so skillfully prepared, but it will be fun sampling them on your way to perfection.

Ingredients:

• Dough, flour and water
• Ground pork
• Chinese cabbage
• Green onion
• Soy sauce

The dough is made by adding water to flour gradually.  Mix and knead by hand to form a soft dough.

 The dough has been mixed and kneaded and formed into a ball.  

The dough is covered and then set aside for about an hour. 

 The meat mixture was prepared with ground pork, shredded Chinese cabbage, 

chopped green onion, and soy sauce.

 The meat and cabbage and onion are thoroughly mixed together.

 Take a portion of the dough.

Form into a long roll.

 Tear off pieces that are uniform in size, about 1 tablespoon.

 Roll out each ball into thin rounds on a floured surface.

 Spoon a small amount of meat mixture onto the dough circle.

  Wrap into a half moon shape 

and  pinch the edges together making sure to seal the entire edge.

This is Lei's perfectly shaped dumpling.

 I am trying my hand at this.

 My patient teacher.

 My very first dumpling!

 Arrange on a floured pan until you have all of them prepared.

 This is a work of art.  It takes practice to make them this beautiful.

 Prepare a pot of boiling water.

Then, drop the dumplings individually into the pan.

(These are cooked in water, not chicken stock.)

Bring to a boil once the dumplings are added to the pot.

 Cover and cook 2-3 minutes.

 Remove the lid, and add 1/2 a glass of cold water.

 Bring to a boil again and continue cooking.

 Repeat the process of boiling the water 

and then adding cold water and bringing to a boil again, 3 times.

 The dumplings are cooked when they float.

 This is the traditional recipe from Northern China, prepared with cabbage and pork.

You could vary these by using ground shrimp.

These are dipped into a dark vinegar.

 Delicious!

 Enjoy!

Thank you, Lei, for a wonderful Chinese dinner.

Chinese Dumpling (JiaoZi)

Introduction of Chinese Dumpling:

Dumplings with meat and vegetable fillings, is very popular at the Chinese new year and at other festivals. It tops the list of delicacies of people in north china, where people eat dumpling at midnight on new year‘s eve and for breakfast on new year’s day. The history of dumpling dates back to ancient time. But the custom of making dumpling a special dish during spring festival, started in the Ming dynasty, some 500 years ago. The reason is simple. The appearance of dumpling looks like the V shape gold or silver ingot used as money in ancient china. As the spring festival marks the start of a new year, people choose to eat dumpling to connote their wishes for good fortune in the new year. Although Times has changed, the tradition has remained. But today, dumpling is considered more as a sign of propitious blessing than of fortune. as china is a country with a vast territory, there are great differences in various regions in ways of making dumpling or even serving it. There is no set rule as to what makes dumpling filling, they can be anything from vegetables, meat to seafood. Whatever the fillings, the wrapping skill needs to be exquisite to make dumpling look attractive. Ways of serving dumpling also vary from place to place. Generally, dumpling are boiled in water and served with vinegar or soy sauce.

(from beijing-travels.com)

Introduction of Chinese Dumpling:

Dumplings with meat and vegetable fillings, is very popular at the Chinese new year and at other festivals. It tops the list of delicacies of people in north china, where people eat dumpling at midnight on new year‘s eve and for breakfast on new year’s day. The history of dumpling dates back to ancient time. But the custom of making dumpling a special dish during spring festival, started in the Ming dynasty, some 500 years ago. The reason is simple. The appearance of dumpling looks like the V shape gold or silver ingot used as money in ancient china. As the spring festival marks the start of a new year, people choose to eat dumpling to connote their wishes for good fortune in the new year. Although Times has changed, the tradition has remained.

But today, dumpling is considered more as a sign of propitious blessing than of fortune. as china is a country with a vast territory, there are great differences in various regions in ways of making dumpling or even serving it. There is no set rule as to what makes dumpling filling, they can be anything from vegetables, meat to seafood. Whatever the fillings, the wrapping skill needs to be exquisite to make dumpling look attractive. Ways of serving dumpling also vary from place to place. Generally, dumpling are boiled in water and served with vinegar or soy sauce.

Roasted Vegetable & Butternut Squash Soup-

It is Sunday after church, and time to spend the remainder of the day
with family and friends.

