Damn That Rachel Ray

Oh, I may just be addicted. Addicted to Rachel Ray and her 30 minute meals on the Food Network. I love this show and it has inspired me to cook and create my own new dishes. In the past week I have made homemade chicken noodle soup, a big hearty vegetable and sausage lasagna and last night I made baby back ribs with red smashed potatoes prepared with garlic and herb cream cheese and baked barbeque sauce.

I can’t cook my meals in 30 minutes but let’s not kid ourselves, there is no way these meals can really be done in 30 minutes. She obviously cheats a little bit because everything is ready to go at the beginning of the show. My meals definitely take a lot longer than that. I tried to be a short order cook when I was in college and I couldn’t do it. I am just too damn slow and too easily distracted. Speaking of taking my time in the kitchen, it usually takes me two hours to make ribs and this weekend it took 24 hours.

On Saturday night I had planned on staying in, cooking ribs and going to bed early because I had to get up at 7 am on Sunday for work. Right after I finished boiling the ribs, there was a knock on the door and two of our friends showed up and then an hour later two more friends showed, and then an hour later another friend showed up. Next thing I know I am finding Tupperware for my ribs and potatoes as we are heading out to “the beer store” (as Karen called it) for a night of adventures that finally ended at 2:30 in the morning. The ribs actually turned out pretty well after sitting in the fridge all night, so that may be part of my new recipe. It will go something like this:

Boil ribs for 45 minutes in beer and water
Have friends come over and start drinking beer
Decide to go out and play air hockey
Put ribs in fridge over night
Pull ribs out 24 hours later and bake with sauce for 45 minutes
(This recipe calls for at least three friends)


Speaking of sauce, I made my own homemade sauce this weekend and it was great. I have been playing with a lot of different ingredients and I think I have found that one special ingredient: merlot. If all else fails, go with merlot. I find this helps with many situations in general, not just with cooking.