Summer + Grill = Easy Dinner

That is the kind of math I like. I've still never used AP Calculus. We love grilling in the summer, especially when we actually plan ahead for dinner (which seems to never happen). I thought ahead this time and decided to do a super simple dinner of baby back pork ribs with a brown sugar rub and glaze, grilled asparagus and grilled peaches with maple syrup and cinnamon.

Grilled Asparagus

Costco to the rescue here. I always pick up a bag of asparagus when I am there and this was very easy to do. I trimmed the bottom 2 inches off and then peel the remaining bottom third with a vegetable peeler (it's too fibrous otherwise - and you will look like a cow chewing its cud). Sprinkle with salt, pepper and powdered garlic to taste and grill for 5 minutes until tender-crisp. If you are looking for a good salt-pepper-garlic mix, I used Paula Deen's "House Seasoning" (1 cup kosher salt, 1/4 cup of garlic powder and 1/4 cup black pepper) and make it up in batches and store it in an empty spice canister.


Brown Sugar Rubbed Baby Back Ribs (say that three times fast)

I totally feel like Fred Flintstone eating a brontosaurus every time I make these, but they are sooooo good, that I just learn to live with my carnivorous tendencies. For the rub (for 2 racks of ribs), I used this recipe as a base and tripled it. Since I have never found a recipe online that I haven't screwed around with somehow, I added more brown sugar than the recipe called for and also added some dried minced onion, powdered ginger and whole allspice. After an hour in the fridge, I threw the ribs onto a hot grill and turned the heat WAY DOWN, to cook them low and slow. I basted them with some barbecue sauce that we had on hand for about an hour and TA-DA!


Grilled Peaches


This doesn't really need a recipe. Just halve some ripe peaches, grill on low heat for 5-7 minutes (depending on the ripeness) and drizzle with real maple syrup and dust with cinnamon. We added a scoop of plain yogurt for ours. FYI, it would probably have helped if we had cleaned the grill before we grilled our peaches. The had a certain eau de pork about them. Not a dealbreaker, but just a tip...


And if I hear that you use anything but real maple syrup on these, I will smack you into next week AND give you a wedgie. I like my Mrs. Butterworth's as much as the next person on my pancakes, but she has no business on these!