Summer is already halfway underway. School supplies are already appearing in stores along with end-of-summer sales. Despite all of this, North Texas can remain warm as Indian Summer clear through October. We don’t usually get a real chill until December (sometimes January or February!) and even then it’s not typically cold enough to rule out shutting up the grill in any sort of permanent situation.

For this reason, we grill any time of year. Without regard to this, Summertime still remains the perfect time of year for grilling. Any and all manner of proteins and vegetals are up for open-flame cooking. This past weekend, that meant trying out an easy anyone-can-do-it recipe for Oven-to-Grill Baby Back Ribs courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.

I enjoy sophisticated and/or intricate cuisine challenges, I do; but one of the things I can appreciate about magazines like Better Homes and Gardens and Good Housekeeping is that they bring good eats to the ordinary person who maybe doesn’t have enough time and/or ambition to tackle more complicated recipes. They’d maybe rather enjoy them in a nice restaurant on a date night. These types of magazines, inspire the average person to explore without being tied to the kitchen for hours on end using all the pots and pans you own.

This recipe was unctuous enough to make it satisfying and feel special, but simple enough to almost make you set-it-and-forget-it. The most complicated thing about this was the sheer volume of ingredients listed for both the rub and the barbecue sauce (yes, you make your own for both). The caveat here though is that many of the ingredients called for are ones you probably already have on hand. At least I did. (I also opted not to involve a spice grinder. I just used slightly smaller quantities of the pre-ground variety.) I’ll tell you what. The ribs came out perfectly tender, sweet, and sticky.

I served these luscious, messy ribs alongside some Krusteaz Cornbread (cooked in my Lodge cast iron skillet) and a glass of seltzer water with a splash of Simply Raspberry Lemonade. It was a great Summer meal and didn’t take me 14 hours hanging out with the grill and/or smoker to create. What’s your favorite quick and easy recipe to throw together in the summer?