Anniversary Dinner and Successful Ribs

So yesterday was not my anniversary (it was actually on Saturday but I couldn't get a babysitter) so we celebrated last night. We left Molly at home and headed into Portland for a "fancy" meal. I say that with quotations around it because it was a nice place, with great plates, but the atmosphere was relaxed and fantastic. We went to Three Doors Down Cafe, you live in PDX or you are visiting for whatever reason you should definitely make a stop.

We started with an antipasti of Italian cured meats and cheese, then had an appetizer of heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and 30 year old balsamic vinegar. Then we each had a salad, mine was bib lettuce with pancetta and a garlicky aioli and Brian had the classic romaine Cesar salad. For our entrees Brian got the hangar steak -cooked to perfection medium rare- some caramelized peppers with what Brian thought were currants and potatoes au gratin. I got the orecchiette pasta with oven roasted cherry tomatoes, corn, smoked bacon, and scallion sauce. It was also very good, and topped off with a few classes of their house white wine. It was a great date with my husband. We don't do presents for our anniversary or for valentines because -I probably more than my husband- request that we go to a nice restaurant, spend time together, enjoy the food and spend the money there. It was a great night. I thought about taking pictures but I didn't have the balls to do it, sorry!

Then today I tried ribs in the slow cooker, I have attempted ribs only ONCE before and they were not good. My husband really likes ribs and will frequently when we go to a gastropub order them so I actually do have an invested interest in trying to find something that will work. When I found the recipe as an option on my favorite meal planning site Relish, and saw that they used the slow cooker I thought BRILLIANT! Of course! Why didn't I think of that! Fool proof fall off the bone easy-peezey ribs. Here is the recipe, but again I got it from Relish so I am not taking credit for it.

Saucy BBQ Ribs
2 slabs of baby back pork ribs
(I couldn't find this at my store when I went so I got St. Louis style... now I am not a fan of eating meat off the bone, and I hate fatty meat and this was very fatty does anyone know if St. Lois style ribs are just more fatty??)
2 tsp coarse salt
1 yellow onion chopped
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1. Cut ribs apart to fit in cooker, coat with salt set aside.
2. In a bowl mix sauce ingredients together, put some of the sauce on the bottom of the crock pot, layer the ribs and the sauce into the crock pot make sure to pour some sauce on top of the ribs before putting on the lid and turning to high to cook for 6-7 hours.
3. Towards the end I took the lid off to try and cook off some of the sauce, and I must say the tips and pieces that were above the sauce and got more of a "burnt" look to them were the best parts in my opinion!

** Served with regular ol' baked beans and corn on the cob.

It was a success and if my husband requests ribs again this is the way I will cook them, no more messin' with the oven and then the BBQ and what not. Slow cooker is the only way for me, and if people think that is lazy well I just don't really care, ribs are hard for me and this was foolproof.