Bready or Not: Cato BBQ Rib Rub
Today I’m providing my personal favorite, tested-a-gazillion times rub recipe for pork ribs.
How you cook the ribs is up to you. My husband has a smoker, so he smokes these things for hours for delicious, succulent results.
However, using this rub, you could barbecue ribs on a grill, or bake them in the oven. The choice is yours!
The amounts stated in this recipe will cover about 5 pounds of meat. If you have leftover mix that hasn’t been in contact with raw meat, jar it and save it for later. You can also double or triple the recipe with that in mind.
I have made this with several types of paprika. I favor smoked paprika, but all kinds worked well. I have also made this with fresh oregano and dried. You could certainly substitute or add other herbs, too.
Whenever I find ribs on a good sale, we use this recipe. It’s one we often make for when company comes over, too. Everyone leaves full and happy!
Bready or Not: Cato BBQ Rib Rub
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons paprika any variety
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar packed
- 1 Tablespoon dried oregano or 1/2 Tablespoon fresh oregano
- 1 Tablespoon ground coffee
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- Combine rub ingredients well, making sure to break up any clumps. Coat the meat, front and back.
- Cook ribs as desired: smoke, grill, or bake.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Oreo and Caramel Cake Batter Brownies
If you need a fast chocolate fix, I have the recipe for you.
This uses cake mix as a base for decadent brownies. If you don’t have caramels, chop up some candy bars. Use full-size Oreos or break up some other kind of cookies. Just let caramel and chocolate, in some form, get cozy.
After you combine everything, this bakes up in about 20 minutes. It smells like heaven, too. A heaven oozing with chocolate.
These bars end up chewy and mild. If you want deeper flavor, use dark chocolate.
This is a Bready or Not Original, too. I modified it from my Golden Oreo Cake Batter Blondies.
Bready or Not: Oreo and Caramel Cake Batter Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 box devil's food cake mix
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder optional but awesome
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk or half & half
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 5 ounces Caramel Bits or chopped caramel
- 8 ounces Mini Oreos or chopped Oreos, some reserved for top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl. Add egg and milk. Fold in the chocolate chips, caramel pieces, and Mini Oreos.
- Pour into prepared baking pan. Add the reserved Oreos on top. Bake for 20 minutes, or it until passes the toothpick test.
- Allow to set for at least 30 minutes before cutting into squares.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Churro Waffles
This reprinted Holy Taco Church recipe produces waffles that are sweet, fluffy, decadent, and not the slightest bit healthy. CHURRO WAFFLES, people. These are hardcore churro.
This recipe is amazingly easy. As typed up below, it makes three big waffles in your waffle iron. Double or triple to feed a crowd or stash extras to freeze. You won’t need extra pats of butter on top, and you’ll probably need just a minimal amount of maple syrup, dulce de leche, or chocolate sauce. Heck, even dip these in something like Nutella.
Be crazy. Be churro-y. Dip your whole day in cinnamon and sugar.
First posted at the Holy Taco Church; modified from Chica Chocolatina.
Bready or Not: Churro Waffles
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon white sugar
- 2 shakes cinnamon
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup milk or almond milk
- 3 Tb unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 Tb cinnamon
- 1/4 cup melted butter
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and cinnamon. Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter so they can cool a few minutes. Preheat waffle iron.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the milk, melted butter and vanilla extract. Pour the milk mix into the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Apply non-stick spray to the waffle maker. Use a 1/2 cup to add batter to the iron and close the lid. While the waffle cooks, melt the butter for the topping and in a separate bowl combine the cinnamon and sugar.
- Remove the waffle from the iron. Brush butter all over a side, then sift or spoon the cinnamon and sugar over it. Flip over waffle and repeat. Add more batter to the waffle iron and repeat the process.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Crock Pot Green Chile Chicken
My slow cooker is my friend, and in this case my friend heats up some fantastically flavorful chicken that’s good in all sorts of dishes!
