This little piggy went to the crock pot

It wasn’t until I had a baby (and started singing nursery rhymes ad nauseam) that I realized how many of those cute little rhymes are about the death of pigs. And the more you repeat those songs the more you start to think about the words. Mistake. The fact that our youth are not more traumatized is proof of their resilience. For instance, in the “this little piggy” rhyme one is going to market and one is eating roast beef. Why is a pig eating roast beef? Gross. And one little pig escapes and goes running home screaming “whee, whee, whee.” The last place an escaped pig should probably run is home. I think we can all assume that little piggy went straight back to the market. Well, the market in town (aka Hy-Vee) had a fabulous sale on country-style ribs so that little piggy went home with me and straight into the crock pot.

My husband and I have this great little pact where I cook and he does dishes. Heavenly, I know, and yes, he’s taken… HAPPILY. One of his requirements, however, is no bones. Country-style ribs fall into that category and if I throw a crock pot liner in that puppy I have one happy husband, or at least one that doesn’t grouse during clean-up. And what goes better with ribs than cornbread? Voila! We have dinner.

I also included peach cobbler because I had those leftover frozen peaches from the banana bread chilling in my fridge. We’d hate to waste fruit. It’s good for you, you know. You could use any frozen fruit in this cobbler recipe. Just use up that stash of fruit that you buy when it is on sale at the grocery store. Oh, you don’t do that? Hmm…

Cornbread

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375. Grease an 8 inch square pan.

Melt butter. Stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt until well blended. Add egg mixture and buttermilk. Stir until combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes.

Country-Style Ribs

• 3 to 4 pounds boneless pork country-style ribs (I only use a pound for the two of us)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, halved, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1 bottle (16 to 18 ounces) barbecue sauce, about 1 1/2 cups

Put the sliced onions in the bottom of the slow cooker, then place pork on top. Sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper, brown sugar, and minced garlic; turn the pork ribs to coat all pieces. Pour apple juice evenly over the pork.

Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.

Pour barbecue sauce over the pork and stir slightly to distribute the sauce. Cover and cook on LOW for 1 hour longer.

Fruit Cobbler

• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¾ cup flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup milk
• 2 cups fruit (12 oz. bag of frozen, no need to thaw)

Heat oven to 350.  Put butter in 8-inch square pan and place in oven to melt. When butter has melted, remove pan from the oven.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and milk in small bowl. Mix until smooth. Pour batter into pan with melted butter. Scatter fruit over the batter.

Bake until batter browns and fruit is bubbly, 50-60 minutes.