Slow Cooker Short Ribs

I don't usually post recipes, but these turned out so well, I just had to share. The photo isn't the best, even edited, but these ribs taste AMAZING . . . if I do say so myself.

Ingredients:

·         1 tsp salt

·         ½ tsp black pepper

·         2-3 lbs beef short ribs 

·         1 Tb bacon grease

·         1 onion, chopped

·         ¾ cup red wine

·         1 cup apple cider vinegar

·         ⅓ cup honey

·         1 tsp. Tabasco

·         1 jar (7 oz.) tomato paste

·         ¾ cup beef stock

·         ¼ cup GF Worcestershire sauce

·         ¼ cup Coconut Aminos

·         1 tsp chili powder

·         3 cloves of garlic, minced

Season short ribs with s & p
Brown in a hot pan w/bacon grease
Remove ribs to slow cooker
sauté 1 chopped onion
add remaining ingredients to pan and bring to a boil
pour over ribs
Cook on low for 8-10 hours or if short on time like I was, on high for 2 hours, then low for 4 hours.

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Instant Pot modification:
set IP to sauté
brown ribs in IP with bacon grease
remove ribs
sauté onion until soft
add remaining ingredients and bring to a bubble
add ribs back to IP
Turn IP off sauté and set manual for 45 minutes

The sauce thickened so beautifully! We're going to use it to make Sloppy Joes.

Daddy's Shoulders

New shoes proved to be rather uncomfortable for walking around the city. Bare feet worked for a while, until the ground got too hot. Good thing Princess is still small enough to fit on her Daddy's shoulders.

Georgia Royals

Last week we had the pleasure of having our Georgia relatives in for a visit. Princess had such a fabulous time with her Aunt and Uncle, as did the Lizard King and I. It was a wonderful visit and something we hope to do again soon.

Sadly, this is the only photo we got. We'll have to do better next time.

Harvest

Look what we've harvested from the garden. It has been quite a delicious summer!

What have you got growing?

Budget

We have, yet again, restructured Princess' allowance. With that, we have added the skill of maintaining a register. Princess and I talked about it and agreed on the amount she would receive and she chose her pay day.

She uses this money to save for things she wants. Two of those things are monthly memberships to online games (Club Penguin and Animal Jam), although she chose to purchase a 3-month membership to Animal Jam. This saved money, as the 3-month membership is discounted from the price of a monthly membership and had the added bonus of a lion avatar that she wanted.

Princess is excited about our new allowance routine and is enjoying maintaining her register. What a valuable skill to learn at such a young age!

Just Keep Swimming

A few weeks ago, Princess' swim instructor gave us the go ahead to register her for the next level at the swim school. Last week Princess was the only swimmer in her class. Class size is always small (only 4 swimmers per class) but being the only one gave her the opportunity for some one on one time with the instructor.

Watching her swim previous weeks I had a feeling that she might be ready to move up more than one level. After working one on one with her instructor, I was amazed at the progress she has made. Toward the end of the lesson, I went out to talk to the instructor who told me that Princess is ready to jump TWO levels!

Fortunately, there was one spot left and we grabbed it! Princess is so excited and proud. Watching the Olympics has been a huge inspiration. She can't wait to work her way up through the levels and is excited at reaching a level where she can compete. How exciting!!!

Back to the Zoo

It's been quite a while since we've been to the zoo, but we intend to change that. We purchased an annual membership and hope to visit often. The three of us headed out last Friday in the late afternoon. We love going later in the day . . . smaller crowds. :)

Here are some of the things we saw and did . . .

We can't wait to go back! How about you? Do you love the zoo?

Going Batty

We were out on the back deck the other day, something hit the window and fell. It turned out to be a bat! It was a little stunned, so I was able to move in and take some photos.

It started moving around and perking up after a few minutes
and then . . .

. . . it found its intended target. When we first saw this little guy, we thought that perhaps we should put up a bat house. Apparently, he's already found a home in the eaves of the deck roof.