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...

Dutch Oven Lasagna Attempt #1

Last week I decided to pull out the dutch oven. I scrubbed it with soap, and then followed the instructions for seasoning the pan. Once all the rust was off I put it in the oven and just as it got too hot to hold I put olive oil all over it (a thin coat). Then I put it back in the oven to cook upside down for an hour with the windows open (it's pretty stinky!) After repeating the process 3 times, I figured it was ready.

Lasagna was the first dish. I used another recipe from Allrecipes. It claims it is the "World's Best."

I started it and then realized with all the seasoning of the pan I had run out of time to actually cook it... because I wanted to scrapbook with my neighbor. It takes 3 hours! Cliff volunteered and I accepted :) So while he was slaving away, I was chatting it up and relaxing kid-free. I'm spoiled I know. Anyway, he was not into photographing much of the cooking stuff, so this is all I got out of him:

Yes. He's just that dramatic...

The only thing he did differently was to put spiral noodles in instead of lasagna noodles. I turned out to be more of a lasagna soup... It could have probably used twice the amount of noodles and been pretty good. We all rated it an average of 6, but we'll have to think pretty long and hard about whether or not we want to make this again. It took so long!

There were about 20 grams of carbohydrate per 1 cup serving, but that would change if we ended up adding more noodles.

World's Best Lasagna

Rated: Submitted By: Johnchandler Photo By: Heather Prep Time: 30 Minutes Cook Time: 2 Hours 30 Minutes Ready In: 3 Hours 15 Minutes Servings: 12

"Filling and satisfying lasagna with sausage, ground beef and three types of cheese."

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet Italian sausage 3/4 pound lean ground beef 1/2 cup minced onion 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce 1/2 cup water 2 tablespoons white sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1 tablespoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 12 lasagna noodles 16 ounces ricotta cheese 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.	In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4.	To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
5.	Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Mason's Secret Taco Soup

While Kaiah was making French bread, Mason really wanted to try to make something that we normally make... only with a secret ingredient. That way he could call it Mason's Secret Taco Soup.

 

 

Meanwhile, another "helper" appeared in the kitchen and didn't want to miss out. Usually he  pulls up a chair and watches at the counter. But on this day he wanted to hug, roll, be silly and be right at our feet. We didn't mind :) 

His taco soup turned out to be really yummy... although a little different than normal. Can you guess what the secret ingredient was?

Well even if you can, I won't confirm or deny it. I'm sworn to secrecy! :)