This recipe is a cousin to my Verde Pork Loin one. Both make a great protein for salads (my preference), tacos, burritos, casseroles, and likely all other sorts of stuff.
Don’t be afraid of the chiles here, either. I was for years. A standard can of green chiles is pretty mild and adds a punch of flavor. If you’re feeding people who can take the heat, by all means, use the hot version! We favor the Hatch brand because my husband used to live in Las Cruces, near the Hatch Valley; it’s good to support New Mexico products, in any case.
And yes, you can make this with chicken breasts or tenders, but there’s greater risk of the meat drying out. I much prefer to use boneless thighs in the crock pot.
Modified from The Perfect Pantry.
Bready or Not: Crock Pot Green Chile Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 16 ounces verde salsa
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 4 ounces Hatch green chiles canned, mild or hot
Instructions
- Cut the chicken thighs into thirds and place in a 4 to 6 quart slow cooker. Pour the salsa over them, followed by the garlic, cumin, and canned chiles. Give it a stir then pop the lid on.
- Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours; if the chicken was still a little frozen, cook on high for an hour or so to speed the process. Use a slotted spoon to remove chicken pieces, and shred or cut them into chunks. Place back in crock pot to soak in juice for another 20 minutes.
- Serve chicken on a plate, or in burritos, tacos, salads, or just about anything. Freezes fantastically for later dining.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: White Chocolate Lemon Blondies
Memorial Day weekend is coming up, so let’s do make something fresh and summer-y! How about chewy bars that taste like lemonade?
These bars are soft and chewy with a delightfully fresh flavor. White chocolate and lemon make for a wonderful pairing in both taste and texture.
I’d like to say that these kept well for days, but I really don’t know. They stayed yummy for one day, at least.
When my husband took these to work, a co-worker told him, “Your wife can make these any time she wants.” I always welcome that kind of encouragement to bake more!
Modified from A Kitchen Addiction.
Bready or Not: White Chocolate Lemon Blondies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- sparkling sugar or turbinado sugar for top, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line an 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking dish with aluminum foil and apply non-stick cooking spray.
- Cream together butter and both sugars. Add lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: flour, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the flour mix into the wet ingredients.
- Stir in white chocolate chips; dough will be thick. Spread into the bottom of the ready baking dish. An offset spatula works well to smooth it out. If desired, sprinkle sparkling or turbinado sugar all over the top.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test.
- Set on a wire rack to cool completely, then use foil to lift contents to a cutting board. Cut into bars.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Roasted Edamame
Roast your own edamame to make a delicious protein addition for salads, noodle dishes, or sandwiches–or as a healthy snack by itself!
Dry edamame is expensive in stores, often sold in small bags. My local Sprouts carried dry edamame in their bin section for an awesome price and I bought it often, but then they remodeled last year and the edamame vanished. Sigh.
So I decided, heck, I’d make my own!
A pound bag of frozen edamame is $2-4 in stores. It takes some planning and minimal work to roast it, and you can make it as crunchy as you like. I like to keep the beans a little chewy.
I do a lot of sweets on here, but this is the kind of food I like to do for myself as a treat. Om nom nom!
Modified from Bams Kitchen.
Bready or Not: Roasted Edamame
Ingredients
- 16 ounces shelled edamame 1 bag, frozen
- olive oil or avocado oil
- sea salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Take the sealed edamame bag out of the freezer and set it on a plate in the fridge to defrost overnight.
- Next day, open up the bag and place the shelled beans in a colander. Rinse and sort through to make sure they are thawed. Set out towels and let the edamame sit out to dry in a single layer; blot the top with another towel. The beans should be completely dry before roasting.
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place your edamame on the sheet. Drizzle with oil and stir them for complete coverage. Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, with breaks about every 15 minutes to stir the edamame. The longer they cook, the crispier and browner they get, so bake to preferred taste!
- Eat right away, or store in a sealed container in the fridge. Roasted edamame is great as a snack, or in all sorts of dishes!
- OM NOM NOM!
