Crockpot BBQ Baby Back Ribs

I don't know about you, but after a while we get bored of eating the same old things for dinner every night. Seems like its a steady rotation between some type of tomato sauce pasta, baked chicken and pizza... So last Friday before going grocery shopping I decided to sit down and try to find some newer recipes.

Mark and I LOVE ribs, but I've never made them at home because a.) I had no idea how too and b.) they're usually a little more expensive then the frozen chicken breasts we buy. But when I saw a recipe on pinterest for ribs done in the crockpot, and it seemed pretty darn easy, I decided to splurge and buy some ribs. It turns out - ribs at the grocery store last friday were buy 1 get 1 free! I ended up getting 2 racks of ribs for only $10 a piece. I was excited. 

I made them Monday - the day I don't get off work until 7 - so it was the perfect time to let them sit in the crockpot all day and be ready to eat when I got home. I was nervous about how they were going to taste, but we were pleasantly surprised! I mean, they weren't Frankie's good (our favorite rib place in town) but they were fall off the bone tender and pretty flavorful! 

I've list the Recipe below and also a link to the original blog where I found it.

Ingredients:
2.5 tbsp Light brown sugar (or dark if you don't have it)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1.5 tbsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Chili powder
1 cup BBQ sauce - I didn't really measure this, I just poured some on! (We like to use Sweet Baby Rays!)
2-2.5 lb pork [baby back] ribs

• Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl - making sure to mash up the brown sugar so it isn't clumpy
• Cut your ribs in half, leave the membranes on to keep them together, 
• Rub the dry mix on the ribs - front and back
• Stick the ribs in the crockpot with the top thicker part towards the outside of the crockpot and the thicker side down.
• Pour your BBQ sauce all over the ribs
• Stick the lid on and wait 6-8 hours

In the original blog post she includes a second step where you broil the ribs in the oven and use the sauce from the crockpot to baste the ribs in. We skipped this step on Monday night and ate them right out of the crockpot and they were delicious. But if you're curious about the next step and want to take your ribs to the next level - check out the original recipe here at Take it from Mama!

Otherwise, enjoy the ribs! :)

New Floors: Finished!

So I definitely didn't follow through with my original plan of posting pictures through out the process of laying new floors down.

Not only did I not do regular updates during the project - I haven't posted ANYTHING in over a MONTH. *hangs head* Why am I finding blogging so difficult lately? Especially with all of the fun and exciting things happening this summer for our family....you'd think I'd be more on top of it.

I guess late is better than never though, so finally here are pictures of the finished project!

Sorry for the glare, but doesn't that floor look fantastic? I love they way it looks and feels. I love vacuuming up the dog hair and knowing that I got all of it! We purchased 3 rugs from Lowes that all match. Piper is happy to have the rug to lay on. She's not a big fan of laying on the hard wood unless its right after we come back from a run. : ) We also got a new coffee table! Mark's sister and her husband gave it to us for free and I love it. Its a beautiful table!

Here is just a quick picture of the floors in our dining room. I love the way it looks with our table and chairs... I just need to figure out if I want a rug in here or not.

Mark still has to lay all of the quarter round along the edges of floor to finish the project off - but other than that it is done! He got it all finished in a week and then a second weekend to finish the dining room. He did it almost all by himself - with the help of his dad 1 day and then I tried to help in the evenings after getting off work. I'm impressed with all that my man did that week - learning the new skill of putting in floors and then completing the project beautifully! Very thankful for his handy man abilities that save us money.

Hoping your May isn't speeding by too fast! I can't believe Memorial Day is this weekend! Hopefully I'll be a little more regular around here, maybe even post some baby bump pictures???