Satisfying our hunger for new things

What do you do when you're a travel blogger and there's suddenly no travel as you're working to stay safe and healthy at home? You subject your family to a themed taste test for their dinner of course! Let's first meet the three judges on today's panel:

Al (aka Dad, aka travel buddy)

Likes: Meat, potatoes, pizza, and any form of chocolate dessert

Dislikes: Seafood, mustard, and any vegetable that doesn't come in the form of corn, peas, lettuce, or certain preparations of carrots.

Sandi (aka Mom, yes she does exist)

Likes: Anything she doesn't have to cook herself

Dislikes: Anything with a hint of spice

And the third judge, well me of course! Wasn't about to do all this cooking and not sample the goods too!

What's today theme you ask? Something I'm not sure I've ever bothered to make at home, baby back ribs! For the record, I gave each diner the option of either a single serve cup of Bob Evans microwaveable mac n cheese or the same in original flavored mashed potatoes to have with the ribs. Mom and I chose mac n cheese while Dad of course chose mashed potatoes. Dad told me how much he loved those mashed potatoes several times after dinner. No shame in using some heat and eat quick and easy side dishes, right @BobEvans? The individual portion cups are a great way to appease everyone's preferences or just add a quick side to your meal for one.

All of these ribs are pork baby back ribs and all fully cooked. I made one rack of each from three different brands, Kingsford, Plumrose, and TGI Fridays. All purchased at my local grocery store and kept in the fridge until this dinner. The main difference between the three options was the three different types of barbecue sauce included. All came basted in their sauces so there was no option to have sauce on the side. We have a double oven so I cooked the two 400° samples in the bottom oven and the one 450° sample in the top oven. To serve, I chopped each rack up into small groupings but kept them each on their own plate to bring to the table. All three had separate microwaveable directions as well.

Special honorable mention shoutout to the makers of Reynolds Wrap Non-stick aluminum foil rolls! I love using their product to keep from having to scrub baking pans. Find out more about this great kitchen hack here!

Our first contender was the Kingsford Baby Back Ribs. You can check out their full line of rib products here. As you can see in the picture, we used the version with Sweet & Smoky Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce. 

Above picture is pre-cooking how it looked straight out of the box with the plastic wrap removed. Bottom picture is after the cooking process.

Positives: I liked how this brand provided its own baking tray. There was also plenty of sauce before and after cooking to baste back onto the meat. Super easy clean up.

Negatives: Wish there was more meat per rib but still a decent amount. 

Contestant number 2 is from Plumrose. Check out their variety of products here. This one described it's sauce as "Smokey Barbecue." Everyone agreed that this one had the most spiciness to the sauce. This was also the only sample that required flipping the rack over during cooking.

Photo on the left is precooked and the finished product after cooking on the right.

Positives: It wasn't so spicy that I was the only one willing to eat a full piece. Even the connoisseur of the blander the better tried a full serving.

Negatives: The individual ribs were significantly smaller than the rest of the samples even though the length of the rack was relatively the same as Kingsford. Very little meat on each rib. Package was meant to be pulled apart at the corner tabs to open but barely budged when I tried. I had to cut across the top and shimmy the rack out onto the baking sheet. No sauce left in the bag to baste.

Our third and final contender was our only half rack option and was from TGI Friday's line of grocery products. I've tried their frozen mozzarella sticks but never their ribs. Check out their product line and grab some coupons here. Their sauce was Sweet Carolina Sauce. This was our 450° cooking temperature option.

Photo on the left is precooking. Photo on the right is after cooking.

Positives: Tons of meat on the individual ribs! Right balance of spice and sweet in the sauce to appeal to all taste bud levels. So much extra sauce left in the package that I couldn't use it all.

Negatives: It was only half a rack worth of ribs! We all would have loved more of them!

Okay judges, what's your verdict?

Judge #1 aka Dad: Kingsford was the best with TGI Fridays a close second. I'd eat both of those again. Did I mention how really great the mashed potatoes were too?

Judge #2 aka Mom: TGI Fridays gets my vote for top pick. 

Judge #3 aka Queen of the Heat N Eat: TGI Friday was the best overall. Right blend of sauce taste and amount plus the most meat on each rib made for a total package of yumminess. 

What should we taste test next?