Two Sneaky Resturaunt Tricks!

Tonight I had company coming over for dinner.

This always excites me because I get a chance to show off a bit in the kitchen!

Tonight I am going to share 2 little tricks to make your barbeque pork ribs and baked potatoes seem like they came from a restaurant.

Let's start with the Barbequed pork ribs.

I cooked mine on my wood burning stove, but a slow cooker will work just as well.

Start by browning the ribs in a skillet over medium heat. At this time, I seasoned them lightly with salt, pepper and cinnamon, which is a closely guarded secret of the top BBQ restaurants.

Then I layered the meat in the bottom of my pan, diced up an onion on top and topped it all off with a whole bottle of BBQ sauce. Then I put the lid on and let it simmer for about 3 hours until the meat started to fall apart. If you use a slow cooker, you can put this on low in the morning and have it ready when you get home from work.

Ribs just seem to go hand in hand with baked potatoes but I always hated  messing with foil.

They are a pain to make, never came out quite right for me and the skins always got thrown out because no one liked them. Then I happened on a trick that turned it all around!

Preheat your oven to 400 F.

Pick your largest potatoes for baking and wash them thoroughly, taking out any eyes or bad spots.

Take each one and poke thoroughly with a fork.

Now for the trick!

Rub each potato with oil. I prefer a nice extra virgin olive oil. Then sprinkle salt LIGHTLY over them. This is what gives the skin it's extra special flavor!

 

Then just place the potatoes directly on the rack. I place a cookie sheet on the rack below them in case any oil drips. Bake for 30 minutes, flip them, and cook for another 30 minutes.

I have yet to have a potato be undercooked or overcooked this way!

The inside is fluffy and the outside is yummy!

Add a bit of butter and sour cream and it's perfect!

Everyone enjoyed the dinner and I hope you did too!

Happy eating!

One Last Fall Project!

Due to technical circumstances I was unable to post over the Thanksgiving holiday week,

but I just HAD to share this one last Fall project before I pack it up and

 start dragging out my Christmas decorations.

This was SO super simple it really did blow my mind!

The possibilities with this are endless!

Materials:

Elmer's Glue

Food coloring

Epson salts

Ribbon

Acrylic Paints

Paper cups (to mix the paint in)

Paper plates 

And in my case, my great friend Michelle, who is a MUCH more talented painter than I am!

 

If you can paint, wonderful! If not, don't be afraid to enlist the help of a friend who can.  It's a great way to spend time together and show them how much you appreciate their talents!

 

 

We started with some clean glass jars I had saved from various things such as spaghetti sauces and pickles.

We then put some glue, about a 1/4 cup and a drop or two of food coloring in a cup and mixed it. There is no real measuring here, you can make it any color you like.

If you make it very light and pastel looking, the finished product will look like sea glass.

However, I am going for a Fall look so I used a burgundy food coloring for my first attempt.

Paint on using thin coats and let dry completely between coats. If it is too thick, you will get runs and drips in the paint like I did here.

On the final coat, if you wish to make a frosty one instead of painting it, roll the wet jar in Epsom salt and let dry.

Michelle decided to make those drips work for her. She put on 3 different colors, starting with yellow as the base color, then orange and finally red and let them drip. Gives it a warm fireplace feeling I think!

Then she used acrylic paint and painted a couple of pine cones and a warm holiday greeting.

Once the ideas started coming, they didn't stop.

 

We found that dabbing on the glue/paint it gave it a bubbly textured look when dry so Michelle dabbed on some yellow, orange and red to look like fall leaves.

When it dried, she used the acrylic paint to add a stunning fall harvest scene. I think this one came out looking incredible!

 

 

Once all the paint is dry,

 tie a ribbon in a bow at the top and tack with a hot glue gun if you like.

 

 

 

Add tea lights and enjoy a warm fall glow!

 

Special Thanks again goes to Michelle for all the incredible art.

I never could have done it without you!

Rub Away Those Aches and Pains!

 With all the weather changes going on here on the East Coast, most people are feeling like weather barometers. Aches, pains, even headaches are affected by the weather.

Add to that the stress of day to day life and it's a recipe for being just plain miserable!

No one likes feeling like that, so here is one of my easiest recipes guaranteed to relive stress, aches, pains and just generally make you feel good. 

Missi's Massage Oil

Ingredients:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Essential oil

You will also need a second person. Spouses or significant others work best for this.

Take about one cup of olive oil and add a few drops of essential oil. I used a vanilla rose scent I bought from Ebay that I also use for making soaps. Six or seven drops should be enough. (It's really about how much scent you like so it's up to you if you wish to add more or less.)Lightly warm the oil. You can do this in the microwave or on the stove over VERY low heat. Test the oil on your wrist to make sure it's not going to burn you.

Now the super fun part....

Get your partner to rub your muscles down using the warmed oil!

Not only does it make you feel good and relieve those aches and pains, but olive oil has been passed on from generation to generation as an incredible skin care product.

It was a commonly used skin care product by Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks.

Olive oil has vitamin E and oleic acid. Oleic acid helps to soften the skin, and the vitamin E improves the elasticity of the skin.

Warmed oil provides even more elasticity and works wonders on the skin as a healing agent and, in addition to stretch marks, it can be used on scars, scar tissue, cuts, scrapes, and acne scarring.

Now go pamper yourself or someone you love!

P.S

This also is a great romantic gift.

 Bottle it up in a decorative bottle, add some lace and a hand written tag with warming instructions and give to that special someone!