Slow cooker ribs - dinner success! Diet fail!

I've been staring at ribs at the grocery store all summer. More than once I put them in my cart, wheeled them around while I did my shopping and then decided to return them to the meat section. They can be a bit pricey and I felt they were impractical for one person because the packages are so large! But earlier this week at my local Safeway (or un-safeway as it's known around DC), they had country style pork ribs for .99/lb. I couldn't pass it up, so I bought some (5lbs!) and took them home.

I had no idea what to do with them.

I don't remember ever eating ribs until my mom married my step-dad. He makes a mean rack of ribs - bar-be-cued, beer marinated, slow-cooked or smoked, they're always delicious.

They seemed a good match for the crock pot, they could slowly cook and become tender and juicy while I was at work. After my numerous crock pot disasters, I did not want to risk messing up my ribs so I called mom to get rib advice. She told me to broil them before I put them in the crock pot but otherwise there wasn't anything special I needed to do except cover them with bbq sauce.

So one night I set out on my rib adventure. I rubbed them with garlic, sea salt and paprika. I would have also used pepper but I was out! I set the oven to broil and cooked them 8-10 minutes on each side. Alright, one side was a little longer because I got distracted and forgot to take them out. Oops.

I let them cool a bit and placed them in my crock pot. I poured BBQ on top and a little bit of water, maybe 1/2 cup. I put the crock pot in the refrigerator for the night and then in the cooker the next morning before work. I turned it on low to cook while I was gone, it was about 9 hours before I got home.

Results? They were fantastic. I had made 2.5lbs and put the rest in the freezer. For dinner that night I think I ate a pound of pork. Did I mention I'm on a diet? Yea a pound of pork for dinner is a huge diet failure but it was good I could not help myself. I think I could have eaten all 2.5lbs in one sitting.

I should have probably put a little more liquid in the crock pot because the exposed parts of the ribs got a little charred looking but even the charred bits tasted amazing. I can't wait to make the other half but I should probably wait a few weeks, since I'm supposed to be dieting...

Broiled bacon??

While I was visiting my parents, I was watching some random cooking show - I have no idea what, actually, I was getting my nails done at the time. In any case, the chef was preparing brunch and suggested broiling bacon. I'm slightly broiler obsessed these days - it's so fast - and I have a practically life-long fixation with everything pig. So of course I was gonna try it.

Normally, I don't cook bacon at home and try to limit my consumption to restaurants. The reason for this is two-fold, first while I have a pork-fixation, I realize it's not the healthiest option. Second, I don't enjoy my whole apartment smelling like bacon for two days. I really hate it when I cook bacon, leave the house and come home to the smell.

Broiling, therefore seemed like a good option and other then when I burn things by having them too close to the flame (like my garlic toast last night) when is it ever a bad option? It made sense that the oven would contain the smell, much like when you microwave bacon, and the majority of the grease would drip into the broiling pan, improving the calorie score. Ok, yes it's probably just wishful thinking on the calorie front but hey, not bathing it in its own grease must help a little.


The taste of the broiled bacon was comparable to pan frying and the smell of bacon in the house minimal. My only reservation is that broiling would take a long time and use a lot of energy because my broiling pan is small and can only hold 4 slices of bacon at a time. hmm....I shouldn't be eating bacon all the time anyway.

Broiled chicken tomato toppers

You may recall my dissatisfaction with a recipe called Feta topped chicken. I was especially disappointed because I felt that it was a good concept but just not working functionally. Too bad because I love my feta.

So now that I've had some time, I've reworked it. This is what I've come up with:

Broiled chicken tomato toppers

4 chicken breasts
6-8 slices of tomato
2 slices provolone cheese
2 TB prepared pesto sauce (or 8 fresh basil leaves)

Set oven to broil and allow to preheat. Lay chicken breasts on lightly greased broiling pan and broil (on top rack) for 5-6 minutes. Remove chicken and flip over. Spread pesto on chicken and top with tomato slices. Place provolone cheese on the top and place back in oven. Broil an additional 4-5 minutes until chicken is fully cooked, taking care not to burn the cheese. If need be, you can move the chicken to a lower rack.


This was really tasty. I served the chicken with some pasta and marinara sauce to make it a meal, though veggies would be a good route too. I used provolone because I had it on hand but I think mozzarella would be equally good.

Taste: B+
Waste: A
Cost: A

Broiled tomato appetizer

A simple and delicious appetizer that is sure to be a crowd pleaser at your next soire, date night or when you feel like have something extra special with your grilled cheese. I'm pretty excited about this because it is my own recipe (!) and my mind is already filled with variations, so without further ado...

Broiled stuffed tomatoes

4-6 ripe tomatoes (tomatoes the size of plumbs are best)
4 oz soft cream cheese
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
2 TB pesto sauce
Italian seasoning

Equipment: muffin pan

Preheat oven to broil. Grease one muffin pan. Mix cream cheese, feta and pesto together in a small bowl and set aside. Using a sharp knife core each tomato and use a spoon to scoop all of the seeds and center of the tomato out. Sprinkle Italian seasoning in each tomato and fill with cheese mixture. Place tomatoes in the slots of the muffin pan. Broil for 4 minutes allowing cheese to melt but not burn on the top and tomatoes to soften. Serve while while still warm.

These were delicious! A fantastic and simple start to a meal. A great date night addition that will make it look like you tried, even when you didn't!

Taste: A+
Cost: A-
Waste: A

Feta topped chicken

I read recipes online all the time, I bookmark lots of them but how many do I actually try? Very few. However, this looked so yum-tastic that I made it just a few days after I saw it.

I found the recipe in question, for Feta Topped Chicken, on the Mixing Bowl. The Mixing Bowl is a good recipe site because they have various communities that you can join or follow based on what kind of recipes you're interested in - brown bag lunches, quick dinners, ect. There are drawbacks also, personally, I think they send me too many emails about comments and updates, which I frankly have no interest in.

I had high hopes for this recipe and it was something I could see myself just whipping up when there wasn't much to eat around the house but I was really disappointed. I found it to be lacking in flavor, which seems almost impossible given the ingredients! You can find the recipe here, you'll notice in the comments that I'm the only person who did not love it!

Aside from finding it lacking in flavor, the cheese did not melt! It just started turning brown and I basically ended up with chicken that had a tomato slice on the top and feta that kept falling off. Look at how sad it looks in the photo! I might try this again with some fresh basil (or pesto because my basil shows no signs of wanting to grow) a tomato slice and a slice of provolone or mozzarella both of which would melt better than the feta. Too bad because I like my feta!

I will say that broiling the chicken was really quick and easy, so with a few changes this might be a possibility.