What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

A weekend like July 4th calls for some good ol’ American favorites.  Down South one of those favorites is barbequed anything!  I got a package of pork ribs on sale at Ingles this week, so I put them in the crock pot for Sunday dinner.  I found a new sauce to try, so I made that and poured it over top of the meat, turned it on low and left for church.  They were too done for my liking, but as long as they were covered with the sauce they were okay. It’s not the fault of the sauce as much as it was my timing the meat in the slow cooker.  It cooks faster than I’m used to, and I still haven’t figured it out! 

I served couscous as a side dish instead of potatoes or rice.  We really like it; it’s a nice change!  I added almonds instead of the pine nuts that the recipe calls for.  I halved the recipe and it still made more than we needed, so I’ve frozen it for future use!  My new favorite thing is corn on the cob with Parmesan cheese.  It is sooooo good!

My table wasn’t patriotic, because my husband had brought home the beautiful bouquet pictured above on Saturday (he’s so sweet), and it had  lavendar and pink flowers, so I stuck with that color theme on the table.  But my shelf pictured above is red, white and blue, so we had the flavor of the holiday in the room! 

I added a little sprig of Thyme inside the fold of the cloth napkin.  I’d seen a picture in a magazine with mint tied onto a napkin and thought it looked so fresh and summery.  I have several pots of thyme, and love the smell, so I simply folded the top layer of the napkin up to create a pocket, and tucked the herb inside.