Good-Natured Ribbing

The 4th of July was more wheat harvest than fireworks in our part of the world. But even though we didn't gather at a lake for a cookout, I still wanted to share a little taste of the holiday with the harvest crew.

So, I made BBQ Ribs for the first time. This was an easy recipe from one of my favorite food bloggers, Kristen at Iowa Girl Eats. (Jill's father-in-law Alan shared her blog address with me and Jill. I've been Kristen's own Pied Piper in Kansas, though she doesn't know it. I've hooked at least one of my foodie friends on IGE, too!)

I'll be honest:  I'm not a huge ribs fan. Randy and Brent really like them, but Jill and I would pass on them and choose a less-fatty protein. But, after I saw the recipe, I also saw that my local grocery store had ribs on sale for the 4th. I decided it was meant to be!

The original recipe used baby back ribs, but spare ribs were on sale at Paul's Grocery. So I just added cooking time and increased the amount of spice rub. I was a little worried they wouldn't be tender as I calculated cooking time, but they were fall-off-the-bone good by the time I dished them up.  I served the ribs with other picnic-reminiscent side dishes, Sweet and Sour Beans and our favorite Macaroni Salad, along with green grapes for color.

They will definitely make a repeat performance when ribs go on sale again.

Oven-Baked BBQ Ribs

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

2 to 2.5 lbs. baby back ribs
1/4 - 1/3 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

Spice rub:
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Mix spices together in a small bowl, then rub into both sides of the ribs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees, then line a baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place ribs on top, then cover tightly with more foil. Bake for 3 1/2 hours. Remove foil; drain any excess liquid from the pan, and brush BBQ sauce on top. Bake for 30 more minutes until top is slightly caramelized. If using a larger rack of ribs, add 30 minutes baking time per pound past 2.5 pounds.

NOTES:

• I used 5.32-pounds of pork spare ribs because that's what was on sale. I doubled the spice rub recipe. Because I wanted to serve the ribs at noon, I baked the ribs for 5 hours at 300 degrees, then put the BBQ sauce on top and baked for an additional 30 minutes. 
• We like Curly's BBQ sauce, but use your favorite. 

 Today, I'm linked to Wake Up Wednesdays. Click on the link for more tried and true recipes.