Cooking, cooking, cooking!

I've decided today to begin blogging!  I must admit that the current technology of electronic stuff is beyond me.  I just had a birthday and I decided it's time to start moving into the 21st century!
I love to cook and entertain!!

I want to keep a diary of what things I make for dinner everyday and hopefully share some of my recipes with you. 

Last night,  I made a pear pecan salad with dried cranberries, bib lettuce, grape tomatoes, candied pecans, imported provolone cheese and balsamic vinegrette dressing.  This was the start of my dinner.  We had one of my husband friends over and I made a very simple dinner!!   The salad was wonderful.  I made my own dressing by combining olive oil and balsamic vinegar-- equal parts of each.  Shook it up in a jar and poured it over the salad just before serving.  I even candied the pecans myself.  I didn't know it was so easy.
So, after having the salad,  I had warm cornbread to be eaten with the salad, I made roasted vegetables.
I quartered white potatoes, cut up onions into large pieces, fresh mushrooms and fresh asperagus......Wash all the veggies and have them ready.  In a large bowl, put the potatoes and onions.   Drizzle olive oil over them, sprinkle them with salt, pepper and granulated garlic.   Roll them around in the bowl with your hands and then spread them out onto a large cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil..put them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.  Test the potatoes to see if they are soft and ready to eat. 

I usually cook the other veggies separately on another cookie sheet because they cook faster.  Do the same thing with the asperagus and mushrooms.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.  Bake these for about 15-17 minutes.  These veggies come out delicious.  You can do it with any veggie you like.  Easy and delicious.   You can serve them on one big platter or in separate dishes. 

The main course for this meal was Barbeque ribs.   I chose this because it is very easy to make.  Put the ribs in a pan,  salt, pepper, garlic them and pour over one bottle of beer.. That's right BEER.  You should have about 1 inch of liquid in the pan.  Add water to make it about an inch.   Cover the ribs tightly.  Put them in the oven at 350 degrees and let them cook for about 3 hours.  Yes,  3 hours.   They will fall off the bone after cooking this long and boy are they good.    Drain off the liquid,  and add barbeque sauce to the ribs.  Leave them in the pan, and put them under the broiler for a few minutes to crunch them up or put them on the grill at this point.  I can't tell you how good these things were.
I was home all day so I could cook the ribs for all those hours.  Pick a Saturday or Sunday to try this one when you can be there to supervise the oven!!

Well our guest was impressed with how great the dinner was.  But,  of course dessert was still to come.

I put together a wonderful Raspberry Tiramisu that is delicious.  Easy, lucious and light.  Fresh raspberries, whipped cream, raspberry liquor and lady fingers.  Wow,  another surprise for our guest.  Coffee to round out the dinner before the guys started to talk and I went to rest with my favorite TV show.  I'll put the recipe for the Tiramisu on my next blog if anyone is interested.