BBQ Ribs and Charlie Wilson's War

We did dinner and movie again last night - two weeks in a row for us... we may actually get back into the routine! =)

We ate BBQ ribs (from the crockpot, which is super cool). I have noted the changes that I made below.

BBQ Ribs in the Crock Pot
Pork, Baby Back or Spareribs w/ bone
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon hickory salt or garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 can of Coke
1 bottle BBQ Sauce (I used Hot and Spicy)

Spray crock pot w/ cooking spray. Cut ribs so they fit into cooker. Mix brown sugar, hickory or garlic salt and pepper together. Rub mixture onto all sides of ribs. Place ribs in the crock and pour cola around ribs. Cook on low for 7-8 hrs. Drain liquid from cooker. Brush ribs w/ BBQ sauce. Pour remaining sauce in cooker. Cook on low for about 1 hr.

I didn't use the brown sugar at all. I also used garlic powder instead of garlic salt. I added some seasoned salt and minced onion (from the spice rack - not fresh) too. Any type of rub would work, I'm sure. Finished out the meal with (fresh!) corn on the cob (I'm so glad that it's available again), green salad and corn bread. Oh and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

Though Adam is getting a cold and his tasters aren't as great as they normally are, this meal still got pretty good reviews. Too bad I can't say the same for Charlie Wilson. We gave up on it about 1/2 hour in. I'm sure that we'll still finish it, but it was not what we were expecting from Aaron Sorkin (the (in our house at least) esteemed and amazing writer and director from The West Wing).

Reviews (out of 5):
Adam - Ribs - ****, Movie - the jury is still out
Melanie - Ribs - ****, Movie - * blech. I'm not as optimistic as Adam is. I'll post again about it if I change my mind after watching the whole thing.

(I think that it's also worthy of note that though ribs can often be messy, these weren't - the meat just fell off the bones as I removed it from the crock pot.)

Oh, also, I've decided to start posting the cost of the meals from our Dinner and a Movie night, just because I'm often comparing the price of meals to the quality of the dinner. Of course, I'm also always looking for good and cheap food too (though this one wasn't even close in the 'cheap' category - I think we'll keep this for future special occasions).

Ribs - $9.42
Corn - $1.75
Corn bread - $2.35
Salad - $2.99
Strawberries - $3.00
Chocolate - $1.29
Total = $20.80

This is more than we usually spend on dinner at home. The strawberries (and of course, the meat) were some of that. However, we had leftover ribs, corn bread and salad - enough for another meal. We also could have had strawberries left over, but they were just so darn good (if I do say so myself!).