CROCKPOT RIBS

This recipe is compliments of my friend Chris. Thanks for letting me share this one on here Chris! It's a real keeper, that's for sure!
I'm not a big crockpot user, but I will definitely be making this one again. It got a big thumbs up from my family. I planned to be gone all day yesterday, so I put these in just before I left that morning. It was a Wednesday, so I didn't want to be cut short on time for dinner prep before church that night. I got back home about 3:30 p.m. just as a HUGE storm hit and knocked out our power. Thankfully the ribs were done and stayed hot forever, it seems, in my crockpot. It was too late to try to eat before church, so we ate afterwards. We lit our battery operated lanterns while my son fired up the gas grill outside (they were without power too, so we all ate together). I chopped up some potatoes & onions, drizzled my trusty iron skillet with olive oil, and dumped in all the potatoes and onions, threw on several spoons of butter and set the skillet directly on the grill grate. Just as the skillet got nice and hot and the potatoes started to sizzle, the power came back on! So I brought them back inside and finished them on the stove top. The ribs, were nice and fork tender, actually falling off the bone tender. I didn't intend to make sandwiches out of the ribs, but most of us pulled out a portion and kind of shredded it to put on a bun. My Honey is a meat "purist" though, and he just ate the ribs by themselves. This is what they looked like when I opened the crockpot to have a peek. You can see where my Honey has picked at one of them with a fork. *hehe* The pic at the very top, is a sandwich I made for lunch the next day! Mmm! They were excellent both ways. I highly recommend this recipe!

CROCKPOT RIBS

4-5 lbs. spare ribs, cut into 2-rib pieces (or whatever your favorite rib portion is)
(You can also substitute chicken breasts or boneless thighs, just skip the browning step)
1 C ketchup
2-3 shakes Frank's hot sauce (or whatever your favorite kind is)
1/4 C cider vinegar
1/4 C packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 small onion, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400. Place spareribs on a rack in a shallow pan (I just put them on a cookie sheet, because I don't have a rack). Brown in oven for 15 minutes, turn and brown another 15 minutes. Drain fat. In a wide bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Dip each rib piece in sauce and place in crock pot, pour remaining sauce over ribs. Cover and cook on low about 6 hours or until ribs are tender.