My friend, Lei, and my brother,Gail, and his girlfriend, Yatzi, are coming over for a hot bowl of
 Roasted Vegetable & Butternut Squash Soup
and
Lemon Meringue Pie in a Jar.  
It has been bitterly cold in Iowa this past week with the Friday morning temperature of 15 below zero.  That does not take into account the wind chill.

I have been hungry for a hearty, healthy soup that will warm us up
from the inside out.

My first part of the meal is the soup.
The roasted vegetables are charred just a little with a beautiful deep orange color of
melt-in-your-mouth squash.

 Creamy, deep orange butternut squash topped with crunchy, salty bacon bits
and chopped green onions.

My Roasted Vegetable & Butternut Squash Soup

• 1 large butternut squash, roasted and cubed
• 1 white onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1-lb. parsnip
• 8- oz. sliced button mushrooms
• 1 garlic bulb, roasted
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 32 ozs. chicken stock
• cooked bacon and sliced green onions for garnish

Roast the squash (or microwave it), onion, red bell pepper, parsnips, mushrooms, and garlic bulb in a 425 degree oven for 20-40 minutes.  First, drizzle olive oil over the vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Toss to coat.

Put the butternut squash, chicken stock, roasted onion, parsnips, and half of red bell pepper and roasted garlic with thyme and salt and pepper to taste in a soup pot.

Cook on low to medium heat until vegetables are hot and flavors are blended.

Puree with an immersion blender.  Then add mushrooms and other half of red pepper. Puree again,
leaving some chunks for texture and color.

Ladle into bowls and top with bacon and green onions.

Printable version of recipe: Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

To roast garlic:
Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each exposed head, using your fingers to rub the olive oil over all the cut, exposed garlic cloves. Cover the bulb with aluminum foil. Bake at 425°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

This is a fresh parsnip.
They have wonderful flavor and are making a comeback for great flavors in soups
or roasted with other root vegetables.
Parsnips nutrition facts
Parsnips are sweet, succulent underground taproots closely related to the carrot family of vegetables
Its fleshy, stout roots appear as that of carrots, but are white or cream in color and sweeter than that of carrots. Adequate winter frost is essential for good crop production since it facilitates convertion of much of its starch into sugars and helps develop long, narrow, and firm parsnips. The roots generally harvested when they reach about six to ten inches in length, by pulling the entire plant along with its root (uprooting) as in carrots.
Fresh roots are also good in vitamin-C; provide about 17 mg or 28% of RDA. Vitamin-C is a powerful water-soluble anti-oxidant, easily available to us from natural sources. It helps the human body maintain healthy connective tissue, teeth, and gum. Its anti-oxidant property helps protect from diseases and cancers by scavenging harmful free radicals from the body.
For more benefits: http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/parsnips.html

Place the cut vegetables on a sheet pan.
Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss well. Roast for 20 to 40 minutes,
depending on the size of the vegetables, tossing occasionally,
 until the parsnips and vegetables are just tender
with a roasted brown color.

Roast the butternut squash or cook in the microwave until soft.
Remove the seeds and membranes.

Scoop the squash into soup pot and add thyme to season the squash.

When the vegetables are a beautiful roasted brown color,
add to the soup pot of squash, leaving the mushrooms and half of the red pepper
to be added later.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add 32-oz. of chicken stock.

Then add the peeled roasted garlic
and continue to cook on low heat to blend the flavors.

Puree the soup until smooth and creamy.
 Then, add the mushrooms and the remainder of the roasted red bell pepper.

 Stir in mushrooms and red pepper, and puree again
 leaving some chunks of mushrooms and red pepper for texture and color.

Pour into soup bowls, and
garnish with cooked bacon pieces and chopped green onions.
Enjoy!

 Gail & Yatzi and Lei.
I met Lei 3 years ago at a New Year's celebration at her Chinese Church
in our home town.  We have enjoyed Cooking meals & great
Conversation since.
Lei taught me to make
Chinese Pork Dumplings

Check them out at
http://denisebullcooks.blogspot.com/search?q=pork+dumplings

After that delicious Roasted Butternut Squash Soup,
we are ready for our Lemon Meringue Pie in a Jar!

Blog to follow!
Lemon Meringue Pie in a Jar