Goat Cheese Polenta with Ribs

Today I made Polenta for the first time. It was super easy and didn't take long at all.

The ribs on the other hand were very time consuming... I had planned on making them before church and then letting them simmer in the dutch oven while we were gone, but Cambria got some sort of rash... so Cliff said he'd stay home and do them.

Two Main Dishes in a row for him! I'm starting to feel like he should be the one doing this experiment... I'm glad he's into it, because it took a long time, required lots of chopping and preparation, and then turned out to be AWFUL!!!!

We had never eaten ribs before so I'm not sure if this is what one should expect... but they were not great. For one thing, there wasn't much meat. Secondly they were cooked in bacon (polenta) fat and oil which made them really greasy. We don't do much fat and grease.

The ribs were rated separately due to the extreme dislike of the Polenta. The average score of the ribs was a 5. No one hated it, but no one would be heart broken if they never saw it again.

The average score of the Polenta was a different story.... a 2. Cliff's quote was "I would rather barf than eat it." He practically vomited it out after his first bite. I made sure to document their reactions:

I don't know if our family is not cultured enough, or if it's because we don't like goat cheese (I'm going to try Polenta again without it), or maybe we are just such healthy eaters we can't handle greasy food. All I know is I'm going to have to search for a new rib recipe and a side to serve it with. I have a huge package of pork ribs in the freezer, so we will have them again sometime soon...

Any suggestions?

Carbs for the Polenta are 21g in 1/2 Cup. The ribs are (virtually) a free food. I'm not doing the calories because we won't be making it like this again.

I was pretty discouraged that it didn't turn out because I had such high hopes, but Cliff reminded me that this is an experiment and if every recipe turned out wonderful just like the cooking blogs, it wouldn't be real... He's so encouraging! Except when he's threatening to vomit out the food I made... :)

Our backup plan was baby watermelon... It made everyone much happier 

and they greatly enjoyed the fruit while cursing the Polenta...