Simple and Delicous Slow Roasted Ribs

For my bridal shower I recieved the Company's Coming recipe book "Anytime Casseroles".  It is by far my favorite one that I own - and definitely the recipe book I use the most.  As a farmer's wife, casseroles are a staple food on our menu and these recipes are all made from ingredients that I either regularly stock in my fridge or I can easily get in our small town grocery store.  This rib recipe is my favorite from the book (with a few of my own changes).  These are so tender that I was able to eat mine with a fork because the meat fell right off the bones.  I couldn't keep a recipe this good to myself so I thought I would share it with you.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 3 1/2 hrs
Servings: 2

Ingredients:
1 lg rack (or 2 sm racks) of pork ribs
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp table salt (or sea salt)
1 1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper
BBQ sauce of your choice flavor

Recipe:
1. Combine the brown sugar, garlic salt, table salt and pepper
2. Rub the above mixure into the ribs and arrange them in a casserole dish
3. Bake the ribs - covered - for 3 hours at 250°F, and flip at half time
4. Coat the ribs in BBQ sauce and cook for an additional 30 mins uncovered
5. The ribs are done! Combine with your favorite side dishes and enjoy!

Our Week in Review

Hello again! I hope that Christmas treated you well - it certainly did us.  I've spent most of the week getting in some quality time with Brett and both of our families. We all ate way too much (it wouldn't be the same if we all didn't gain five pounds), and I even cooked my very first turkey.

Mom and Dad got me a new stethoscope for Christmas! Yay! This picture really shows my desperate need for a hair cut too. Yikes.

I also had time to do some knitting - I am working on a scarf for Brett and I hope to post the pattern as soon as the scarf is done. Sadly I think I might be the worlds slowest knitter when it comes to scarves - but know that I am trying very hard to get it done in a timely manner.

DIY Crocheted Mittens

As promised, here is a pattern that uses the back post and front post double crochet stitches!  I usually wear a size large mitten, but these fit pretty tight on my hands so this pattern would be congruent with a normal size medium.  I suggest measuring this pattern on your hand as you go, just to make sure that it is fitting properly (and add or decrease stitches as needed).  I love how these mitts turned out - they are pretty and super warm.  Here is the pattern!

What you will need:
2 balls of worsted weight yarn (320 yds total) - I used Bernat satin
5mm (U.S. 8) crochet hook
Scissors
1/4 yd minky fabric (to coordinate with yarn)
Thread to match fabric
Sewing machine or hand sewing needles

Abbreviations:
Ch = chain
Sl St = slip stitch
Sc = single crochet
Dc = double crochet
FPDC = front post double crochet
BPDC = back post double crochet
*For instructions on the FPDC and BPDC go here.

1.  Make the cuff.
a. Ch 21
b. Sc in each chain
c. Sc in back loop of each Sc
d. Sc (normal) in each Sc
e. Repeat steps c & d until cuff reaches 14" long

Alternating rows of Sc in the back loop and normal Sc makes the ribbing of the cuff.

f. Sl St the ends together to make an actual cuff.

2.  Start on the hand.
a. Sc around the top of the cuff - 36 Sc total around
b. Dc in each Sc around
c. *4 BPDC, 4 FPDC *repeat around (for instructions go here)
d. FPDC in each BPDC and BPDC in each FPDC around
e. Repeat x6 rounds

3.  Make the thumb.
a. Ch 10
b. Skip 8 Dc and attach with a Sl st
c. Sc around the thumb x6 rounds
d. Skip 1st Sc, Sc around the thumb
e. *Skip every 2nd Sc *repeat around the thumb until the thumb is closed
f. Tie off

Thumb is finished!

4.  Continue with the hand
a. Tie onto the corner of thumb and the hand

b. Continue putting FPDC on top of BPDC and vice versa around the hand
c. When you get to the thumb, attatch with a Sl St, turn and repeat x2

d. The thumb will be attached now, continue putting the FPDC on top of the BPDC and vice versa around the hand
e. Repeat step d x10 rounds, adding in 1 stitch each round (I find that this pattern tends to get tighter as you go on, so the added in stitch is pretty necessary)
f. Skip every 2nd Dc around the loop, repeating until the hand is closed in on itself
g. Tie off

5.  Line the Mitts
a. Cut out the shape of your hand in the minky fabric

b. I used a simple running stitch around the lining.  You can use a sewing machine (I just didn't because I didn't have mine with me at the time).

As an aside, I absolutely despise working with minky fabric.  It is slippery and leaves fuzz everywhere; the fuzz is really similar to insulation, which makes for great mitten lining, but is extremely annoying to work with.

My pants, after sewing the lining for these mitts.  I had to have Brett vacuum me after.

c. Now insert the lining into the mitts, fold the tops over to make a nice hem and sew them down.

You're done!

I am happy to answer any questions, so leave them in the comments section.

