"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope." - Bill Cosby

Since I ended the Blue Print cleanse two weeks ago, I've been pretty dedicated to maintaining a fruit and vegetable centric diet.  One night I found a delicious recipe for black bean veggie burgers, and jazzed it up a bit by adding some chipotle mayo (just mix chipotle powder into the mayo to taste), and another night we made eggplant, roasted red pepper, broccoli rabe, and mozzarella sandwiches.  Both meals we coupled with some delicious kale chips.

All that being said, the wheels really came off this weekend.  First a couple of other associates and myself took some of the summer clerks to Aunt Berta's Kitchen to lunch on Friday.  I had the roasted turkey wings with mac and cheese and okra.  Coupled with the complimentary corn bread, you practically had to roll us out of there.  Then, Saturday night my mother-on-law made a feast for father's day including ribs, baked beans, mac and cheese, corn bread, and cole slaw.

The rib recipe, which came from a cooking class that my mother-in-law took a few years ago, has become a summertime staple.  I would definitely recommend giving it a try:

Brined and Slow-Cooked Baby Back Ribs
6 servings

6-8 pounds baby back ribs
3 quarts water, divided
1 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tbs peppercorns

My favorite BBQ Sauce
1 tbs vegetable or canola oil
1 large red onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 chipotle chiles in adobo, mashed to a paste
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup molasses
1 tbs yellow mustard
2 tsp Worcester sauce
1 tbs salt, divided
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp lemon juice

1. Brine the ribs: bring 2 cups of water to a boil.  Add the salt and sugar, and stir to dissolve.  Remove from the heat and add the remaining water and peppercorns.  When completely cool, add the ribs and set aside to bring for about 1 1/2-2 hours.  While the ribs are brining, make the BBQ sauce.

2. Heat an 8-in saute pan over medium heat.  Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add the onion and garlic and sweat over medium-low heat until translucent.  Add the chipotle paste and stir to blend.

3.  Add the ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, mustard adn Worcestershire.  Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer the mixture for 15-20 minutes.  Add 2 tsp of salt, the pepper and lemon juice, taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.  *BBQ sauce may be refrigerated for one week.

4.  Cook the ribs: heat the oven to 300 degrees.  Line 2 jelly roll pans with heavy duty aluminum foil.  Remove the ribs from the bring, rinse well and pat dry with paper towels.  Place the ribs on the pans and cook for about 1 hour, then spread with the BBQ sauce.  Increase the oven temperature to 325 degrees.  Cook for another hour or until tender.  Serve immediately offering additional BBQ sauce on the side.

I would also recommend trying this spin on the classic baked mac and cheese that we had:

Baked Mac and Cheese
6 servings
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 pound american cheese (chopped)
1/4 onion (chopped)
1/4 green pepper (chopped)
salt and pepper
1 egg

1. Cook macaroni according to directions - add all ingredients and mix well (you can add ham too - about one pound).

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour - until browning on top.

For dessert we had a mocha chocolate icebox cake from the Barefoot Contessa's "How Easy is That" cookbook (p.206).

Whew.  It was a delicious, food-filled weekend and although I feel like a complete blivet, hopefully its nothing a few trips to the gym and a large green salad or two can't cure.