Weeknight Shorts: No Secret in the Sauce

So you're going to be in meetings for most of the day and don't feel like throwing another frozen pizza in the oven and calling that dinner? Have no fear. All you need is a slow cooker, some ribs and onions, and a few items off the shelves at the grocery store:

Next thing you know, you're coming home to the smell of slow-simmered ribs swimming in a beautiful sweet, spicy sauce that you will be licking off your plate after all the ribs are gone. No, you aren't dreaming. Sometimes, it's just really that simple. I don't normally toss out the specific brands of ingredients when I'm sharing a recipe, but this time around, the particular items I've chosen to combine with ribs and onions really made this dish simply fantastic. Of course, you can choose brands and varieties you have come to know and love, but I'm just being clear about what I did to get what I got on my plate. If you want the same thing, follow the lead outlined below!

Before I leave you to finger-licking ribs, let me say a few things about side dishes. When I made this dish, I had creamy mashed potatoes and a green salad that was chock full of grapes, diced apples, and slivered almonds alongside the ribs. Actually, I nestled the ribs and a generous ladle of the sauce they cooked in over a helping of the potatoes and had the salad, lightly dressed with a lemon-poppyseed dressing, alongside that. I like using the sauce sort of like a gravy over mashed potatoes, but again … how you serve these ribs is up to you. Whatever you choose, trust me when I say you might want to favor finger-licking over a more conventional napkin!