And, what’s even better than ribs? How about that wonderful, beloved invention that became a lifesaver to working moms everywhere – the crockpot. The slow cooker. Whatever you call it, it’s a godsend. Truly!

I adore loading that baby up with food, walking away and having an amazing ready-to-eat meal later on in the day.

Talk about convenience, right?

Of course, writing about the crockpot got me to thinking about the crockpot and how it came to be, so off to research I went The perils of being a writer – you WANT to know everything! At least that’s how my brain works.

Anywho, according to Culinary Lore, the crockpot was originally sold by the Rival Company, but invented in 1938 by a man named Irving Naxon. The story is that he was attempting to re-create one of his grandmother’s recipes. His small company was purchased by Rival and the known version of the crockpot became popular around 1970.

Yay, Irving! Thank you so much

I personally can’t imagine not having the crockpot in my life! Just sayin’ – it’s kind of important!

As an aside, I’ve also been trying to recreate family recipes for years and have yet to invent anything resembling the crockpot! Darn it! I, too, could be a wealthy inventor by now Hmmm…maybe I should pull out the sketchpad and begin some schematics for a new invention.

C’mon cooks! What do you need? What’s missing in your arsenal of kitchen gadgets?

OK, OK – enough dreaming about inventions and money – I’m going back to the ribs. This is another one of those recipes my momma used to make, just like her meatloaf, that I’ve tweaked a tad over the years.

Her recipe was somewhat similar to this one, but I chose to add Coke to the recipe, while she always used water. I also added the Italian dressing, which she didn’t use at all.

When I’m creating or even tweaking recipes, I generally toss in a little of this and a little of that just to see how something works out! How about you? Is that how you come up with new recipes?

Often, those tweaks will stem from me trying something and immediately knowing that it needs something else or that something needs to be removed from a recipe. Sometimes, one of the boys will tell me something’s amiss.

Essentially, it’s the one time it’s perfectly okay to play with your food

OK, back to the ribs, again. I keep getting off track!

We generally pair our ribs with whatever I happen to have on hand for sides. Usually a veggie and a starch – I’m kind of old school like that! Well…maybe because I’m kinda old Honestly, I love homemade mac and cheese with pork for some reason, so that’s often on the menu! Plus, it’s just kind of nummy

Anyways, grab yourself some spareribs, pull out the crockpot and get dinner on before you head to work. It will be ready to go by the time you get home and all you’ll need to do is prepare the sides and serve!

Then you can spend your evening enjoying time with your loved ones instead of in the kitchen.

Slow Cooker Spare Ribs

These fall-off-the-bone spareribs are made right in the crockpot and only require a handful of ingredients. Perfect for those days when you need to fix it and forget it – until it's time to eat it, of course!

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bbq, barbecue, ribs, spareribs,

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours hours

Total Time: 8 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Lori Wallace-Roberts

Equipment

• 1 Crockpot or Slow Cooker

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 1/2 cup Italian dressing
• 1 can Coca Cola
• 4-5 lbs spare ribs

Instructions

• In small bowl, combine brown sugar, salt, pepper, onion powder, Italian dressing, barbecue sauce and Coca Cola. Mix thouroughly.
• Add a layer of ribs to the slower cooker (you may need to cut slab in half). Pour part of sauce of first layer, then add more ribs and more sauce. Repeat each layer until all ribs are covered.
• Cover and cook on low for about 7-8 hours, until ribs are tender.
• Remove ribs and serve with additional barbecue sauce, if desired.

Did you try this recipe? I’d love to see!Share a photo and mention @quitesimplyus or tag #quitesimplyus!

The post Fall Off the Bone Crockpot Spareribs appeared first on Quite Simply Us.

Sometimes I just get a craving for those old-fashioned recipes – you know the ones that mom used to make. One of those recipes is stuffed peppers. I’ve never been able to duplicate mom’s recipe (I’ve got a lot of those), but I’ve got some of my own tried and true stuffed pepper recipes that I really do enjoy. I also have a deconstructed pepper recipe that’s perfect for those busy days when you just don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. At it’s core, it’s a one-pot stuffed pepper skillet.

You’ll love it, especially if you’re a fan of the original stuffed peppers like mom or grandma used to make!

Made in one pot (isn’t that awesome), this stuffed pepper skillet has ALL the flavors of regular stuffed peppers, but is truly half the work. No hollowing out the peppers. No stuffing of the peppers. Ya know – all the steps that have you sighing and wondering if you’ll EVER make it out of the kitchen.

Really, the one-pot stuffed pepper skillet recipe is all about dicing everything up, combining it in the skillet and cooking until you have stuffed pepper perfection.

And let’s talk about one-pot meals for just a second. They really are amazing, aren’t they? If you need another one to fill out your weekly menu, give my one-pot taco pasta a try the next time you need a different take on taco Tuesday.

This is one of those dishes the whole family will enjoy. Pair it with a light salad, your favorite crusty bread and you’re all set with a fantastic evening meal. Better yet, you’ll be out of the kitchen in about an hour!

Woot woot! What ARE you going to do with the extra time?

One-Pot Stuffed Pepper Skillet

An update on the classic, this one-pot stuffed pepper skillet recreates the flavors of traditional stuffed peppers in a fresh and remarkably easy way. You'll have dinner on the table in about an hour.

4.80 from 5 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: one pot recipe, stuffed peppers, casserole, bell peppers,

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Lori Wallace-Roberts

Equipment

• 1 large stockpot or skillet

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 12 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed with all water squeezed out
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2 cups water
• 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (15 ounce)
• 1 can tomato sauce (8 ounce)
• 1 cup uncooked brown rice
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

• In stockpot, heat oil over medium high heat. Saute onion for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 7 minutes.
• Stir in cumin, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Mix in spinach, red and green peppers, tomatoes, tomato sauce, rice, Worchestershire sauce and water.
• Bring mixture to a boil and reduce heat and simmer, covered, for approximately 45 minutes. Be sure to stir often so rice doesn't stick to bottom of pan.
• Remove from heat and sprinkle cheese on top. Recover.
• Sit aside for about 5-7 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Notes

1. You can certainly substitute ground turkey or ground chicken for the ground beef.
2. Substitute different colored bell peppers, if desired.
3. Leftovers can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for about 3 days and reheated on the stovetop or in the microwave.

Did you try this recipe? I’d love to see!Share a photo and mention @quitesimplyus or tag #quitesimplyus!

The post One-Pot Stuffed Pepper Skillet appeared first on Quite Simply Us.