Rainy Day {Easy} Dinner Ideas & Cuteness on the Ball Field

I thought today might be the day we see that gorgeous, fiery yellow thing way up yonder, but alas, I was wrong. At least yesterday the rain let up for a little baseball practice and someone's first T-ball practice. Oh the cuteness!

cutest little team huddle ever

big boys

We got spoiled last month with fabulous grilling weather, and so far this month...not so much.
Enter Rainy Day Easy Dinner #1:

Not a great picture. That's what you get with cold, dark rain I guess.
But the food was great!

This picture's better...

...but I'd forgotten the cornbread, and you can't forget the cornbread!

Crock-pot Ribs, Pink Stuff, Classic Green Bean Casserole & Cornbread

Ribs

I get country style spare ribs and the regular ol' rack kind. This is a combination of recipes, one of which is Mel's from The Larson Lingo.

Place ribs in crock-pot, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, add a cup or so bottled barbecue sauce, a few tablespoons of apple jelly, and 1/4 cup water. Spread around to cover the ribs. My crock-pot is weird- things cook much faster than I read they should. I put the ribs on high and they were done within 3 1/2 hours, which is great when you have to sit down to dinner by 4:45 to get champs to baseball games. Yup. That gets old.  =)

Did I mention how awesome your kitchen smells? Awesome!

Pink Stuff

Bill's family always makes this- so quick and easy and good! Pour half a large container of cottage cheese in a big bowl, add a few dollops of cool whip (about the same amount as the cottage cheese), sprinkle half a Jell-o packet on top (any flavor you like, really- I think I used blackberry) and place the remaining Jell-o in Ziploc bag for future use. 

Next, drain a small can of mandarin oranges and dump, I mean, pour over mixture.

Mix together gently and do a little taste test...sometimes I need to add more cottage cheese to cut the sweetness, or more cool whip to sugar it up. Totally a taste preference thing. This easily doubles- just use the entire packages of ingredients.

I used one of those little blue Jiffy boxes to make the cornbread, but instead of pouring into muffin tins, I spread in a greased 8x8 baking dish and reduce the oven temperature to 375F. They get all golden brown in about 12 minutes.

Finally, the casserole...the recipe is everywhere, but I use the one on the can of the French Fried Onions, which I feel the need to point out, are completely addictive. The only thing I do differently is add a third can of beans- 2 regular, 1 French-cut style- just so everyone gets a chance to actually eat some by the time it makes it to the end of the table. And don't even think about omitting the few splashes of Worcestershire sauce. Yes, I just ran to to the fridge to pull pull out the bottle and check its spelling. Because I tried three times and got the squiggly lines each time.  =)

I'll share my new homemade pizza dough and sauce recipe soon...

This is what we had last night. Lack of Vitamin D. Tired. Slightly cranky. All these things made it the perfect night for Breakfast for Dinner.

French Toast in style, I might add.

Although I do wonder why my kitchen always has to look like this before every meal...

We've had some unpleasant issues with one or more of our children this week, and nothing drains the life right out of me faster than dealing with those kinds of things. I try to remember that life is a process, and things just take time. Learning takes time. Isabelle is begging for a bubble bath, and I think I'll surprise her with a little pedicure and a movie afterwards on this otherwise dreary day. Have a super weekend!