Sunday Dinner

We had an absolute feast last night!! Ribs, squash casserole, homemade baked beans, sweet tea and chocolate chip brownies...and it was all delicious!! Matt spent all afternoon working on the ribs, which he grilled over warm coals for about an hour and a half...flipping and basting every 5-10 minutes. Then he brought them in and finished them in the oven at around 200 for another 2 hours. When they came out they were so tender and full of flavor. (he had allowed them to sit in the fridge covered with a rub overnight). Our next mission is to find a great barbecue sauce...we both agreed that they would have been even better if we had served some sauce on the side. The squash casserole is an old favorite of mine...pretty simple-squash, bacon, onion, cracker crumbs, salt, pepper and a few other ingredients. It was wonderful!

Yellow Squash Casserole: From the Southern Living "30 years of our Best Recipes" Cookbook:
2 lbs yellow squash, sliced (about 4 or 5 squash)
1 Cup water
2 small onions minced
2 tbl butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cup round butter cracker crumbs divided
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled
2 large eggs lightly beaten

Combine squash and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover for about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well, mash and drain again.
Saute onion in butter in skillet over medium heat until teder. Turn off heat. Add squash, cheese, 3/4 cup crumbs, salt, pepper, bacon and eggs. Stir well. Spoon mixture into lightly greased two quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cracker crumbs. Bake uncovered at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

The baked beans were a new recipe-you start with a can of pork and beans and add lots of flavor; green peppers, onion, bacon, mustard and ketchup-I really enjoyed them! They were a lot better than just buying a can of baked beans: (I forgot to take pictures of this one...they looked so good that we couldn't wait to dig in!)

Easy Baked Beans: From the Southern Living "30 Years of Our Best Recipes" Cookbook:

2 slices of bacon halved
1 small onion diced
1 small green pepper, finely chopped
1 (15 oz) can pork and beans with tomato sauce (I used Van Camps)
2 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 cup molasses
3 tbl ketchup

Cook bacon in skillet until almost done. Remove from pan and set aside. Saute onion and peppers in the remaining bacon drippings until tender. Drain.
Combine sauted onion mixture, beans and remaining 4 ingredients. Stir well. Spoon into lightly greased 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish. Top with bacon. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30-40 minutes.


Finally, my second favorite part of the meal (ribs were the clear winner!!) was the sweet tea! It was just the right amount of sweetness...and I did use a recipe. I know a good southern cook should know intuitively how to make sweet tea, but my efforts prior to the recipe were pretty sad, so I was grateful for the recipe. Here it is: (another modified Paula Deen recipe)

Sweet Tea:
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
Add 4 family size (preferrably luzianne) tea bags, and cut off the heat
Let that sit for 1 hour, steeping with the lid on
Pour into a pitcher and add 1 cup of sugar; stir well
Add 4 more cups of cold water, and serve with lemon wedges