Friday The 13th Rib Recipe

Years back, Francine and I started a tradition with our neighbours. Feeling the urge to do something fun and interesting on Friday the 13th (based on how cool we thought it was that people with motorcycles converge in Port Dover on that date), we started holding "Hot Luck" parties.

"Hot Lucks" were basically "Pot Lucks" in which people brought their favourite hot and spicy dish to share. It was a fun gathering of chilli-heads.  The invite was wide open and more of a "you're all welcome, please just drop in" sort of affair. We went from having as many as 40 people to as few as 5 (that was the year of the Great August blackout of 2003 - but we were cheating a little, since that was a Friday the 14th)

We've toned those down over the years, and in the past little while haven't held the gatherings that would run into the wee morning hours. (Yes, having a six year old changes things up a little)

Of course, our afinity for hot and spicy food hasn't gone away.

So, in memory of those great gatherings, here's a recent VERY EASY rib recipe we've grown fond of. And it's not killer hot, just has an extra touch of heat but tons of flavour.

• Boil ribs for 60 minutes (this can be done ahead of time with ribs kept in refrigerator)
• Place ribs on low heat on BBQ
• After about 10 minutes, coat the ribs with a thick layer of BULL'S-EYE Chicken & Rib Renegade sauce. Wait a few minutes, then turn and add more to other side. (This sauce will cook into the ribs)
• Continue to let cook on low for another 10 minutes.
• In the final 15 minutes of cooking, add a thin layer of President's Choice Smokin' Stampede Beer & Chipotle sauce to both sides of the ribs. (This sauce will add a new sticky layer to the ribs, and only be half-cooked into the existing sauce)

I've found that the combination of these two sauces adds a delightful flavour to the ribs with just enough heat and is very simple to prepare.  Of course, back in the day, I would have likely sprinkled the ribs with Blair's Death Rain rub before adding them to the grill, or mixed in a few drops of Da Bomb Beyond Insanity hot sauce. But that was back when my buddy Chad and I used to try to hurt one another by making a killer over-the-top recipe that would make your eyes water, your nose run, and give you hiccoughs.  We don't do that as much as we used to (not too often, at least)

Paradise By The Oven Light

Last night I had the absolute best tasting meatloaf that I've ever had in my life.

All thanks to three beautiful women -- Janet & Greta Podleski and my wife Francine.

Francine, who had never made meatloaf before, decided to try the meatloaf recipe from Janet & Greta's third cookbook "Eat, Shrink & Be Merry! :Great tasting food that won't go from your lips to your hips.

This book follows their first book Looneyspoons: Low-Fat Food Made Fun and their second Crazy Plates: Low-Fat Food So Good, You'll Swear It's Bad For You -- as the subtitles reveal, all of their cookbooks are healthy recipes that are presented in a zany and entertaining fashion. Not only are the recipe titles and descriptions funny, but there are accompanying cartoons (by Ted Martin), quotes, quizzes, trivial tidbits and intriguing sidebar articles that help make the reading of the cookbook just as much fun as actually trying and tasting the recipes.

In fact, I've never had so much fun reading a cookbook cover to cover. In all honestly, the only cookbooks that I've EVER read cover to cover are the three by these brilliant ladies.

But back to the meatloaf.

The recipe, which appears on page 136 of Eat, Shrink & Be Merry! is called "All You Need Is Loaf (easy weekday meat loaf with barbecue sauce)" and the following description:

Loaf, loaf, loaf. Tired of the same ol' song and dance for dinner Eight Days a Week? Don't worry, We Can Work It Out. Here's some Help!: A recipe you just can't Beatle -- especially after A Hard Day's Night. Sure to Please Please everyone.

Anyone who knows my fondness for quoting from song lyrics and bad puns would recognize why I would want to read a cookbook cover to cover. But the rest of the recipe (which I won't quote here - sorry, you're going to have to buy the book, check out their website or check out their new television program) is simple and straightforward and is something even I could follow.

And, as I said, was simply the best meatloaf I've ever tasted. Evidence for that is the fact I didn't use a single drop of ketchup while eating the meatloaf. (Yes, another tell for anyone who knows me -- I eat ketchup with pretty much ANYTHING -- not to mask the taste, but because I'm a bit of a sauce fiend. My food has GOT to have sauce on it.) But when I first tasted the meatloaf, it was moist and delicious, and the barbecue sauce flavour in it was perfect -- so I ate it plain and loved it.

For more sampling of the fun and interesting reading provided by these two marvelous ladies, you can check out their blog. Their website does also include some sample recipes.

Of course, I not only admire these ladies for the products they have produced and the fun they inject into healthy cooking, but the story of how they achieved their success, the ultimate risks and incredible uphill climb against all odds when they decided they were going to self-publish their "Low-Fat Food Made Fun" cookbook that not a single publisher thought would go anywhere is truly inspiring. And you can read the full story (told much better through their own words) on their website here.