Crock Pot Spare Ribs with Mom's Secret Sauce!

I realize that most of the recipes I post on here seem to come from my Mom's recipe files, but what can I say? They're all "tried and true"....and the fact that I'm STILL making them after being "on my own" for 30+ years must mean they've got something going for them!

Today I found spare ribs on sale at the grocery store and on a whim decided to pick some up for dinner! My daughter in college and my newlywed son and his "bride" were coming for dinner, so I needed something that would feed a "crowd" of 7.


I hadn't really thought about doing a blog post about this, until I got to the SAUCE part...and then I realized that this was something I just had to share. But keep in mind, it contains a "secret ingredient" that you can't tell anyone about! It will just be between you and me!

Because I hadn't planned on posting this...there aren't many pictures. Plus, the ones I DID take are pretty bad!!  For some reason they are terribly out of focus...stupid camera phone. I do apologize...and recommit to getting a better camera SOON (and learning how to use it!)

All I did to prepare these ribs was season them with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder and place them in the crock pot. Since they were both fairly long, I had to lay them on their sides and curl them around each other...but they cooked up just fine still the same. :-)


I cooked them on low for 8 hours (you could do "high" for 4ish hours too), then took them out and put them on a cookie sheet to finish them off in the oven.



Before I took them out though, I mixed up the "secret sauce". This picture provides a clue to the "secret ingredient". Can anyone out there guess what it is??  Here's a hint: Mom's with infants might recognize it easier than the rest of us!

Did anyone guess BABY FOOD PRUNES?? If so...you're right!!! You are the winners of......bragging rights! Too bad you can't tell anyone....remember?  It's a SECRET ingredient. It can't leave this post.

Like I said earlier....I've been making this for YEARS...so I don't really have a "recipe" per se...I just add the ingredients seen in the picture in the amounts that "look about right" to me. But for you, I will attempt to write it out.

Another lousy picture from my camera phone. :-(

Mom's BBQ Sauce

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple (I drained MOST of the juice out)
1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder
1 container baby food prunes

Stir together and spread over the ribs. Then place the ribs in a 350 degree oven for approximately 15-20 minutes. Just enough time to allow the sauce to get nice and caramelized. (I usually save a little to serve on the side as well.)

This is before going in the oven...I forgot to take one
when they came out!  Photo FAIL all over the place today!

Talk about "finger lickin' good"!  You are going to need plenty of napkins when eating these bad boys.

(This post will "self destruct" 

in 30 seconds.)

The "secret" is in the sauce! Too bad you can't tell anyone about it!