Spicy Pulled Pork

This is the face of the man I love eating PW's Spicy Pulled Pork.  What you don't see is that he was finishing his second sandwich.  What you don't see is that for lunch today, we finished up the rest of the pulled pork.  What you don't see is that he had two more sandwiches, and finished up the leftovers in the container.  THAT'S how good this pulled pork is.  And it's so easy.  PW's recipe calls for a 5-7 pound pork shoulder, but the roast I used was almost 2 pounds.  You'd be feeding the neighborhood with 7 pounds...maybe you want to do that.  I'm not really neighborly.

Here we go:

Pork shoulder (anywhere from 2-7 pounds...)
1 onion, cut into quarters
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 c brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tsp dried oregano (I used 2 tsp accidentally...can't imagine you'd notice...more is more!)
2 tsp ground cumin
1-2 Tbsp salt, to taste (I did 2 Tbsp and I thought maybe next time 1 would be good)
Ground black pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp vinegar

In a blender or food processor, combine the onion, all the spices, olive oil, and vinegar until completely blended.  It will look like a sauce.  It is fantastic.
In a roasting pan or Dutch Oven, pour the sauce over the pork and turn it to coat.  Cover and roast 6-7 hours (my small roast took 3-4 hours) and shred.

We sauced our own sandwiches with BBQ sauce, but you could use this on pizza, nachos, soft tacos...or just eat it straight out the container.

Broccoli slaw (with homemade dressing...don't buy expensive coleslaw dressing!  DIY!) and 8 napkins, and you have yourself dinner.

Slow Cooker Beer Braised Pork Roast

My lack of posts doesn't mean that I've subjected Andrew to nights of takeout or just left him to fend for himself.  I've just been too busy to make up quippy blogs about our dinners.  But we've had some good ones, and I'm lazy, so I'll catch them for the blog the next time I make them.
What have I been so busy doing?  Well, those wedding photos weren't going to post themselves (I'm sure there's someone still trying to make it through the 500+ pictures I posted on Facebook.  But there are twice that on my Shutterfly share site.  You're welcome that I didn't invite you to view those.)  But really, the bulk of my blog posting dry spell was spent trying to change my last name.  And get a passport.  The federal building is a scary place, my friends.  I shall not want to go there again.
So back to tonight's dinner.  I pulled a pork roast out of the freezer this morning without quite knowing what I was going to do with it.  I consulted the internets and found a simple recipe for slow cooker pork.

1 pork roast (I think they recommended a 5 lb; I think mine was 2?  I didn't check...I was busy trying to peel that weird white jobby off the bottom of the frozen pork)
1 bottle beer (the original recipe said light beer.  Did they mean light colored beer or "less filling, tastes great" light beer?  I screwed them and used a stout beer.  Then I filled that same bottle with water and used that, too)
3 onions, roughly chopped
Some shakes of:
Salt
Pepper
Basil
Marjoram
(I'm never one to measure spices unless it really counts, like in baking...and even then...)

So, put all that stuff in a crockpot and cook it.  Mine went 6-7 hours on high, then I dropped it down to warm, cause it was done, but Andrew and his Biblical sidekick were still installing Shannon's furnace.

While I waited for the Mister to come home, I made homemade gravy.  Please, please, please, don't ever buy jarred gravy or gravy powder or any of that junk.  Gravy is so stupid easy to make.  It goes as follows:

1/4 c. fat drippings from the meat you've cooked (or the equivalent in butter (4 Tbsp), which is what I used today)
1/4 c. flour
2 c. liquid from the meat you've cooked (I did 1 c. of meat liquid and 1 c. water)

Melt your butter over medium heat in a saucepan.  Add the flour and stir (I used a whisk), cooking it for a minute or two.  Slowly add the liquid to the flour mixture and cook, stirring, until the gravy is thick and bubbling, then cook for 1 additional minute after that.  Salt and pepper as desired.
That's it.
After dinner, Andrew asked if we could have mashed potatoes again tomorrow night so he could have more of that gravy.
I saw him dip some of the pork right into the gravy boat (and by gravy boat, I mean Pyrex measuring cup.)
That boy liked him some gravy.
Should have brought him a cup of gravy on our first date instead of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies.  Would have taken less time.  And maybe we wouldn't have had a commercial break.
Anyhow, let's see the dinner picture:

I think Andrew was drinking from the gravy boat while I was taking this picture...

