Menu Monday...on Wednesday

Sorry for abandoing you last week!  The husband has been travelling a lot for work lately, so there haven't been so many homecooked meals as there have been sushi take-outs and salads thrown together from what's in the fridge.  

M is away for work on the 4th of July every year, so it's kind of become a little tradition that the next time he's home, I make him a 4th of July dinner so he doesn't miss out.  This year I made:

Sweet and Spicy Crock Pot Ribs {Eat, Live, Run}

 

and

 The Best Mac and Cheese {Jenny Steffens Hobick}

For the ribs, I made my own rub using equal parts brown sugar, cayenne pepper, chili powder, cumin, paprika, dry mustard, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.  And I used Bull's Eye BBQ sauce because that's our favorite {it's Cook's Country's favorite, too!}  They were falling off the bone crazy good! I kind of felt bad for our doggie who had to smell that deliciousness all day.

I didn't change anything with the mac and cheese recipe, but it's worth noting that I used whole-wheat breadcrumbs.  I was surprised how good this way because it's such a simple recipe, but I think that's why it was so good.  So many mac and cheese recipes {I'm looking at you, Pioneer Woman and Ina Garten} call for a million different types of cheese and spices and toppings.  And those are all fine and good and tasty, but this was just good old-fashioned comfort food.  Be warned: the recipe makes a ton!

I served the meal with baked beans {a can of Bush's Best Original just heated on the stove} and fresh watermelon.  It was a feast!

And for dessert I made my favorite cobbler recipe, but I used cherries instead of blackberries.

Easy Blackberry Cobbler {Southern Living July 2008}

 This is the easiest recipe in the world and it is SO good.  One thing: you absolutely MUST NOT overbake this.  There's a very fine line between the perfect golden color and crumbly texture and overbaked.  If it's overbaked, the topping is too hard and although it still tastes great, the texture is just not that of a cobbler. 

Broiled Fish with Summer Grape Tomato Sauce {Skinnytaste}

I had high hopes for this dish, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't all that great. First off, this is the second recipe in recent weeks that has called for cooking garlic on high heat.  Even in this case, where the garlic cloves are whole and smashed instead of minced, this is a disaster.  The garlic inevitably burns and makes the sauce taste bitter.  I should've gone with my gut instinct and cooked it on medium, but I followed the recipe and paid the price.  That said, I'm not sure it would've been significantly better with the sauce cooked correctly.  I doubt we'll be having this again.

Bon appetit and happy hump day!