Mediterranean Pasta Salad

This salad is SO delicious. It is kind of a mix of tastes and so heavenly!

You can add the following ingredients to taste.

1 pkg. penne/bowtie pasta.

Grape/Baby Tomatos

Calmatta Olives/OR Reg. Black Olives

Feta

Artichoke Hearts

Parmesean Cheese

Capers
Red Onion

Salt and Pepper

Shredded/Chopped Grilled Chicken

Dressing:

1/2 c. olive oil

1/2 c. red vinegar

1/2 t. dried mustard

1 t. dried basil

1 t. oregano

1/2 t. garlic powder

3/4 t. sugar

Mix and pour over salad and chill for several hours.

A Sort of Raspberry Cheesecake

This is very delicious, and VERY easy. You can half it and it still works pretty well.

1 pkg. white cake mix (sometimes I use cherry chip or even have used chocolate)
2 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened at room temperature
4 c. powdered sugar
1 pint whipping cream, whipped
2 16-oz. cans raspberry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9x13 pans. Prepare cake according to pkg. directions. Pour half cake batter in each pan. Bake for 20 mins or until done. Remove and cool.

In a med. bowl, whip cream cheese and powdered sugar together until fluffy. Whip whipping cream separately, then add to cream cheese mixture. Divide the mixture and spread half on to each cake. Then spread one can pie filling on top of each cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Ribs

I've been meaning to post a ribs recipe for many, many months now, but it is kind of complicated, so I've put it off. There are many ways to cook ribs and many kinds of ribs. You can boil your ribs first and then barbecue for a few minutes with the sauce on at the end (not my favorite option). You can just straight up barbecue them on a low temperature for a long time (difficult to control on a gas grill). Below is my preferred method of baking ribs.

I always buy PORK (because Chad prefers it to beef in the case of ribs). Sometimes spareribs, sometimes country style boneless, and for this special occasion weekend I'll splurge on baby back.

Use either a roasting rack or a roasting pan with a rack laid over it. Pour an inch or two of water in the basin to keep the ribs moist during baking. I usually season the ribs with a rub (e.g. Montreal Steak Seasoning or your own creation). I bake the ribs in the oven at 225 for about 3-4 hours (DEPENDING ON YOUR SIZE AND QUANTITY). For the last 20 minutes I baste the following sauce recipe on and either broil the ribs or (more often) grill them so they'll get that nice stickiness.

8 pounds pork spareribs
3 c. ketchup
1 c. barbecue sauce
1 c. brown sugar
2 1/2 T. lemon juice
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 dash hot pepper sauce, or to taste
3 T. steak sauce, (e.g. Heinz 57)
2 cloves garlic, minced

In medium saucepan, combine ketchup, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, steak sauce and garlic; blend well. Cook the sauce over medium heat for approximately 20 minutes. (Please note that the above ingredients are all to taste. Use more or less of anything you like. I never make the ribs the same way twice!)

I hope this isn't too confusing--comment with questions.