Hospitality Week

I have dubbed this "hospitality week" at the Sigmon house. By scheduling luck (and by luck I mean I haven't kept up with a calendar while I've been on leave) we had friends over for dinner twice this week. One couple brought us a "Happy New Baby!" meal of pulled pork sandwiches. Then I pulled out all the stops on a rib dinner for a friend and his daughter while his wife is over in France. (Rough break for everyone, right?) Looking it back, it's sounds like Hospitality Week was sponsored by the National Pork Council but no, I do all my own rib-buying with my lucrative stay at home money.

Being off work leaves time to actually set the table. I picked up the cloth napkins and pineapple napkin rings at our church's rummage sale.

Before I get to the ribs (and you MUST make these ribs), I'll explain this new term "hospitality week." I found that when we cleaned, straightened up and staged the dining room and bathroom to look a lot nicer than it usually does, it was really easy to just pick up again two days later without having to reclean the whole apartment. We have friends (you know who you are :-) who are really good at opening their home to guests - it seems like they're constantly hosting friends for dinner and I'd like to be the same way. So I suggested to Brian that we do Hospitality Week once every month or so. Clean the house, set up the dining room, pick some great recipes and host at least two dinners. Our friends are so wonderful to host- they always bring something to contribute, they don't bat an eye when your baby starts fussing and none of us are fancy 8pm dinner people. Not to mention the most important part- they're great company! We all have a million excuses not to invite people over but I want to push those aside.

This is what happens when you've been off work for 12 weeks. You make a little bouquet for the 3 year old girl coming to dinner.

Now, onto these ribs. I was lacking dinner inspiration when making up this week's meal plan and flipped to through last month's Southern Living. I don't know if I marked this recipe the first time I read this issue, but "Honey and Soy Lacquered Ribs" jumped out at me.

Southern Living needs a little note next to this recipe that says "Your life with be incomplete if you do not try these ribs." I have a new rating system that's going be called "On a scale of zero to Honey Soy Ribs, how delicious is this?" They are so easy: short ingredient list and a lot of hands off time. You can throw these in while the baby naps and still nap yourself. They're sweet and spicy and I might make them weekly in the summer time. If you've got kids coming over for dinner, just skip adding the sauce. They can try them plain, with a regular bbq sauce or if they're adventurous, they can try dipping a piece into the spicy sauce. I served them with baked sweet potatoes (they just bake with the ribs) and roasted broccoli. Our friend brought a salad and dessert, and we had an all-around lovely evening complete with cocktails. To hospitality week! 

Carmelized Onion Sausage Lentil Soup

Or "There's Nothing in the House for Dinner Soup." That quite clearly explains this soup's origins. I have a surplus of green lentils sitting in my pantry, and Brian isn't a big lentil fan, so I try to make them for solo meals. I had planned on eating an apple and almond butter for dinner, but I ate that at 4pm and to no one's surprise, I was hungry again not long after that. In rummaging through my fridge and pantry, this soup was born.

Carmelized Onion Sausage Lentil Soup
Inspired by Mark Bittman's 7 Ways to Make Lentil Soup

3/4 - 1 lb crumbled sausage*
2 yellow onions, sliced into half moons.
1 c. french green lentils
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin
6-8 cups chicken stock**
Creme fraiche or sour cream -yes, I also had homemade creme fraiche in the house. 

*I used a homemade pork sausage with garlic and herbs. Don't be impressed. It's ground pork mixed with garlic and herbs. 

**6 cups will get you more of a stew, 8 cups will get you more of a soup. Go figure.

Saute the sausage in a large, heavy soup pot until browned and crispy. I found I needed to add a little canola oil to help the browning along. Remove the sausage and add a just enough water to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, then add the onions.These you can cook until they're golden brown, or like, if you have a baby who won't sleep and you constantly have to check on him, until they're very, very, very dark brown. We'll call them "charred." They were still delicious. When the onions are done to your liking, add the lentils, bay leaf, cumin, chicken stock and sausage. Simmer half an hour or so, until the lentils are soft but not falling apart. Top individual servings with creme fraiche or sour cream, or at the very least, a tiny bit of lemon juice. You want something acidic to break through the dark heavy flavors of the onions and sausage. My soup looked like sludge, so I'm sparing you a picture, but it was incredibly delicious sludge.

Now I have to find recipes to use the rest of the lentils in the pantry...

Caleb, 2 Months

I had this post written and ready to go, and forgot about it. Such is life with a baby! 

This month Caleb started sleeping for longer stretches, smiling and babbling and took his first flight! I still don't have him on a specific schedule- I never know how long he's going to sleep at night and I'm loath to wake him up if he's dead asleep. I attempt to keep his first night feeding between 10 and 11, but sometimes that just doesn't happen. 

Mom and Baby at 8 weeks old.

When Caleb's awake, he's AWAKE. In constant motion.

When it hit 45 degrees, we took a walk to the library.

On Caleb's 8 week birthday we left him with Nana and Papaw Whale and went out with Brian's brother and his wife. Date night!

Nana Sigmon caught this gorgeous picture while we were in North Carolina. Caleb's smile is the best.

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet. One of the few recipes I can truly take credit for creating and it's finally making an appearance on the blog. Maybe because it's not very photogenic? Maybe because it's not very "foodie?" Don't judge. This chicken is delicious and no one cares if you take a night off from kale. It makes dinner a cinch: throw it in the slow cooker, ask your husband to make cornbread and toss some veggies together for a simple, delicious meal.

BBQ Chicken Thighs

6 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs*

Sauce:
1/2 bottle bbq sauce - whatever you like
1/4 c mustard
1/4 c honey
dash hot sauce
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
If you like it spicy, toss in a couple chipotles in adobo sauce

Salt and pepper the chicken, mix together the sauce and throw it in the slow cooker for 8 hours or so on low. The chicken will be falling off the bone when it's ready. We like it best with cornbread.

*You can absolutely use thighs with the skin on, but in this recipe I find it creates a lot of fat in the sauce.