Ribs & Brown Rice Salad

BBQ season is upon us! Alleluia! We love grilling, everything from meat to veggies, plus did I mention, the clean up and dish time is to a minimal because of this beloved outdoor appliance?! We have been busy landscaping our back yard, everything from patio stones to building a shed to planting flowers, you name it, we're doing it. There have been some times where I've thought in my head (while balancing on top of a shed rafter trying to hold a piece of plywood straight for Mitch to fasten down and nearly falling to my death) that maybe it would have been easier to just hire someone. But all in all, it's been okay and I'm loving the time spent outside in the evenings after work. When it's all finished I'll be sure to post some pictures of our dandy work (hoping that we finish it and it looks relatively decent), if not, no pictures for you.

Anyways, with all of our time spent outside in our backyard, cooking has been minimal. Like I'm talking bare essentials as in numerous cracker/cheese/sausage/pickle nights and/or subway and/or toss something on the BBQ. However, I did manage to make some amazing fall off the bone ribs last week that needed no attention at all so they were perfect to cook while we were outside working.

Baked Ribs

Ingredients:

1 rack of pork ribs
salt
pepper
2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp dried onion flakes
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano

(I actually just used jerk seasoning dry spice mix, which contains all of the above, so if you have that or see it in the store, buy it!)

BBQ sauce

Directions:

Trim any fat off the ribs. Sprinkle salt and pepper generously on both sides of the ribs. Mix the rest of the spices together and rub onto both sides of the ribs. I tried to cover the ribs so that all you could see was spice, no meat showing. Wrap the ribs in plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge over night (can even do up to two days ahead of time).
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with tinfoil. Spray with nonstick and place ribs on top. Take another piece of tinfoil and cover ribs tightly on top, moulding the tinfoil to the shape of the ribs. Cook at 250 for 3 hours. The last 1/2 hour  of cooking brush generously with BBQ sauce and cover and place back in the oven.


Brown Rice Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice (cook according to package directions)
1 can of mixed beans (kidney beans, chickpeas, white beans)
1 can of whole kernel corn
1 jalepeno, finely chopped
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup red pepper, finely chopped

cilantro, chopped (optional)

Dressing:
juice of 1 lemon (at least 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup olive oil or any other light oil used for dressing
1/4 of honey
1Tbsp vinegar

Directions:

Once the rice has cooled, mix all of the ingredients together. Combine all of the dressing ingredients together and mix in with the rice. Let set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving to let all the ingredients marry. Lasts about three days in the fridge in an airtight container.

The last 1/2 hour can be done on the BBQ too to give that meat some grill marks and really amp up the flavour even more!

The slow cooking time and temperature is what makes these ribs delectably moist with fall off the bone meat. No fork or knife needed.

The salad is actually light and has hints of sweetness that balance out with the kick from the jalapeno. This would be fantastic with quinoa in place of the rice and with some zucchini added into the mix as well.

The salad works as a great lunch leftover too. It's quick, doesn't have to be warmed up!

There you have it!

Enjoy your week and wish us luck on our back yard!


Eat Colourfully,

Kimberley.

Lettuce Chicken Wraps

Even though it's gross outside I am still moving forward with this thing called Spring. Therefore, I will continue to wear my bright colours, bare feet in my shoes and eat bright, fresh spring-y foods, people can look at me in aw all they want but I don't care, ain't no snow is going to hold me back :) 

Also, I am on a no sleep bender. Have you ever been on one of these? If you haven't, be thankful. This is what you're missing out on: Get into bed, roll from side to side to get comfy, twenty minutes go by - you're hot, get up and open the window, get back in bed, roll from side to side, look at the clock, drift off to sleep, then suddenly you hear the slightest noise and you're up again, look at the clock annnnndddd repeat. Crap! It's time to get up - happy days. I have been mentally prepping myself for tonight with the mantra - I will fall asleep tonight, I will fall asleep tonight, sleep...tonight...sleep.

So I am sipping on some sleepy time tea and posting this delish recipe and then off to sleep I WILL be!

Lettuce Chicken Wraps

Ingredients:

2 boneless chicken breasts, sliced into bite size pieces

1 pkg. ranch dip mix

hot sauce

5 slices of bacon

butter or romaine lettuce

tomato, thinly sliced

red onion, thinly sliced

avocado, thinly sliced

Directions:

Place sliced up chicken in a bowl. Add ranch dip mix to chicken and toss until chicken is completely coated. Heat some oil in a non-stick pan and cook chicken until done, about 8-10 minutes. Set aside. Cook bacon until done. Chop up bacon into bits. Add hot sauce (to desired heat level)  to chicken and toss until coated. Assemble the wraps by placing chicken, bacon, avocado, tomato and onion in each lettuce wrap.

The ranch seasoning on this chicken is so good!! You won't have any leftovers at all! Adding the hot sauce gives it a buffalo wing zing!

These low carb wraps are an easy finger food supper served with veggies and dip on the side. The great thing with wraps is that you can put anything them - play around with your toppings!

Salsa and plain Greek yogurt are great on top of these too. Quinoa would also make for a tasty addition.

If you're not into lettuce wraps, just make an actual salad and top it with this chicken. 

Eat Colourfully!

Kimberley.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

One more day of rest until the work week begins again. We had a very chill weekend as our plans didn't fall through of my parents coming to visit. We watched some movies, I worked out, and finally accomplished the bag of marking that I've been groaning at all week.

Instead of running outside, BBQing, and sipping on refreshing drink, the weather has trapped us inside so what better way to spend the afternoon then by baking cookies!

These cookies have the most amazing chew factor ever! They are made with coconut oil instead of butter or margarine. When they come out of the oven they have a tasty crisp look to them and the first bite is like ooey gooey heaven!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil, in solid state
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup coconut, unsweetened
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray with non-stick. In an electric mixer cream the coconut oil and brown sugar together. Add in the two eggs and vanilla and continue to cream. In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder and soda and salt. Stir together. Add into the wet mixture into two equal parts and combine using a wooden spoon. Add in coconut and chocolate chips and stir until well incorporated.

Draw by round spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes, do not over bake. Let cool. Makes two dozen cookies!

Recipe from welltraveledwife

I think the larger flaked coconut would be even better in these cookies but I have a bit of a coconut obsession.

Can you see what I mean? A perfect outer layer of crunch and then chewy goodness. Perfecto!!


Anywhoo, enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week!

Xoxo,
Kimberley.