Barbecue, summer, what could be better?

A word of warning, I am *not* a vegetarian. This meal (and many others I make) contain meat. We do not eat as much meat as the "average" American, but we do enjoy eating it on a regular basis. I respect the meat that I eat, by always remembering that another living thing was killed so that I could have dinner. If anyone has recommendations on a local place to purchase fresh, (free range/no preservative added) meat, I would love to hear about it, I can publish it on the blog.


Last evening I pulled some spareribs out of the freezer to barbecue. We had a hog butchered over a year ago, and there is not much left of it in the freezer now. I guess we had been saving the ribs for a special day. I decided this time, rather than using just barbecue sauce alone, that I would put a spice rub on the ribs first, before grilling them. Bob said I could only put the rub on one section of ribs (he was worried it wouldn't turn out well I guess). I found a recipe for a rub that looked like it would go well with a sweet BBQ sauce in issue #14 of the Everyday Food magazine (my favorite cooking resource!!)

Spicy Paprika Rub
4 t paprika
2 t salt
1 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t ground allspice

After drying the ribs off with a paper towel, I rubbed in the spices, and then we cooked the ribs on the grill over low heat. When they were about 10 minutes from being finished, Bob applied the BBQ sauce. Then after we pulled the ribs off the grill they had to rest. Isn't that a difficult thing to do? Waiting for the meat to be ready to eat when it smells so delicious that you are just about drooling over it.

Anyhow, that was when I pulled the zucchini from the garden out of the fridge to prepare. I sliced it into 1/2" thick slices at an angle, to make oval shapes, then brushed with olive oil, and put on the grill, turning after about 4-5 minutes. I LOVE grilled zucchini. It is great with a little feta cheese added to it if you have some on hand, but we ate it plain this time.

When it was finally time to eat, we also had potato salad from the day before, and coleslaw that I had made earlier with the cabbage from the garden. The potato salad benefited greatly with some garden fresh dill chopped up and sprinkled on top. The rub was the perfect companion for the barbecue sauce, in that it added some extra heat & flavor, rather than just the plain sweet KC Masterpiece that Bob always picks out. It was a very wonderful dinner. I feel certain Bob gives this one 5 stars. Maybe next time he will let me put the meat rub on his portion also!!!

Please, comment below & tell me what you like to do with your cabbage? I made coleslaw because I feel it is a good companion to BBQ, but I don't even really care for coleslaw. What would you have made instead?

Also, any recipes you want to share? I can publish them for you on the blog. Please let me know who you are so I can credit you.