BBQ Beef Shortribs and the Bells of a Breakup

BBQ Beef Short Ribs Sandwich

When we are little girls, it’s easy for us to determine if the boy of our 6 year old dreams likes us…we choose a heavily petaled flower and pluck each petal while saying “he love’s me..he loves me not.” It’s completely up to Mother Nature what the outcome is. Whatever that last precious petal says, is what determines our kindergarten relationship world.

As we progress into junior high, we throw aside those silly flowers and graduate to pen and paper tactics. We either go on to draw boxes and spirals with boys names or create an origami cube that requires the use of an ancient formula of numbers and movements to determine the success of our youthful hormonal crush.

As adults, we wish it could be that simple. Once in a relationship we tend to turn a blind eye to some obvious, and not so obvious, signs that the relationship might be over. The following are just a few of the signs that it might just be time to move along and spend some good quality ‘me time’ with yourself or to start looking for someone else. And to our family and friends – this is not a post saying that we are breaking up.

Immaturity: we know that men never truly completely grow up (there is some charm in that), but if you find that your guy gets up early just to watch Saturday morning cartoons or you have to rearrange your dinner reservations to accommodate re-runs of original Star Trek episodes – it might be time to re-evaluate.
You’ve signed up for at least one on-line dating site “just to see what else is out there.”
The whole concept of sexy seems to have left your mind. You haven’t bought any cute bra’s, panties or lingerie of any sort in months and the hair on your legs resembles that of a winter hibernating bear.
The mystery has left the building. If he barges in to make his morning constitution while you’re standing at the sink brushing your teeth or you tinkle with the door open so you can carry on a conversation with him as he stands in front of you…you have officially become slobby roommates and not lovers.
While whispering sweet nothings into each other ears (or screaming at the top of your lungs) an ex’s name leaves his lips during the throes of passion – game over.
You change his ring tone on your cell phone so you know when to hit ‘ignore’ and let the call go to voice mail…which you don’t return.
You find yourself thinking more about doing dirty things to the men on The Bachelorette than to your significant other.
He makes you feel invisible when you’re at a party or hanging out with his friends.
Jealousy: His jealousy is cute when he sees another guy checking you out at a bar, so he comes over and slowly puts his arm around you and pulls you close. His jealousy is out of control when he demands that you not go to any places where you might see one of your exes or he uses your sexual past against you. (Read this post, and this won’t happen.)
You’re a famous model/actress (or not so famous) and you find out in the tabloids that your significant other has slept with more women than you have ever modeled/acted with in your entire career.

Relationship Advice

We’re not kids anymore, but it seems like we have more common sense (when it comes to the opposite sex) in our youth as compared to adulthood. If your gut is telling you that your relationship isn’t right/good, listen to your gut. It’s usually smarter than your brain. I mean, how wrong could your gut be…it tells you when you’re hungry, and it usually isn’t wrong when it tells you to eat. It definitely won’t steer you wrong when it tells you to eat these BBQ Beef Shortrib Sandwiches.

Makes 6-8 Sandwiches (depending on bun size)

Ingredients

BBQ Sauce Recipe

1/2 Cup Ketchup
1/2 Cup Cider Vinegar
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1/2 Tablespoon Molasses
1/2 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard
Cayenne Pepper (to taste)

Coleslaw Recipe

2 Medium Carrots (shredded)
1/2 Head Cabbage (shredded)
5 Green Onions (shredded)
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard

Short Ribs Recipe

2 Pounds Boneless Shortribs
2 Small Yellow Onions (sliced thin)
3 Ribs Celery (sliced thin)
3 Medium Carrots (diced)
2 Large Cloves Garlic (chopped fine)
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 14 Ounce Can Diced Tomatoes
1 Cup Dry Red Wine (such as Cabernet, Zinfandel, Syrah)
2 Cups Beef Stock

Directions

BBQ Sauce

Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir thoroughly and simmer over heat for 20 minutes.

Coleslaw

Add first 4 ingredients to a medium bowl. Add mayonnaise and mustard to shredded vegetables and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate.

BBQ Short Ribs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

In a large Dutch Oven heat olive oil over high heat. Once heated, add in short ribs and brown on all sides. You may have to brown the short ribs in batches so that all short ribs make contact with the bottom of the pan. Remove short ribs to a plate and set aside.

If oil has decreased, add more oil to get 2 tablespoons in the pot. Decrease heat to medium. Add garlic, onions, celery and carrots. Saute until vegetables begin to brown on their edges (approximately 5 minutes).

Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes and red wine to pot. Stir to combine.

Add short ribs back to pot. Nestle them into the pot and try to get them all in one layer.

Pour in beef stock.

Cover Dutch Oven with lid and slide into the oven for 3 hours.

Remove from oven and put meat into a separate bowl. Shred beef with 2 forks.

Pour bbq sauce onto shredded beef and combine. (You may want to keep some of the bbq sauce out of the shredded short ribs in case someone would like more sauce.)

On bottom layer of toasted bun, add the bbq beef and then top with coleslaw. Cover with the top layer of bun and serve.

BBQ Beef Shortribs and the Bells of a Breakup

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