Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sliders

We tend to throw at least one football party per year.  This time, it was for the Big Game – the Super Bowl!  I made tons of food including some of the same recipes from last year’s party.  But one of my new items was my Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sliders.  I topped them with cole slaw and they were equal to or better than any pulled pork you’ve had at any restaurant.  Promise!

I made up this recipe but I did use some pre-made items from Mr. Stubbs who, I think, makes the best BBQ items available commercially.   The BBQ seasoning has a great kick to it and natural smoke flavor.  The BBQ sauce is more tangy than sweet – just how I like it.  Oh, and best of all, it doesn’t have any high fructose corn syrup.  Obviously, you should get whatever BBQ sauce suits your taste.  If you like sweeter sauces, you may want to try something different.  This BBQ sauce is on the thinner side so it doesn’t overpower the pork or drown out the wonderful dry rub ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Stubbs BBQ seasoning

1 tbsp dry mustard

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper
cooking spray

2-2lb pork shoulders

whole yellow onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

¼ c apple cider vinegar

cole slaw (see recipe)

1 bottle of Stubbs BBQ sauce

slider buns

Combine the BBQ seasoning, dry mustard, brown sugar, salt, and pepper to create a dry rub.  Generously rub spice mixture all over pork shoulders and inside all creases. Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray.  Sear pork shoulders on all sides.

Place onions and garlic in the bowl of a slow cooker.  Place seared pork shoulders on top of onions.  Pour apple cider vinegar over top of pork shoulders.  Set slow cooker to low heat and cook for 8 hours.

While pork is cooking, make cole slaw using this recipe.

Once pork is done, remove shoulders from bowl and shred meat using two forks.  Pour cooking liquid into a sieve to separate out solids.  Add solids back to shredded meat.  Add a little cooking liquid and BBQ sauce to shredded pork.  Stir to combine.  Place pulled pork on a slider bun and top with cole slaw. 

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Onions

As you know by now, we love Cooking Light magazine.  Many of our recipes are modified versions of their great dishes.  The best thing about this magazine is that they don’t provide only healthy recipes, but they take dishes that are typically full of fat, carbs, salt, etc. and make them healthier. 

Many of our Facebook fans have requested fall recipes and we intend to meet those requests!  This dish is full of fall flavors with pork, apples, and thyme.  My house was full of fall aromas and it just made me think of the holiday season.  Apples and onions go really well together because they both get sweeter as they cook.  When you eat this, I encourage you to include pork, apple, and onion in every bite :)

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Onions

Ingredients:

2 ½ tsp canola oil, divided

1 ½ c pearl onions

2c Gala apple wedges

1 tbsp butter or margarine, divided

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

¾ tsp kosher salt, divided

¾ tsp ground black pepper, divided

4 bone-in center-cut pork loin chops

½ c low-sodium chicken broth

½ tsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp cider vinegar

Slightly modified from Cooking Light

Preheat oven to 400F.

Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.  Add 1 tsp oil to pan; swirl to coat.  Add onions to pan; cook 1 min or until lightly browned, stirring once.  Add apple to pan; cook 2 mins or until lightly browned.  Place pan in oven and bake at 400F for 10 mins or until onions and apples are tender.  Stir in 2 tsp butter or margarine, thyme, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle pork with remaining ½ tsp salt and pepper.  Add remaining oil to pan; swirl to coat.  Add pork to pan; cook 3 mins on each side or until desired degree of doneness.  Remove pork from pan; keep warm. 

Combine broth and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add broth mixture to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Cook 1 min or until reduced to ¼ c.  Stir in vinegar and remaining 1 tsp butter.  Serve sauce over pork and apple mixture.

I served this with asparagus spears and mashed potatoes.  Yum!

Thai Basil Meatballs and Mango Coconut Rice

I have really good friends. Like amazing friends! I got this recipe from my dear Jenny. We grew up together. We've been friends since we were but a glimmer in our parent's eyes. We've been through wonderful times, hard times, the best of times and some truly un-fun times. She is in my heart all the time. I only hope that I can help my tiny tot find and keep friends like this. Jenny's latest gift of friendship... meatballs. 

These meatballs are tangy, a little bit spicy (and I upped the spicy because we are into spicy and spicier) and totally flavor-filled. Coconut rice is not sweet, but the mango adds some juicy sweetness that the green onion balances out. I made up a quick cucumber salad and made a whole meal. 

Thai Basil Meatballs - recipe compliments of my dearest Jenny
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1 pound of ground meat (I used 1/2 pound of ground pork and 1/2 pound ground beef)
4 cloves of garlic - minced
1 egg
1/2 roasted red pepper, chopped (I used jarred roasted red peppers)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha hot sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 lime zested, and half juiced
3 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Add minced garlic, egg, red pepper, soy sauce, fish sauce (fish sauce does not taste fishy! It's not gross either!) Sriracha, basil, lime zest and juice to a large bowl. Mix well. Whisk in flour. 

Add ground meat and using your hands, mix everything together until well combined.

