April 10, 2009

Jen's Easy BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches & Favorite Mac and Cheese

We have a busy weekend planned for Easter and my son's birthday, so I need a couple easy slow cooker meals for the next couple days. My mom is visiting again, and I know she loves BBQ. I thought I would make these sandwiches with some broccoli slaw, and some homemade mac and cheese since I know she will enjoy it. I know I will enjoy it...I think I crave BBQ on a permanent basis!
These are all recipes that I have made before, so I think I will just post the sandwich recipe and link back to the other two recipe posts. Yum! Again, this is an easy and tasty meal that will use my pork shoulder leftovers.

Jen's Easy BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 pork loin (mine is about 2 lbs.) OR pork shoulder roast leftovers
1/2 bottle of your favorite beer (I used Foster's)
1/3 cup of water
Salt and pepper to taste
3-4 shakes of Worcestershire sauce
2 smashed fresh garlic cloves
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

About 1 teaspoon of the following spices:
paprika
onion powder
minced onion
garlic powder
Cajun blackening seasoning (I use Paul Prudhomme's Steak Magic)

Directions:
Place pork in slow cooker, fat side up. Sprinkle pork with spices, including salt and pepper. Add beer, water, and garlic cloves. Add Worcestershire sauce. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4 hours (depending on how fast/hot your slow cooker runs). With a large spoon, baste pork with juices every two hours (this step is optional--if you decide to do it, work quickly and get the lid back on fast). When cooking is complete, pull pork out of slow cooker. Pour slow cooker liquid into a separate bowl and set aside. Place pork back into slow cooker and shred the meat with fork or pull it apart with fingers. Pour 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid back into the meat (maybe more depending on how much meat you have and how saucy you like your pulled pork). Mix shredded meat with 1/2 to 1 full bottle of BBQ sauce (once again,the quantity will depend on how saucy you like your meat). Mix thoroughly. Cook on high for an additional 1/2 hour with lid on (if you need it thicker, leave the lid off). Serve mixture on buns and enjoy!

Here are the other two recipe links:

Beth's Broccoli Slaw

Favorite Mac and Cheese

I am really looking forward to our dinner tonight! I love homey, comforting food and this meal will certainly satisfy my BBQ craving.



The Result:
Fan-freakin'-tastic! That about sums it up!!! The photo of the mac and cheese looks a little wonky. My crumb crust kinda slid and got all mixed in with the rest of the macaroni. It tasted awesome, but did not photograph all that well. Sigh. So much for presentation. Luckily, everyone loved our meal and didn't notice that the crumb crust wasn't perfect. Overall, this was a yummy, yummy dinner!!!

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