Leftovers and Ribs

Tonight we had some leftovers and ribs. All of the items were either from a weekly share or purchased from Fair Shares. We're at the point in the week that I work on cleaning out the refrigerator to make room for the next week's food. The highlight of the meal was pork ribs from Hinkebein Farms in Cape Girardeau, MO. All of their meat is hormone free and antibiotic free, and as their website says:

The meat is very tender because the animals are not exposed to the stress of living in a feed-lot. Little shrinkage occurs in the cooked product because the animals have room to roam and run, thus building up more muscle.

I have been smoking ribs for years. I worked at Barney's Bar B Q throughout high school and college and believe a dry rub, slow cooked is the only way. My family thinks I make great ribs, but my husband thought these were some of the best ever. I used the Galena Street rib rub from Penzy's (I used to buy it on line, but they have opened a store on Manchester Road in Maplewood. It is worth the trip.) And slow cooked them with indirect heat on the Weber kettle yesterday afternoon. I wrapped them in foil and kept them in the refrigerator until tonight, when I reheated them in a 275 degree oven. The meat just fell off the bone, as usual, but the texture was better than usual.

I love dinners that use left overs, or as my uncle used to call them planned overs. While I was smoking the ribs yesterday afternoon I also grilled the last of the asparagus (tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and grated parmesan cheese) and refrigerated it. Tonight we ate it cold with the ribs, as well as the left over kale salad and cole slaw I made to go with burgers yesterday. The cabbage was from Yellow Dog farms, which means all of the dishes in tonight's leftover/planned over meal were from local producers.

Tonight I finished on the strawberries in a smoothie. That means the only produce I haven't finished off from last weeks share is a little lettuce. Tomorrow night we'll have it with the pasta from Mangia Italiano and a pesto sauce I purchases frozen from Fair Shares last week.