Form into smallish meatballs (I got 20 meatballs out of one pound of meat.; each meatball was about 1 1/2 tablespoons) and place on a parchment lined, rimmed baking pan.

Bake 30 minutes or until internal temp reaches at least 145 for pork/beef mixture or 160 if you use ground chicken or turkey.

The original recipe called for 2 pounds of meat, but I cut it in half since it was just the two of us. 1 pound of meat fed two really good eaters a nice dinner and made a great lunch for me the next day.  

Coconut Mango Rice - recipe from Budget Bytes
1 1/2 cups dry jasmine rice
1 3/4 cups light coconut milk (1 15oz can)
1 cup of water
1 large clove minced garlic
dash of salt
1/2 cup chopped mango (I used frozen chunks that I diced)
1/2 cup chopped fresh green onion


Rinse rice well. Add rice, coconut milk, water, garlic and salt to a sauce pan with a cover. Bring to a full boil and then reduce to the lowest flame your stove has and cover. Let rice simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn the flame off and let the rice rest for 10 minutes. Stir in mango and onion while you fluff the rice.

**Update - I've been skipping the garlic and salt in this rice, and I like it better without those two ingredients. 

This was a totally new dinner to us and it's going in the rotation! It was delicious. I am going to try ground turkey next - and I'm going to experiment with coconut oil versus coconut milk to make the rice. I had a taster bite at Trader Joes using coconut oil and it was great. I like the calorie savings with the light coconut milk so I'll do some calorie math before I change it up. I hope you all like this one as much as we did!

Carnitas-ish Tacos, Cilantro-Lime Coleslaw and Grapefruit Pound Cake

Summer takes a while to get to the Pacific Northwest. I mean it really takes it's sweet time. We wait in the rain and we dream about all of the things we will do once the weather warms up and every layer we own (which is a LOT of layers) dries out. Sometime around the beginning of April I freak out. So I start to cook as if it's summer. It helps. Sometimes. Here is my "tribute to summer" meal... I hope you like it!

Carnitas-ish Slow Cooked Pork
3lbs pork shoulder (picnic roast)
2 small onions chopped (about 1 cup)
2 oranges - juiced (about 1/2 cup)
2 limes - juiced (about 1/4 cup
4 cloves of garlic chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
1 12oz beer
olive oil
salt
pepper

Chop the onions and garlic; juice the limes and oranges; crack open the beer (maybe another for yourself - this is a tribute to summer after all!)

Sprinkle the meat liberally with salt and pepper. Heat up a large pan and add oil to the hot pan. Brown the meat on all sides and transfer to a crock pot. Add the beer to the hot pan and scrape up all the brown bits. Poor the beer into the crock pot. (You can braise this meat in the pot you browned it in, but I don't like to leave the house with the oven on so the crock pot works well for me.)

Add the citrus juice, garlic and onions to the crock pot. Cook on low until the meat is very tender and falls apart. About 6 hours. 

This pork goes SO well with some nice, cool coleslaw, but not any coleslaw - coleslaw with cilantro and a light, lime based dressing!

Cilantro and Lime Cole Slaw

1/2 a head of red cabbage shredded (about 2 cups)

1/2 a head of green cabbage (about 2 cups)

4 large carrots - shredded (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (more or less to your taste)

1/3 cup mayonaise

2 limes - juiced

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon spice blend (I use Trader Joe's Pasta Blend - 'cause I like it. It has cumin and anise in it. It's delicious.)

pinch of salt

pepper 

Shred the cabbage, carrots and chop cilantro. Whisk together mayo, lime juice, sugar, spice, salt and pepper. Toss veggies and dressing about 30 minutes before serving. This makes a lot of slaw - we ate this for 2 dinners and I took some to work for lunch.

This meal demanded dessert. When my husband tasted this grapefruit pound cake, his response was "This is one for the books!" Success!! This cake only got better a day later and was even better yet 2 days later. The glaze soaks in and bottom is super moist and the sugar on the top is almost crunchy. 

It. Is. Awesome.

Grapefruit Pound Cake - adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 2/3 cups sugar

6 tablespoons butter - softened

6 ounces cream cheese

2 eggs

1/4 cup canola oil

grapefruit rind - grated (from 2 grapefruits - a like a lot of zest)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

Glaze

1/2 cup grapefruit juice (from 2 grapefruits)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Butter and flour a bundt pan or tube pan. Combine flour, baking powder, salt. Beat sugar, butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add eggs, then add oil, rind and vanilla. 

Add flour mixture and milk alternately to batter, beginning and ending with flour. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool and invert onto a cake stand, plate or wire rack.

Glaze

Boil juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce to 3 tablespoons. (This is from the original recipe - I might still be cooking all this juice if I wanted it to reduce to 3 tablespoons!! Anyway - reduce - a bit.)

Cool slightly and add powdered sugar and pinch of salt. Drizzle over cake. I really suggest drizzling this over the cake only once it's on a plate. The extra juice soaks in and this cake stays nice and moist.