Just a Note About The BBQ Throw Down Sides

Along with the BBQ ribs that I prepared for the Throw Down, my friends and I enjoyed some tasty sides that are traditional favorites with ribs. (See yesterday's post!)

Now I started cooking when I was 9 and pretty much learned the method of a little of this, a dab of that and a handful of this over here. I prepared the sides that went with the ribs pretty much the same way and you can too.

Get your base item and figure out how much you want. For example, if it is potato salad, first figure out how many potatoes you would want per person. If it is coleslaw, cut up enough cabbage for each serving you are planning. Then put in the other ingredients to personal taste. Take a little sample of the dish as you go along being careful not to double dip. No one likes a double dipper.

Here are the ingredients and seasonings for the sides:

Potato Salad: Boiled red new potatoes. Boil with the jackets on, chill and cut up. Then add: mayonnaise, hard boiled eggs, celery, sweet relish, dijon mustard, celery seed, salt and pepper.

Coleslaw: Shred some green cabbage. Then add: chopped napa cabbage, chopped dill pickles, chopped pickled pepper slices , honey, mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

Ranch-style Black Beans: I used canned black beans. Then add: brown sugar, chopped onions, bacon slices, powdered mustard, ketchup and pepper sauce.

We also enjoyed fresh baked gluten-free Buttermilk Biscuits. Since these had not been tried out on my non-gluten-free friends, I was curious to see what they thought. The guests were packing up extra biscuits to take home, I am guessing they turned out just fine. The recipe I used for the biscuits can be found in the Culinary Institute of America's gluten-free cookbook.

To top off the menu were my attempt at gluten-free Fried Apple Pies. They worked and didn't taste all that bad, but they just are not there yet. When I get them a little closer to the real thing, I will be sure to let everyone know. That is one thing I have yet to find in the world of gluten-free...fried pies.