My Christmas Favorites

Only six more days left until Christmas Day!  I have one more exam to write tomorrow before I am home free and done the term.  To celebrate the closure of Term 1 a day early, here are my Christmas Favorites for the year.

Smell: Freshly peeled and cut apples for apple pie

Tradition: Going to the Christmas Eve church service in our small town.  All the church groups (United, Lutheran, etc.) from our little town unite to do one lovely service.  This is only my second year going (since it is only my second year of really being a part of Brett's community) but I cannot wait to make this service a long time tradition for our family.

Movie: The Family Stone.  This is a wonderful Christmas movie.  If you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend watching it, but make sure you keep a box of tissues nearby.

Hymn: O Holy Night.  Particularily these two lyrics:

               Truly he taught us to love one another,

               His law is love and His gospel is peace

Memory: One of my favorite memories of my childhood Christmases was when we would read out of this special Christmas book my Aunt Viola bought us.  I can't remember the name of the book, but it was basically a collection of Christmas storys, carols and stories about what Christmas is like in other countries.  The whole family would gather and someone would read a few stories out of the book.  I loved sharing this quiet moment with my family.

Gift: Usually my favorite gift to recieve is jewelry.  It is something that I always love getting, but will rarely buy for myself.

Sight: My home after being away at school.

Dislikes: Trying to get any last minute shopping done at the mall.

Your turn now!  What are some of your Christmas favorites?

Tuesday Inspiration

Today this quote made me stop and think.  Sometimes I find that we get so focused on ourselves, or what is going on in our own lives that we forget to think about the good that we can be doing.  I know I am certainly guilty of this is in my own life.  As a nursing student, it is so easy to get caught up in the actual skills of nursing (practicing my IV starts, giving medications, etc.) that I can sometimes forget why I wanted to be a nurse in the first place: to make a real difference in someone's life.  It is easy to forget during day to day life the simple things you can do to make someone else's day better.

Sometimes I find it frustrating, living in the city, because we don't relate to people here the way that we do back home in our rural area.  Where I come from, you wave at everone you meet on the road and say hi to whoever you meet (whether you know them or not).  This isn't the case a lot of the times in the city.  But I never thought about how I could be the change I wanted to see.  Instead of being frustrated that no one is saying hi to or smiling at each other, why not say hi and smile myself?  I feel like this message is especially important around the Christmas season.  The holidays are a time of joy for a lot of people. However, for anyone experiencing a loss or going through a tough time in life, the Christmas season can be really hard.  You never know what the person next to you in the grocery line is going through; and you also never know what a simple smile or hello could do for their day.

DIY Christmas Stockings

Since this is our first Christmas in our home there are a lot of decorations that I would like but that we will just have to do without this year.  We will slowly have to pick up pieces throughout the years because to buy all of the decorations that I want all in one go would be way too expensive.  Christmas stockings, however, are something that I wasn't willing to do without; so I decided to make them myself and monogram them.

What you will need for 2 stockings:
1 yard unbleached muslin
1/4 yard each of two different but coordinating fabrics that match your Christmas color scheme
Coordinating embroidery thread (for either machine or hand embroidery of the monogram)
Embroidery hoop (if hand embroidering)
Coordinating thread
20" coordinating ric rac
Scissors
Iron
Ironing board
Sewing machine

1.  Start by drawing and cutting out the stocking shape.

2.  Now cut out the cuff pieces and sew them together.  For the mens stocking, also cut out a 14" piece of ric rac.

For the ladies stocking, now is the time to cut out and hem the ruffle.

3.  Attach the cuff to the front and back of the stocking.

For the mens stocking:

For the womens stocking:

4.  Turn the stocking inside out and sew.

5.  Now turn the right way out and press!

Fewf!  You are done!  Hope you enjoyed making the stockings.  Good thing there isn't a page limit to these posts!

Meanwhile, in Saskatchewan

Brett and I got to go home to the farm for a bit between my exams and on one of our days at home we got a bit of a blizzard.  Luckily, this wasn't the day that Brett and his dad were supposed to be hauling grain!  I got to stay cuddled inside and make our Christmas stockings (stay tuned, on Thursday I will be posting the tutorial for these).  It always amazes me the weather extremes we get here in Canada.  It has been -30°C (about -22°F) without the wind chill for the past week.  When summer time comes, it will get up to +30°C (about 86°F) without a humidex rating.  A lot of people ask why we would live here when the weather is so crazy.  But there is nothing I love more than being in the combine with Brett on a beautiful fall day, or sitting in the truck bed enjoying a summer sunset, or being with Brett in the seeder on a spring morning.

The farm and this land is a part of me.  This is where I grew up, where Brett and I want to build a life and raise our future kids and grow old together.  This is why I couldn't ever leave, bad weather or not.  I guess each storm that we get through here on this prairie is another thread, tying me to my home.