The following recipe idea came to me when I was having a craving for these:
MEGAN’S GUINNESS BARBECUED RIBS:
(Read how to find healthy meat.)
Place ribs in a buttered pan with one can of Guinness beer poured over the top. Cover tightly with foil (not touching the ribs) and bake at 250* for 4 hours, grill for a short time, then brush on barbecue sauce.
photo by Pacdog
These are the BEST ribs, especially if you find the right barbecue sauce. Our favorite for years was Sweet Baby Rays until we found out how rotten high fructose corn syrup is for us, so we’ve been trying other more natural barbecue sauces…more on that below.
We didn’t have any ribs, and I think they’re a lot of work to eat anyway, even if you are able to find some good ribs with enough meat on them. So I had the idea to try this instead:
GUINNESS BARBECUED BEEF SANDWICHES
I pulled out a couple beef rump roasts from the freezer (find healthy meat here or we get our grass fed meat from Creswick Farms – pork loin would be good, too), put them in my crock pot with one can of Guinness Beer (after we scammed one from Joe & Meg), and let them cook all day until the meat could easily be pulled apart with a fork. (This makes a lot of delicious broth.) We pulled the beef out with a slatted spoon (so you don’t get your bun soggy) and put it on a homemade bun with plenty of barbecue sauce – you can make your own (if any of you have a good recipe, comment below please!), or find one without a lot of junk in the ingredients. I found one at Grist Mill called, “Bone Suckin’ Sauce” with a pretty good ingredient label. (No high fructose corn syrup! It’s not easy to find barbecue sauce without it. Another one we’ve tried is Annie’s organic barbecue sauce, but we didn’t like it. At the bottom of the post I’ll list the ingredients in the “Bone Suckin’ Sauce”.)
Kent & I both thought the sandwiches were great, and the kids ate everything, but not in a sandwich. They had their homemade bun just with butter, and then ate their beef on the side, dipped in the barbecue sauce or some organic ketchup. On the side we had salad with tomatoes & cucumbers, along with some sliced peaches, all from Saturday’s farm market.
Want to make your sandwich even more delicious and add some healthy fats (which help your body digest your food better)? Slice your bun, butter the insides and place them face down in a frying pan or face up under a broiler to brown a little – now your sandwich will be positively dreamy…trust me.
YUMMY BEEF & NOODLES DINNER
The next night I made beef & noodles with the leftover beef. You can use Spelt noodles, whole wheat noodles, or brown rice noodles (Tinkyada is a good brand). Just heat up the beef and stir in the cooked noodles. There was still some juice with the beef, but not quite enough, so I also added some red wine, and salt & pepper. It was really good and all the kids ate it well. (You could also add onion, fresh garlic, & any other flavors you’d like.) We served it with sliced cucumbers and green beans sautéed with some garlic in a little olive oil. Both also from the farmer’s market.
There you go, three easy main dish meals for you. Have you ever tried recipes like these but with some variations? Comment below and share away!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Liz 08.06.08 at 3:34 am
Hi Kelly… we used to be Sweet Baby Rays fans also and were left looking for a barbecue sauce. The bottled sauce that we like now is “Uncle Dougie’s”, I picked it up at Harvest Health Food store. It’s a bit zippy, kids might find it too spicy, be we like it.
Also, here’s my recipe for a BBQ marinade/sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar
1 tablespoon crushed garlic (or minced onion)
2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
Whisk ingredients together and simmer on stovetop till it reaches desired thickness. This recipe doesn’t make much, I typically triple it.
I know there are concerns around soy sauce and I think we’re supposed to have fermented soy and ensure it does not contain MSG. I’ve still been using up my bottle and then I’ll look for something more natural. It hasn’t been a large concern for us because we used soy sauce so seldom. But we’ll replace it with something more healthy.
[Reply]
Bamboo 08.06.08 at 5:28 am
Kelly,
Why Guinness? Could you use any beer or is there a post in the brewing concerning beer differences and ingredients?
Beth
[Reply]
Kelly the Kitchen Kop 08.06.08 at 5:56 am
Liz,
You won’t have trouble finding fermented soy or Tamari. Where do you get tarragon vinegar?
Beth,
Good question! I guess you could use any beer, but Guinness has such a strong distinct flavor that really makes things tasty. If you try something else, you’ll probably want it to at least be another dark beer. (Good for recipes, but not for drinking, ick! Kent feels differently, as all our friends know!)
Thanks,
Kelly
[Reply]
Anonymous 08.06.08 at 6:21 am
Beth,
Any beer will do. I use lighter beers on grilled hamburgers all the time and we have used a pilsner on BBQ ribs, however, I have found that when you are simmering meat in beer, over a long period of time, the darker, richer, beers tend to give you more flavor.
If you’re not a dark beer person, simply buy a six pack, use one can for the recipe, and mail me the other five, care of Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
Thanks,
Kent (second-in-command at the Kitchen Kop household)
[Reply]
Liz 08.06.08 at 6:49 am
I find the tarragon vinegar at our local grocery store (Meijer).
[Reply]
Bamboo 08.10.08 at 10:48 am
Kelly and Kent,
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll let you know if I have any extra
.
Beth
[Reply]