Foil-Free Ribs!

Well, this post is a bit overdue, but I tried out a modified rib recipe, and I'm here to report that it was a SUCCESS!

Actually, there's nothing special about the recipe, but the method is different and I'd like to preserve it here since my baby-brain seems to preserve nothing these days.


No-Foil Oven Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients and Supplies:
-1 rack baby back ribs
-Half a bottle of your favorite bbq sauce
-Rectangular cookie sheet
-Roasting pan about the same size as the cookie sheet, roasting rack removed
-Spoon

Directions:
1. Bring ribs to room temp by warming on the counter or in the sink for a few hours.
2. Preheat oven to 300F.
3. Remove white membrane on the underside of the ribs. Usually I can get a finger or knife underneath it, grasp it with a papertowel, and remove. There are several good youtube videos if you are still confused.
4. Slather both sides with BBQ sauce and set on cookie sheet, meat side up. Cover with roasting pan.
5. Cook for 1 hr.  Add oven-safe dish with 1-2 cups of water to the oven.
6. Cook for 1 more hour. Uncover. Add more BBQ sauce to the meat-side (the side that is up already).
7. Cook for 40 min. Remove from oven, rest for 10 min and eat!

A few notes: Some people like to broil at the end to get a really glazed finish. I find that it isn't necessary for our tastes. Also, you can remove the membrane and slather with BBQ and marinate for up to 24 hours before cooking.

These turn out super tender (you can eat them one-handed with a fork!!) and this method is a good starting point for other fancy things like dry rubs, etc.

Living without Aluminium Foil.....

THE PROBLEM:
Well folks, it's official: The Head Zoo no longer cooks with aluminium foil. I posted the link to the actual study done in Dubai on my facebook, but the gist of the study is that it is NOT SAFE to cook with foil in any capacity. It's not safe to have it touching the food or even not touching. The acidity of the food doesn't matter all that much; more acidic foods (like tomatoes, vinegar, citrus) are worse but even non-acidic foods are bad enough.

The study concluded that enough aluminium migrated from the foil to the food, which is then ingested, to cause alarming levels of the metal in our bodies.  Furthermore, the study reviewed past studies showing that there is NO SAFE amount of aluminium for humans to ingest. Pardon my all caps phrases, but this is just one of the billion things that I'm learning about that is scary, scary, scary.

Aluminium buildup can cause a number of issues in the body, but by and far the biggest issue, is that it has been implicated in Alzheimers and other degenerative brain diseases.

THE ANNOYED ANDRIA:
I think another reason why this study bothers me so much is because we use foil for EVERYTHING. I'm serious. If I can avoid scrubbing by slathering on a layer of foil, then roll it out. I love to wrap any number of foods in it (beets, other veggies, meats, fish....) and use it to cover food.

The most annoying part of all of this is that there isn't a simple solution. In the past, if I found out my handsoap was bad for me or my family, I'd research a different brand and have it shipped to the house a few days later. Simple. Easy. Worth a little extra money. But foil?? There just isn't another magical material that comes on a roll with the same low-cost, easy-to use, love-this-stuff convenience.

THE SOLUTION:
Well, I haven't found a perfect one. I'm working on it.

For lining my pans, I did find that true parchment paper is oven-safe up to 425F for an hour. Sweet. Easy, cheap, available in most grocery stores. (I found ours at Albertsons and didn't even note the price once I noted it was oven-safe.

For roasting veggies....yeah, still haven't found a really good alternative. My goal is to research cloth roasting bags this next week when I have the time, I guess. Until then, we'll be trying to steam/bake/saute/any other cooking method for our favorite veggies instead of lovingly wrapping them up in foil as gifts to our tastebuds.

For my super easy, super delicious, makes me feel like Martha rib recipe.....UGH. Well, the plan was to make ribs tonight until I realized the trick to making them awesome is to slather them in acidic bbq sauce, wrap them in foil, bake for an hour, unwrap, and bake for another hour. Can I tell you how tempted I was to hold up my middle finger in the general direction of Dubai and just make the damn ribs in foil?!  But no, I cannot. I just cannot. I am pregnant so the world no longer revolves around me and my tastebuds. I'm sure baby G will enjoy the taste of the ribs so much that she won't mind the extra helping of aluminium, but they do say that babies in-utero have twice the number of tastebuds as adults so maybe she would taste the offending metals and be annoyed?  Plus, her brain is still forming. I may not be able to protect her from picking gum off of the sidewalk and sticking it in her mouth in a few years, but I can protect her from aluminium now.

So, this is what I've decided: I'm going to put the ribs on a baking sheet and cap them with another baking pan, perhaps a pyrex? It seems like this will seal in the juices reasonably well, right? I might be embarking on a mission to ruin $10 worth of meat, but guess what? I'm super blessed with a husband who will happily eat anything I cook, even if it sucks, so it won't be a total bust. Wish me luck. Oh, and send me your best foil-be-gone solutions, ok???

Nursery Walls are DONE!

Well, for those of you who have read the past two nursery blog updates found here and here, I'm proud to announce that the walls are FINALLY done. Yes, I did drag my feet a lot, but that's ok.

The room started as builder basic with white-ish walls, and small baseboard trim in a faux oak. We tore out the trim, painted the upper walls green, and the installed all new baseboards, wainscoting, chair rail, and trim around the window, closet door, and door.

Don did 99% of the work on the wood installs. He carefully measured each piece and then installed them with glue and nails. The worst of it was working with the beadboard because we went the cheap route and got the pressed sheets. They aren't square in anyway and they are really difficult to get straight cuts on because they are floppy.

After that, I ignored the room because all of the work left was for me. Every nail head needed to be tapped in deeper and then spackled. EVERY crevice needed to be caulked. After drying, everything needed to be sanded and examined for imperfections before painting could even begin. I think the worst part and the reason why I avoided it for so long was using caulk and spackle on my hands and knees.  It's hard work for a pregnant lady! I would finish a few feet and be huffing and puffing and sweating. Gross.

Well, two coats of semi-gloss no VOC paint later, its BEAUTIFUL. I seriously didn't want to put the furniture back because it was fun to just stand there and bask in the glow of our made-over room. It looks like a million bucks and makes the rest of our house look dingy and sad. 

Oh, and I got a new phone that has a nifty panorama maker, so I took some panoramic pics of the nursery. Please, please ignore the clutter. The next few weeks are devoted to organizing, decorating, and beautifying, but I couldn't wait to share some photos. Also, please ignore the weird colors from the low-light. The green does NOT look like split pea soup, I promise.

The door is missing because I still haven't painted it.......

Still have curtains to hang above window and in closet, among 5483290 other cosmetic items to address!