As the world continues to spin and burn, let’s talk about some hot things happening with tv shows, books, and cookbooks, with a few life problems thrown in to start off the month of September.
Last weekend, I watched Who Is Erin Carter? It’s like the Bourne Identity but with a British woman and her daughter. It starts off with them taking a boat from England to Spain. We don’t know why but it’s not hard to tell they are running from someone or something—fast forward five years and said British woman, Erin Carter is married to a hunk of a Spaniard and working as a substitute teacher at her daughter’s school.
One day, they are driving home after her daughter beats up another kid for making fun of her, and stops at a grocery store that’s about to close. The daughter has to pee so they are shown a bathroom in the back of the store. When they come out, the store is being robbed. To protect her daughter, Erin handles up one of the robbers, who happens to recognize her. The story gets wild from there. I stayed up until 5am binge watching the entire series.
I was excited to watch some other shows like Twisted Metal, Wheel of Time, Black Knight but life came at me fast. I ended up going to the ER last week due to a kidney stone slowly making its exit from my body. We are only at stage two in the process so we’ll monitor how it goes. I finally started feeling better yesterday. Keep ya girl in your prayers because this kidney stone is not small and may cause blockage.
This did not stop me from recipe testing a Cookie Butter Cake with a Whipped Cookie Butter Cream Cheese Frosting. It still needs some work but mostly everyone enjoyed it. A basic version of the cake recipe will be in the cookbook shorty I’m writing coming out in October. I’ll share more about the cookbook in the next week or so.
Speaking of cookbooks/books, there are some new ones I’m excited about:
Still We Rise by Erika Council- This is a love letter to the biscuit, the Southern biscuit with sweet and savory recipes to master. As a Southern girl, biscuits are the one thing that I enjoy eating with just some butter and honey. However, if you ask me to make them, that’s another story. It’s part of the reason I’m looking forward to enjoying this cookbook and learning a thing or two about making biscuits and butters.
Murdle: Volume 1- Y’all know I love a good murder mystery but add in puzzles and I’m hooked. This is a puzzle book that has mini mystery puzzles to solve. If you fancy yourself an amateur sleuth, check this book out.
The Complete Recipe Writing Guide by Raeanne Sarazen- I’m always trying to write better recipes for y’all and future y’all’s so this book has been on my list for awhile. If you want to write a cookbook or just become a better recipe writer, this book is for you.
Recipe-Easy Baked Ribs*
Since it is officially football season (my favorite time of year), I want to share a quick recipe that will be good for game day. I say quick but I suppose more hands off than on. This is a recipe for oven baked ribs. I’m making this tonight with country style boneless pork ribs but it can be used for a rack or two of ribs. I would even try it with a vegetarian version of ribs.
First, in a large Dutch oven over medium/medium-high heat, add some olive oil and brown all sides of the ribs. While browning, preheat the oven to 375°. Remove from heat. Mix together the sauce you will be using in a bowl. I’m using minced garlic, brown sugar, Yuzu Japanese Barbecue Sauce by Bachan, smoked paprika, and chili powder. I’m just throwing some stuff together so feel free to mix it up. Cover the ribs in the sauce. Put it in the oven and cook until it falls off the bone.
*If you are using boneless or doing a veggie version, turn the temp down. I found the 375° dried out some of the meat. I would try 325° and check every 30 minutes or so. I served with noodles and it was amazeballs. The flavor profile was right on.
Enjoy!
Xoxo~Christilisa