Jazz and Rib Festival... 2nd Try

I tried to post these pictures from a few weeks ago but they didn't show up... Lets hope they work this time. I'm trying to improve my photo editing skills. We took a break from our externships and braved the heat index to get some delicious ribs.

The weather was way too hot to eat that many ribs so we split a sampler and a pulled pork sandwich. Did I mention that this festival was two weeks ago during that terrible heat wave? The ribs were incredible, fall off the bone tender and super juicy. They also just had BBQ sauce on the side which I prefer.

The pulled pork was also very good but I preferred the ribs.

We finished our meal with a chocolate dipped frozen banana topped with toasted coconut... Delish!

Summer Fruit Salad

This is one of my favorite salads to toss together for a quick lunch. This peach and pear salad can be thrown together in about 10 minutes! Plus the ingredients are very simple and easy to find.


Ingredients:
1 Peach
1 Pear
1 oz goat cheese
1 TBS pine nuts
1 TBS raw honey
Fresh basil

1) Chunk up the peach and pear into 1 inch cubes. Toss together.

2) Roll basil into a cigar like shape. Cut into 1/8 wide strips (a chiffonade). Toss with peach and pear.

3) Crumbled the goat cheese over the fruit. Sprinkle goat cheese on top.

4) Drizzle salad with the honey.

We are enjoying our last week in the Midwest... K and I are headed back to the East Coast in just a little bit! Stay tuned for some exciting pie crust recipes, I finally have a real rolling pin... No more wine or beer bottles for this girl! I'm getting classy now.

Roasted Beet and Fig Salad

This is a perfect summer salad. The beets can be served hot or cold. I prefer hot to get the goat cheese just a little bit melty.

Roasted Beets:

4-6 medium beets, peeled and sliced into 1/4 in thick round slices

1/3 cup Fig Preserves

1 TBS Olive Oil

1 Dash of Coriander

1) Preheat oven to 375.

2) Whisk together fig preserves, olive oil and coriander.

3) Toss in the beet slices and stir to thoroughly combine the beets and fig mixture.

4) Cover with foil and roast for 30 minutes.

Salad:

3 cups baby spinach

2 TBS sherry vinegar

Dash of dry mustard

1/4 cup goat cheese

1) After the beets are done roasting, lay the them on top of the 3 cups of baby spinach. Don't throw out the fig preserves!

2) Add 2 TBS of sherry vinegar and a dash of dry mustard to the fig preserve mixture. If the mixture is still really thick, add another TBS of vinegar.

3) Drizzle your fig preserve/sherry vinaigrette mixture over the beets and spinach.

4) Crumble goat cheese on top and enjoy!