It's Summer - Let's Celebrate with Dr. Pepper Cherry

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Living on my little farm I’m very in tune with the time of year and the foods that come into season each month. Summer is a time of glorious fruits and vegetables and I love to celebrate each one! Right now cherries are ripe and delicious and you can bet I’m using them in just about everything I can. I’m actually practicing for a party we are having later in July and came up with a fun and easy meal with some great products on sale at Walmart. In fact there’s a really cool contest going on right now – it’s called the Share Funshine Sweepstakes and the widget to enter is further below in the post.

I picked up some tasty treats and started planning how I’d use them for my party. I knew I was going to use the Life Savers® and M&Ms® as table decorations. I have more mason jars than a girl can count so I will fill them with the candies and top with origami paper and the lids.

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Don’t they look pretty? You could even make enough for your guests to take home as a gift. With the 42 oz size bag of M&Ms (available in both plain and peanut) and the 41 oz bag of Life Savers you will have more than enough – you could even use smaller mason jars and have that many more to give away.

For dinner I can think of nothing better than moist and delicious barbecued ribs. They are a real favorite of mine and I knew I could come up with an amazing barbecue sauce using Dr Pepper® Cherry. It takes a little bit of time but can be made in advance so that on the day of your party everything will come together quickly.

Grilled Ribs with Dr Pepper Cherry Barbecue Sauce

Serves 3 – 4

1 rack meaty back ribs
4 12 oz cans Dr Pepper® Cherry
2 cups cherries, pitted
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
2 TBS sugar
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp whole allspice
1/4 tsp cardamom seeds (optional)
Hot sauce as desired

Add two cans of Dr Pepper Cherry to a medium saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a simmer. Let simmer until reduced to about 1/4 cup of liquid. It will take about an hour and a half.
Remove from heat and add the cinnamon stick, peppercorns, cloves, coriander seeds, allspice, cardamon and salt.
Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
Add the white vinegar, ketchup and a third can of Dr Pepper Cherry.
Let simmer until reduced by half.
While the Dr Pepper Cherry sauce is reducing add the cherries, water and sugar to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and let simmer until just about all of the liquid is absorbed.
When the cherries are ready remove them from the heat.
Strain the Dr Pepper Cherry sauce to remove the spices.
Add the Dr Pepper Cherry sauce back into the saucepan and add the cherries.

If you cannot see the video you can watch it on YouTube HERE
Using a stick blender mix the two together until all of the cherries are blended into a thick, rich sauce.
Shake in a few drops of hot sauce to taste.
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary

To Cook the Ribs:
Preheat oven to 250°
Cut the rack into three or four pieces.
Sprinkle with salt.
Pour the last can of Dr Pepper Cherry into a baking dish.
Add the ribs and bake for about an hour.
Prepare the grill.
Take the ribs out of the baking dish and place on a sheet.
Brush with some of the barbecue sauce.
Turn up the heat to 300° and return the ribs to the oven for 10 minutes.
Brush again with sauce and brush again with sauce.
Remove the ribs from the oven and take to the grill.

Apply the sauce liberally and grill on each side for 5 minutes until they are sticky and done. There is a printable recipe at the very bottom of the post. These were Y.U.M.M.Y

While the hubby was working hard over the (with all due irony) cherry wood barbecue. I refreshed myself with a nice cold drink of Dr Pepper® Vanilla Float. I added some frozen cherries to the drink for a little extra. It gave me a little pick me up to keep me going for the rest of the cooking.

I served them with mustard and turmeric spiced mashed potatoes and a spinach and cherry salad with an orange vinaigrette. We were both licking our fingers as we were eating our dinner. The sauce was full of cherry flavor with a bit of spice in the background and just a touch of heat.

Dessert is beyond simple to put together. When it comes to summer I don’t want to be fussing over complicated desserts. I don’t know about you but I love ice cream – it’s the perfect end to a barbecue! I made a very easy “parfait” using M&Ms® Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches.

I just cut them into small pieces and layered them in a glass with fresh cut cherries and homemade whipped cream. If you don’t want to fuss with homemade whipped cream you can use store bought just as easily. The hubby and I really enjoyed these too. The cherries added a nice fresh taste and the whipped cream added a delightful richness.

So you can see that with just a little bit of effort you can put together a truly delicious meal. It lets you celebrate the best that summer has to offer – in my case cherry season but you could just as easily accent the salad and the parfait with strawberries and blueberries. The barbecue sauce though, is all about the cherries!

All of these products were easy to find at my local Walmart, especially the Dr Pepper Cherry. It was right there in the soda aisle:

So, are you ready to #ShareFunshine? I had a blast coming up with this cherrylicious barbecue sauce. I know it will be a hit at my party next month. I love celebrating Summer and all of the bounty she has to offer.

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