sweet & sour ribs

Wow I've been neglectful of the blog lately. Bad me.

Ok, here's a recipe I just invented tonight, and it was deeeeelicious. Born, as most are, out of necessity - these happened to be the ingredients I had on hand.

1 pkg maui-cut ribs (no, I don't know the weight. Enough for 3 people or so.)
2 tbsp EVOO
1 cup crushed tomatoes, frozen, fresh or canned
1 small onion, diced
1 small acorn squash, diced
1/3 - 1/2 cup sweetish booze (I used my homemade mead)
3-4 cloves garlic, smooshed
2 tsp allspice
1/3 cup brown sugar or sucanat
1/3 cup vinegar
salt & pepper

Soften the onions in the olive oil, add the squash, and cook at a highish heat until things start to brown a little. Deglaze with the booze. Add the tomatoes, garlic and allspice, and simmer until the squash is tender enough to mash with a potato masher. Mash squash until the sauce is kind of homogenous-looking. Add sugar, vinegar and salt to taste. Adjust seasonings as necessary (will vary depending on tomatoes and type of booze).

Season and brown ribs in a small amount of oil, in an oven- and flame-proof pot big enough to hold everything (a dutch oven is a good choice). Pour sauce over ribs, cook in a low oven (275-300F) for 2 hours. Serve over mashed potatoes. Mmmmmmmm.

And, in case you care, I've tweaked my diet to be all-you-can-eat, but no starch or sweets. It's not technically low-carb because things like the above recipe are cool as long as I don't have the mashed potatoes, and I'm still having half a banana in my morning smoothie and any fruit I want. It seems pretty effective, because I've lost 4 lbs in 4 days (down 10 lbs now!) but I doubt this rate of weight loss will continue. It's pretty easy to follow this "plan" though, so big points for that.