It was super delicious, and the leftovers have me dreaming of some sort of tourtiere (that may be fake French for pork pie), which I've never made, but would definitely try (minus the leftover broccoli.)

Try this and MAKE HOMEMADE GRAVY!

Apple Stuffed Pork Roast

I love Pinterest.  If I could make money by Pinning all day, I absolutely would.  If I'm home and on the computer, Andrew will ask me if I'm on Pinterest (just like when he's home and on the computer, I ask him if he's on eBay.  Really, eBay is Pinterest for boys.) 

All of my new recipes this week have been Pinterest-inspired.  This one was no different.  Andrew is off doing Club business at the Stetson camp, so I had my folks over to enjoy Apple Stuffed Pork Roast .  It was easy and delicious.  And it could also be done in a crockpot, as was done in the original recipe here (I don't participate in Crossfit, and the only thing I know about Paleo is that I think he was Galileo's cousin??)  Here's what I did:

Apple Stuffed Pork Roast
2 lb pork roast
2 onions, cut into quarters
2 apples, cut into slices
5 medium carrots, washed and cut in half
Honey
Salt & Pepper
Rosemary

Preheat oven to 375.  I have one of those fancy Pampered Chef covered bakers.  You could use a Dutch oven.  You could use a 9x13 baking dish.  Whatever you're gonna cook this bad boy in, layer the bottom with the onion and carrots.  If you want more veggies or apple slices, throw them in now. 
Then, lay the pork roast on top of those.  Make slits (I did three) into the pork roast to put apple slices in (that original recipe site gives good pictures if you have questions.)  Put apple slices into the slits and around the pork.  Salt and pepper the top of the pork.  Drizzle the whole thing with honey.  Sprinkle rosemary on top. 
Bake until meat thermometer registers 165 (mine took 1h15mins.)  Take out of oven and let it rest 10 mins or so to let the juices redistribute (or just to let it cool down.  That's why I let it rest.)

This was before two Fords and a newly-minted Stearns attacked.

We had mashed potatoes and my homemade applesauce.  It was fantastic.  We had good family talk about how I thought my grandmother invented recipes that she certainly did not, and how my dad's father had to eat peanut butter and mustard sandwiches.  It's all about food in my family.  Wait until it gets to be Thanksgiving...you'll be virtually full thanks to me!

Herb Crosses Over to Pork

I think one of those Brady kids said something about pork chops and applesauce tasting good (and maybe he was even imitating someone?) and I'd have to agree.  I used the same herb rub from Saturday night's chicken supper to make tonight's pork roast (I got a get-out-of-cooking-free pass via an invitation to the in-law's house on Sunday night for chicken chili.)

Cast-Iron Herb Roast Pork
1 pork roast (mine was 1 3/4 pound)
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried basil, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground sage
1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preheat your oven to 375.  If you think ahead (as I did not), you could put your cast-iron skillet into the oven to preheat as well.  It didn't make a difference, so feel free to not think ahead as well.
Mix minced garlic and all your spices in a small bowl.  Drizzle olive oil over one side of your pork roast and rub to coat.  Rub half of the garlic-spice mix on that side and flip.  Repeat with other side.
Insert meat thermometer.  Set to desired temperature (I'm not fancy enough to eat my pork medium well.  I like it well done, and that, my friends, is 170 F.) and put meat into cast-iron skillet.  Cook until done, flipping once about halfway through so both sides get brown and delicious.

We ate the leftover garlic mashed potatoes from Saturday supper, carrots (nothing fancy...just from a can...I was looking for easy tonight as Andrew was working a side job and I wanted this meal to come together by the time he was up over the stairs), and hot homemade applesauce.

The herbs were fantastic on the pork.  The applesauce goes without saying.  We have pork leftover, which is good, cause Andrew may be on his own for supper tomorrow.