Baby Back Ribs with Macaroni & Cheese

I let Jake pick our menu tonite.  he obviously went for a meat dish.  I typically don't pick pork ribs for myself because they upset my belly, but I obliged because in my very first post I said I would do every recipe.  and also because he selected mac & cheese and in general, you can't go wrong there.

the ribs consisted of a dry rub and BBQ sauce.

the ingredients:

1/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar

2 tbsp. paprika

2 tbsp. onion powder

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tbsp. freshly ground pepper

you will also need: 2 slabs baby back ribs and 1/2 c. prepared BBQ sauce (Jake prefers Sweet Baby Rays.)

the final consensus was that they were "interesting."  and that was with pronouncing EVERY syllable in the word.  he also finished the entire plate, I got a chunk off of ONE of the ribs.  personally, I think the dry rub was a bit much.  I would prefer one or the other.

now onto the mac & cheese!

first- lets just say I got to make homemade bread crumbs!  which really turned out to be croutons, but whatever.  normally I would coat my bread bits in olive oil, salt and pepper and bake them, but this recipe called for them to be saute'd in butter.  they turned out good, though I wish I didn't use the leftover french bread that we had.

the ingredients:

1 egg

3/4 c. evaporated milk

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

dash of red pepper sauce*

4 oz. elbow macaroni**

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese***

*I used Siracha sauce.

**I used what we had in the cabinet.

***I only had 1 c. cheddar cheese, so I ended up using my Mexican blend of cheese for the other 1/2 c.

so this was ok for me.  nothing I would write home about.  the sauce was really creamy, Jake said it was "rich" although I don't agree.  my only complaint was that I could taste the mustard in it.  Jake's complaint was that it needed more noodles.  I think the bread crumbs saved the day because it added a nice crunch in the mix and also an interesting flavor in the background.

no cooking for me tomorrow.  I have a long day of work ahead of me and Jake's already promised me Thai take-out.

~pam