What's For Dinner Maddie?

It’s report card season again.  No matter how many years pass me by and how many I read, they never cease to throw me back to my own report card days – my chest tightens at the mere thought. Without fail, in every report card I ever received, there was that line: “Lindsay is inclined to procrastinate.”  I mean does anyone even use that word anymore?   Year after year I was reminded of who I was and procrastination has become this sticky web from which, try as I may, I simply cannot escape.  I am now the parent who sends the field trip form into the school the morning of the trip; I’m the parent who leaves the house with three minutes to spare before a five minute drive to pick someone up, forgetting that there is a foot of snow on the car that needs to be removed; I’m the one who backdates cheques before I mail them in, just to look like I did it earlier.  And I’m that mother who remembers at 4:30 in the afternoon that I have to cook dinner tonight as though it’s never been part of my routine. My name is Lindsay and I am a procrastinator.

As part of my healing process from years of suffering procrastination, I am slowly learning to identify my triggers and develop some tools for managing my problem. I will share.

One thing I have learned is that when a child’s voice says “I’m hungry”, that is not code for “Have another glass of wine Mommy”, or, “Please stay on your computer for another hour and continue to ignore me while I do my dance routine in front of you for the 60th time today”.  No, it’s code for “Why the Hell isn’t my dinner ready and why didn’t I smell the aromas wafting down the block as I leisurely ambled home from school without a care in the world, knowing I am well loved and provided for?”

So now the tools. Right.  Every now and then I actually do think ahead, and I get something out of the freezer, which is a double think ahead because I saw it at the grocery store on super sale and thought ahead to buy it and put in it the freezer.  Here are some examples: shrimp, pork tenderloin, racks of lamb, pork ribs; these items are often on sale and can save a bundle of money and time and are often vacuum packed and freezer ready.  Today we are looking at ribs.  It happens all too often in our house that son #1, who goes away to school, texts me and announces he is coming home.  And can he bring Friend, Friend, Friend and Friend for the weekend.  And the next day, two more friends are also coming over because they are pre-ing here before the party.  (Yes, that is a verb, following on the heels of that other fairly new verb parenting, but perhaps more akin to the much more recent verb, après-ing, though with the opposite meaning).  And so out come the racks of baby back ribs, or side ribs or whatever ribs.  I think back ribs are tastier and easier, but side ribs are cheaper and more often on sale.  Anyway, hopefully you know a few hours ahead that a gang is coming so you can slow cook the ribs  until they are fall off the bone tender. Basically, you will cook them at low heat with some spices and then finish them off with a BBQ sauce.

slow cook ingredients

These amounts are very flexible, and based on one rack of ribs, so double or triple at leisure. You actually don’t even need the dried spices if you don’t want that “different” flavour, but the garlic and beer are essential
2 tsp cumin, ground
2 tsp corriander, ground
a sprinkling of sea salt
cinnamon stick
2 cloves garlic, sliced
a few star anise pods
1 beer

sauce ingredients

Again, the measurements are approximate – imagine you are squeezing a sauce out of a bottle to spread on the ribs; that’s how much you want.

About a half cup of ketchup
A few spurts of soy sauce to make the sauce a very dark red
Hot sauce to taste
2 Tbs brown sugar
Juice from half a lemon
2 cloves crushed garlic

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 225˚F
Cut rack of ribs into pieces of 3-4 ribs each
Sprinkle ground cumin, coriander and salt over the ribs and place in a large dutch oven with a lid, or deep roasting pan
Pour in beer, being careful not to pour off the spices
Sprinkle garlic slices evenly about and throw in the anise pods and the cinnamon stick
Cover and cook for about three hours, or until the meat appears to be separating from the bone

Once cooked, remove the ribs from the dutch oven with tongs and place on a baking sheet.
Turn the oven up to 350˚

Being the dead of winter and the fact that -30˚C seems to be the new normal, I now finish the ribs off in the oven, but in that distant memory of warmer temps, I would always do it on the BBQ.  Remember the BBQ? No, me neither.  I can’t even see it out there.

With a spoon or a silicone brush, liberally baste the ribs with the BBQ sauce and cook in oven for another 20 minutes or so.  Feel free to baste again half way through.
Serve with home fries, pan grilled kale and a big salad and I guarantee you a chorus of mmmmms and ahhhhhhs and endless compliments from adults and kids alike.

There is nothing like hearing one of your teenage son’s friends, who looks more man than boy, come sniffing into your kitchen and exclaim “Wow, smellllls good in here!”  And never in a million years would they guess that you are a procrastinator.