Cooking Pork Spare-Ribs?

I bought a 3 lb pkg of spare-ribs yesterday and would like to make them for dinner tonight. ( That's 8 hours until he gets home from work) He of course laughed and said you can't make BBQ ribs, we don't own a smoker.... lol Anyway... Even though I can't make authentic BBQ ribs out of them, I still want to know how to cook them to where they will come out really tender. If I should par boil them and then finish in the oven or crock pot? If I should just use the crock pot? Or if I should use oven & crock pot.... I'm only using my own seasonings on this and some store bought BBQ sauce and so I don't want any recipe's, JUST the KNOW HOW for making them tender! Thanks for all your answers!