Garden Highs and Lows.... and Pork Country Style Ribs for Dinner!

It's always a roller coaster with my garden, but recently more than ever since having a fall garden is a learning process for me- I've never had one before!  All of my garden experience is summer with tomatoes, squash, etc.  Now I have green beans, snow peas, snap peas, 4 different kinds of leafy green lettuce,  brussel sprouts, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, napa cabbage, and all my herbs.  All of these are a first for me.  The Cauliflower, beans, and brussel sprouts aren't doing too well-- cauliflower is stunted and just not going anywhere, beans doing the same, and all but one brussel plant has aphids and little green worms at them.  So, definitely some lows, but there some good stuff too.  Look at my snow peas!

The thick area of vines is snow pea-- and yes, I planted the plant too close together.  I don't think they should be that thick.  On the left was sugar snap peas I planted from seed, and they are spaced much better.  But my snow peas are starting to take off !

I've been sneaking a few pods off here and there and munching on them, but today was the first time I got a whole batch to make with dinner tonight!

And speaking of dinner, lets get to these pork country style ribs..... I saw a recipe a few months ago for BBQ short ribs from Food Networks Sunny Anderson:  BBQ Short Ribs .  Short ribs can actually be a pricey cut of meat.  Like, more so than baby back ribs and all.  Matt doesn't like having to pick around bones, so I tried this with pork country style ribs (basically shoulder roast type cut but cut into boneless strips), which also tend to be a cheaper cut of meat (on sale $1.56/lb at my local grocery this week).  The secret to the short ribs or country style ribs is slow and low.  Sunny's recipe does pretty well with that.  I follow everything she does when it comes to cooking in the oven.  I put the country style ribs in her sauce and cover them slow and low in the oven.  I finish them off over open fire or on the grill though.  Can't beat that taste of charring the outside of these once they're done.  And on the grill I'll apply some of my favorite BBQ sauce or more of the home made sauce.  These are fabulous to do for car camping.  Just pack them up in tupperware to bring camping with some BBQ sauce with tongs and BBQ brush.  Just finish them on the grill where you're camping.

I'll update this tonight with pictures of the finished product!