Fourth of July Dishes!

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Independence Day filled with good food and fun!  This was the first 4th of July in a very long time that we were on our own but saw no reason to skimp on serving a delicious meal to my hubby and son.  Granted the number of dishes was cut down from the ones I usually serve when I have a group over.  

Today's menu included mom's potato salad recipe, coleslaw, baked beans and barbecued ribs.  For dessert I made a batch of homemade ice cream using a recipe handed down through the generations in my family.  I also made a fruit mixture of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries for those would felt they needed a little extra topping on the dessert - yes hubby I'm talking about you!

Today I will be sharing my mom's potato salad and barbecued ribs recipes.

Mom's Potato Salad

Potatoes (Yukon Gold are best)

Bread & Butter Pickles - diced

Onions - diced

eggs, boiled and chopped

yellow mustard

Hellman's mayo (it won't taste the best with any other)

I peeled and diced 7 potatoes.  My rule of thumb for 3 people is 1 potato per person and 1 for the pot.  I did, however, want enough leftover for another meal so doubled the 1 per person to 2.  I boil these potatoes in water until fork tender salting the water with MORTON'S SEA SALT.  You will find that the sea salt gives your potatoes so much more flavor which means your potato salad will be so much more flavorful at the end.

At the same time the potatoes are boiling I boil my eggs - 6 in this case.  Again my rule of thumb is 1 per person and as I wanted leftover I doubled to 2 per person.  Bring to boil and remove from heat and cover with a lid.  Let sit for 13 minutes and then they are ready for removing the shell and chopping.

In a large metal bowl (I use metal as it is better for cooling in refrigerator) I combine the potatoes, chopped eggs, diced onions and pickles.  I put in 1/4 cup yellow mustard and Hellman's mayonnaise until it is the right consistency.  How much you use depends on the size of the batch.  I used about 3/4 cup on this batch.  Place in refrigerator to get cold.

I will say that I've always used the Bread & Butter pickles and the Hellman's mayonnaise.  If I don't, somebody always asks what is wrong with the potato salad - LOL!  If you prefer dill pickles or another mayo, feel free to change to your preferences.

Lorrie's Barbecued Ribs

Boneless Country Style Pork Ribs

Barbecue sauce

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Pepper

Ketchup 

Worcestershire sauce

I start out by layering my ribs in a pan large enough to accommodate ribs plus being covered by water.  On top of the ribs I pour barbecue sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper.  I then pour water in to cover ribs and about 1/2" above.  Turn on burner and once the mixture starts to boil turn down to simmer and let simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes.  I do this uncovered so as not to put extra moisture in my flavoring sauce.  On simmer you shouldn't need to add any additional liquids.

Now you wonder the measurements for all the ingredients for my flavoring sauce.  There really are none.  I actually just starting pouring out of the bottles until I thought "that looks good".  My educated guess for yesterday's sauce - about a cup of barbecue sauce, a cup of ketchup, 2 Tbsp of garlic powder, 2 Tbsp onion powder, 1 Tbsp pepper, 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce.  It doesn't really matter as you are just creating a flavor base so your ribs won't lose flavor during this process.  

Once you have finished the simmering process I then take my ribs (which are fall apart tender) and drop in a bowl of my favorite barbecue sauce and then put them on a grill for 10 to 20 minutes to finish them off. DELICIOUS!  

The best part of this recipe is you can use your favorite flavors.  If you like a bit of heat, feel free to add cayenne, chili powder, tabasco to your flavoring liquid.

Simmering

Just off the grill

Homemade ice cream.  It was YUMMY!