1.Purchase ribs that are evenly covered in meat. In other words, don’t buy a slab that is fatty on one end and fleshy on the other. Avoid slabs that have exposed bones!

2.Allow for one pound of ribs per guest. This is a generous helping but for more impressive appetites, make it two!

3.When preparing the meat, make sure you remove the membrane on the underside of the ribs with a sharp knife. If you don’t it blocks the flavor intake.

4.Always marinate your ribs in the refrigerator, not at room temperature.

5.Don’t even think about boiling those ribs! Above all else, boiling the meat causes it to lose all its flavor. If you just have to pre-cook your ribs before slapping them on the cooking grate, try steaming your slabs instead as this will help lock the flavor in.

6.Before placing your ribs on the grate for Barbecuing or smoking, make sure you coat the metal with a generous helping of oil.

7.Barbecuing demands constant attention! As soon as it goes on your grate, stay close by and keep an eye on it. Watch the cooking temperature and avoid going above 250 degrees Fahrenheit — the best ribs are cooked slowly over indirect heat for about five hours.

8.Put down that fork! Always use tongs to handle your meat once it’s on the grate. Why pierce the meat and let the flavor ooze out if you don’t have to?

9.If you’re going to baste during cooking stay away from anything with sugar in it. Your best bet is to use vinegar and/or water-based products only.

10.Only lay on the BBQ sauce in the last 20-30 minutes of cooking. Any sooner than that and the heat will cause the sauce to caramelize and burn your meat.

11.Let the ribs cool for 10-15 minutes before you serve them up. This is just a courtesy — you don’t want to singe your guests’ mouths with smoking hot sauce! You could lose some friends.

Okay, now I need to ask do you find yourself making the same meals over and over and over? It seems like I get in a rut and fix the same foods on a rotating scale. Granted I have picky eaters in my family but not that picky.

I decided to do something about it. After reflecting on it for awhile I discovered the biggest problem with cooking supper was deciding what to make so I got out a notebook and started writing down meal ideas complete with side dishes. I even asked friends and family occasionally what they were having for dinner to get more ideas.

I had my daughter give me ideas too for her favorite meal choices and side dishes. She did a good job of coming up with things I hadn’t even made in a long time. I found that asking her when she was hungry seemed to help her creative juices come up with more ideas.

Now each week I have my little notebook of meal ideas and I decide on 8 of them and go shopping for the ingredients to make them. I then make a list and put it on the board of the 8 different menu choices and cross them off as I make them.

At the end of the week there is always one meal left over, I often find I didn’t make it because someone doesn’t like it much or it takes too long to prepare. I then make a little note in my notebook saying cook this when so and so won’t be home, or only put this on the supper list when you know you have time to make it.

I find I don’t dread cooking supper nearly as much, I have eliminated the quick run to the grocery store before making supper, and have made my life much simpler when it comes to cooking supper.

Want some good family fun? Make a mess.

“Kids love a good mess and a mess is often a sign of a good time,” says award-winning author Donna Erickson. Simple activities like playing in a big pile of leaves or splashing in puddles after an afternoon shower become family traditions that kids remember.

Families can enjoy endless indoor fun, too, without giving messes a second thought. Erickson’s favorite activity this time of year is making apple-cinnamon clay. Adults and kids can stir up this unusual concoction to make decorative, aromatic ornaments or cool jewelry.

When hands get sticky, Erickson suggests using Kleenex Moist Cloths to make clean-up fun. It’s the next best thing to washcloth clean, she says.

Apple-Cinnamon Clay

What you’ll need:

1/2 part applesauce

1/2 part cinnamon

Mixing bowl

2 sheets of waxed paper

Rolling pin

Cookie cutter shapes of all sizes

Mix equal parts of cinnamon and applesauce together. For a small batch, use 1/2 cup of each. If the mixture becomes too sticky, add more cinnamon; if it’s too stiff, add more applesauce.

Scoop onto a piece of waxed paper. Place the additional sheet on top.

Use the rolling pin to roll out the mixture until it’s about 1/2-inch thick.

Decide what shapes you would like to create. Press the cookie cutters on top of the clay and trim away the extra dough.

When complete, place shapes on a cooling rack. Take a moment to clean the kids’ hands with Kleenex Moist Cloths.

Allow the shapes to air-dry for about 24 hours or until hard.

Decorate with paints or glitter. Use your imagination. For instance, glue a clasp on the back to make a pin or add ribbon for a necklace.

What To Serve As The Main Course For Your Dinner Party

Choosing the best meal to serve as the main course for a dinner party is often a dilemma. Hosts and hostesses want to make sure that they do not serve foods to which the guests may have an allergic reaction and when dealing with different cultures, they want to make sure the food is not offensive. For example, you would not serve pork at a meal where some of your guests practiced the Muslim religion. You would not serve roast beef or chicken if you know that some of your guests are vegetarian.

Fish is a dish that always goes over well at dinner parties. Try a fish dish that is not common, such as halibut. The dinner party that earned me the best compliments was one at which I served a recipe called Snappy Halibut Skillet. Along with being easy to prepare, it is quite tasty. There are many variations of this recipe, but the one that my family and guests prefer is as follows. You will have to increase the recipe for the required number of guests. This one is based on a dinner party for 10 people.

Ingredients

1 1/2 tsp. Thyme
2 1/2 lb halibut (allowing 1/2 lb. per serving)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped in small pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup green onions

Sprinkle thyme on both sides of each halibut fillet and cook over medium heat in hot oil. Test the fish to see if it flakes easily with a fork. This will tell you that it is fried. Remove the fish to a warming plate.

Using the same skillet, cook the garlic and onion until they are tender. Stir the cornstarch into the stewed tomatoes and then pour the mixture into the skillet. Cook until thickened. Return the fish to the skillet and let it heat through with the sauce.

Many people understand the concept of passive solar for heating a home. Fewer realize it can be used in to cook food and sterilize water.

Cooking With The Power of the Sun

A solar oven is pretty much what it sounds like. It is used to cook food and sterilize water. Most people do not even know they exist, but they are an effective way to cook from both an economic and efficiency point of view.

The basic idea with a solar cooking is to create a box like structure that the sun heats up dramatically. If you have sat in a car in rush hour during the summer, you know the sun can generate a lot of heat. Instead of cooking you in a car, a solar oven focuses on food.

So, how do we cook with it? The box structure is created with dark paneling and then covered with a clear glass or plastic top after pots and food or water has been inserted. The structure is sealed. Much like a car, the sunlight beats through the clear top and heats the interior of the box. As the heat rises, it cooks the items inside. Yes, it produces more than enough heat to do the job. It really is as simple as that.

There are three general types of solar ovens. A solar box works as described in the previous paragraph. A panel oven uses reflective surfaces to focus the sun on a pot to create heat and cook the material inside. A parabolic version is designed to focus the sunlight into the bottom of a concave area upon which sits pots. There are variations of these three forms, but all solar cooking designs are derived from these basic forms.

While cooking with the sun is a fun and efficient, most people will never apply it in their home because of obvious design issues. At a cabin or when camping, however, it is a perfect solution.