Memorial Day Barbeque -- a day early!!

Ok, so we were hoping for some sunshine today and so we planned to do our Memorial Day barbeque today instead of Monday. Well, this being the Pacific Northwest and all, we had to settle with a bit of rain to go with our ribs! I received this recipe from myrecipes.com in my email inbox earlier this week and so we decided to give 'em a go. ALL of us -- Kent, Tiana, Gordon, Ivona, Mark, Meredith and I give them a double thumbs up! Emily and Jonathan not so much, but they might have if they'd tried them! And Coda says, Paws Down they are truly the best! So we recommend, "Shay's Fall-off-the-Bone-Baby-Back-Ribs" with roasted corn on the cob and a dessert of "Double Chocolate Cream Pie"!! Sorry I didn't get any photos of any of it, but trust me -- you want to try these!

SHAY'S FALL-OFF-THE-BONE-BABY BACK RIBS
1 large onion, sliced
3 1/2 pounds (1,5kg) (about 2 slabs) baby back ribs
1 (12-ounce/350ml) bottle beer (porter) 
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 cups Chipotle Maple Barbeque Sauce or your favorite bottled sauce (see original recipe for link to sauce recipe!)

1. Preheat oven to 275°F/135°C. Spread onion slices evenly on a rimmed baking sheet, and place ribs, bone side down, on top. Pour beer over ribs, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, and cover tightly with foil. Bake 2-1/2 hours or until tender.
2. Brush both sides of ribs with Chipotle Maple Barbecue Sauce. *Grill over medium heat, meat side down, 10 to 15 minutes or until slightly charred and crispy, basting several times with sauce. Flip ribs over, and baste cooked side liberally. Close grill lid, and cook 10 to 15 minutes more, basting often. Remove from heat; let rest 10 minutes. Cut individual ribs apart, and serve warm.
Note: You can bake the ribs (step 1) up to a day ahead, but you'll need to leave them on the grill a few minutes longer to make sure they're heated through.*Kent suggests spraying grill with non-stick spray!

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
3 tablespoons ice water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
Cooking spray

Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 425°.
To prepare the crust, lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 1/4 cup flour and water, stirring with a whisk until well-blended.
Combine 3/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl; cut in shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add slurry; mix with a fork until flour mixture is moist.
Press the mixture gently into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap; cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, into a 12-inch circle. Freeze 10 minutes.
Remove 1 sheet of plastic wrap; fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Fold edges under; flute. Line dough with a piece of foil; arrange pie weights or dried beans on foil. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes or until edge is lightly browned. Remove pie weights and foil. Reduce temperature to 350°. Bake an additional 5 minutes; cool on a wire rack.
To prepare filling, combine 3/4 cup sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and milk in a medium saucepan; stir well with a whisk. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute until mixture comes to a full boil. Gradually add 1/3 cup hot milk mixture to beaten egg; stir well. Return egg mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add grated chocolate, stirring until the chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Spoon mixture into pastry crust. Cover surface of filling with plastic wrap. Chill until set (about 2 hours). Remove plastic wrap; spread whipped topping evenly over filling.

CALORIES 301 (28% from fat); FAT 9.3g (sat 5.5g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.5g); IRON 1.5mg; CHOLESTEROL 46mg; CALCIUM 89mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.5g; SODIUM 180mg; PROTEIN 5.6g; FIBER 0.5g

And to surely mess up the nutrition facts, I cheated and used a pre-made Oreo cookie crust!! Oh YUM!!! Now Emily and Jonathan gave this two thumbs up!!

Happy Memorial Day. And THANK YOU! to all of the soldiers - past and present - who have given their lives, willingly, for freedoms - ours and in the pursuit of for others. Thank you.