Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs, Mexican Corn Salad & Easy Roasted Veggie Hashbrown Hack

 

Hello Friends! 

Happy Friday Eve to you. 

The weekend is almost here - woo hoo! Do you have any plans? We're going to be spending some time with family and going to a fun show. I'm sure I'll have more details to share on Monday. 😉

The other night we had a delicious BBQ meal that reminded me of the flavors of summer a bit and I thought I'd share it and the recipes for each dish. 

Let's start with the main event - the ribs. I have been making my ribs this way for years. I usually prefer country style bone-in pork ribs, but any kind are fine for this. I know that a common way to make ribs is to do a dry rub, roast in the oven low and slow, and then do the BBQ sauce at the end. I think that way is so yummy too! 

But I sort of do the opposite...here's how I often do mine:

I brown the ribs in a little olive oil and butter and season with salt and pepper. Then put them in the greased slow cooker with a little beef broth in the bottom. I then cook up some onion in the "fond" (the browned bits left from the meat) with a little more olive oil if needed. I then take a little beef broth to deglaze the pan. I often make the broth from this better than bouillon jar that stays in the fridge a long time. It's useful in lots of recipes but so easy to make a quick broth instead of opening up a big container you won't use. You just add some boiling water to a spoonful of the bouillon mix, dissolve & stir. 

I let the onions cook & deglaze a few minutes until there isn't much liquid and the onions are filled with flavor and I've been able to get up all the browned bits from the pan. 

I then put the onions on top of the ribs and pour a little bbq sauce on top (we used sugar-free). I let it cook on low all day and they usually get really tender after 7-8 hours. Like fall apart tender and you can pull the bones right out. I place the ribs on a platter and brush on more warmed bbq sauce and dig in! 

 However if you wanted the sauce more of a sticky glaze you could always pull out the ribs after maybe 6 hours and put them on a tray, brush on more sauce and finish in the oven. 

Now for this amazing Mexican corn salad...oh my word, so flavorful!! Have you had Mexican corn? Matt and I fell in love with it a few years ago and often make our summer corn on the cob that way. Where we brush some mayo on fresh hot sweet corn on the cob and sprinkle on some cotija cheese (think like Mexican powdered parm), and a sprinkle of tajin (the chili lime flavoring we LOVE). It was a big thing a few years ago. Well I found this recipe from an influencer I follow on social media called Catben (short for Catherine Benson) and it's so easy because you can use canned corn and it's so good! 

Basically fry up some drained canned corn in a skillet with a little butter. Season it up a bit and get it good and toasty or even a little charred. Then put it in a bowl and stir in some mayo (we do lite or use avocado mayo), cotija cheese, tajin, paprika, and any other seasonings you want. Then add fresh cilantro. I made it just like her recipe only I didn't add any cayenne pepper. Matt practically ate this whole bowl. Lol If you can't find cotija cheese powdered kind of parm cheese works just as well. 

And finally this kind of healthier hasbrown hack. I saw a recipe like this a long time ago and I'm not sure where. But I just remember they took some frozen hashbrowns and mixed it with bagged broccoli slaw and some other finally chopped veggies and roasted it in a sheetpan. I thought what a great way to still get the hasbrown vibe (so good with bbq ribs) but add lots more nutrients and fiber and less calories. 

So here's what I did:

I took about 1/2 cup of frozen shredded hasbrowns (could do even more for bigger sheet pan) and defrosted it a bit in the microwave - to break up clumps. I then put them on a sheet pan that had been brushed with a little olive oil. I added 1/2 a bag of broccoli slaw, as well as about 1/4 cup of finely chopped cauliflower (as I needed to get rid of it). I drizzled olive oil over it all and seasoned it with laurey's seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and salt&pepper. I tossed it a bit and then put it in a 400* oven and roasted it until everything was getting nice and crispy (about 25-30 mins) I think I even broiled it a little the last minute or so to get more crispy. This was also so flavorful and really tasted and gave the texture of eating hasbrowns. You could put ketchup or sour cream or whatever you like on potatoes on top of this when it's time to eat. I think Matt put some sriracha mayo on his. They were awesome and you could literally add whatever finally chopped/shredded veggies you needed to use up. The thing is adding the hashbrowns in to get that flavor and texture. You could do more of the hasbrown and a little less of the veggies if you wanted even more potato taste. 

This meal was such a hit with Matt and we both loved it. I hope one or all of these recipes might work for you. We keep trying to find ways to make and eat our meals a bit more healthy. Matt has now hit 20 lbs down! I haven't weighed myself lately - working on things more before I step on scale again next. 

It continues to be such a fun journey together, but we don't want to sacrifice eating the things we like or crave. 😋

Blessings & enjoy!

xoxo