Ribs, Garden Fresh Pasta Salad & Corn on the Cob

None of these are really hard and fast "recipes" so I decided just to make this a "what we had for dinner" post! It was delicious and easy and great for a weeknight. Most of it you can do ahead of time and have ready to go with just a few finishing touches.

The ribs are from our Riverview Farms CSA and I put them on low in the crock pot with some salt, pepper, garlic salt a tiny bit of water and about 1/4 BBQ sauce drizzled over the top. They cooked for about 6 hours and were falling off the bone tender and delicious!

The garden pasta salad is so easy and sort of in between "traditional" pasta salad and a regular salad.

Garden Pasta Salad
Ingredients
2 cups uncooked rotini pasta
1 avocado, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
10 baby carrots, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
1/4 cup Italian Dressing (I used Kraft Free)

Directions
1. Cook noodles, allow to cool completely.
2. Add prepared vegetables to noodles, pour dressing over top and toss to combine evenly.

Variations: Add diced olives and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.


We're starting to phase gluten out of our diets, I think my son has been dealing with gluten sensitivities forever though we did have blood work done to test for celiacs and it was negative so I'm glad it's not a full blown allergy but I think it will be good for all of us. I've actually been reading a LOT about Paleo and am leaning towards that in the long term. We purged our pantry of about 80% of the prepared and packaged "things" but there is still some pastas and rice packages in there that we kept. All the junky/snacky stuff is gone now though. Kent had a hard time letting it go (atlhough he was a huge help pulling it all but I think the second thoughts hit when we were putting everything in the trunk to take to the local food pantry! :) ), but I found him some pretty fantastic paleo granola snack mixes that he likes which are a good alternative along with lots of fresh fruit and veggies. I've complained for a long time about how Kent eats and worried about him not making the "right" choices but I've kept ice cream in the freezer, chips and cake mixes in the pantry, etc. We never used them often, but they've always been there and I finally was ready to let it all go and "get back to basics" I guess! I want to focus on real food and really cut the processed stuff out in particular. It's going to take committment and some effort and proper planning for meals but I definitely think it's do-able and am hopeful we'll all feel good with the changes.

I've debated whether or not just to get rid of everything but don't feel like I'm quite "there" yet and know from previous experience with making diet changes that I need to be committed and ready to make a change if it's going to "stick".

In any event, we've been eating a lot more fresh fruit and vegetables lately and making good use of our meat CSA and local Farmer's Market Baskets! And I have discovered that despite the fact I keep thinking I don't like sweet potatoes I really do. :)