Bring the BBQ Flavor Indoors: Cajun Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork

Cajun Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork

I ate popcorn for dinner tonight. The weather has been hot and sticky, making me not in the mood for most food. I did make a chicken recipe for my husband and youngest son, but nothing heavy for me. Every summer it's the same. It takes a couple of weeks after the weather gets warm for my body to adjust to eating normally. Even after I adjust I still eat far less than during the cooler months. I do eat a lot of salad and ice cream, not the greatest food options, but cool and refreshing none the less. The males in my family never seem to be affected by the weather, they eat a ton year round. BBQ is one of their favorite foods, they literally love it in the dead of winter through the summer heat. This week I tried a new recipe for Cajun Slow Cooker Pulled Pork from the June 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time (plus 8 hours in the slow cooker), 20 minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, I made my hamburger buns from scratch. I gave up buying hamburger buns a few years back, it is so much cheaper to make them at home. Whenever I make meat in the slow cooker I always brown my meat first. Sear it quickly in a pan on the stove, browning it on all sides in a little bit of olive oil. This step allows the meat to seal in its juices and keep it moist during cooking. Make sure to add the meat fat side up, this will also allow the meat to not become tough.

My husband really enjoyed this recipe. He is a big fan of andouille sausage and this recipe does a great job of combining the sausage with the pork shoulder. The flavors blend well together and it is a nice change of pace from traditional BBQ recipes. Best of all it is all done indoors and the clean up work is very simple.

For the recipe go to Cajun Slow Cooker Pulled Pork.

Sweet Chili Rolls with Homemade Hamburger Buns

Sweet Chili Rolls with Homemade Hamburger Buns

I am finally feeling back to normal after having strep throat. Luckily I got antibiotics this weekend and after being sick for almost two weeks, I am feeling somewhat back to normal. I don't think that winter and me get along, I never seem to get a little sick, I get very sick. Last winter it was pneumonia and this winter it was strep. I promise that my posting schedule will be back to normal this week, things have been a little crazy while I was sick. When I get sick I rely heavily on my crock-pot to cook, I love it. There is nothing easier than taking out the ingredients in the morning, putting them in the slow cooker and by dinner it smells and tastes delicious. Last week I tried a new recipe for Sweet Chili Rolls from the October 2012 issue of Family Circle magazine.

Sweet Chili Rolls with Homemade Gluten Free Hamburger Buns

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 8 hours 15 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 8 serving. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First instead of using store bought buns I made my own. For my family I made regular hamburger buns and for me a gluten free version. For the ketchup I used the kind that uses real sugar. I try to limit the amount of high fructose corn syrup that my family consumes and a lot of brands of ketchup are full of it. I am a big proponent of label reading. Instead of canned pinto beans I made them from scratch. It is much cheaper to buy beans dried and prepare them. I make big batches at a time and then freeze them in small containers that are equal to the amount in 15 ounce cans. Finally, since it isn't Vidalia season I used a regular sweet onion.

My two boys really loved these sandwiches. They left off the cheddar cheese for their servings and my husband used pepper jack on his. The recipe claims that it makes 8 servings, but it made more than enough for my family of 4 with a large number of leftovers. The sandwiches are a little sweet, which could be adjusted by adding a spicier chili powder.

For the recipe go to Sweet Chili Rolls. (registration required)

Quick and Easy Peach Mustard Glazed Pork Tenderloin

If you've read my blog for any amount of time you know that my family has a slight pork obsession. While this might seem funny it is also sadly true. My husband and two boys would be the world's worst vegetarians. I have tried adding more meatless meals in and I am successful about twice a week. However any more than that and I am met with whining and complaints about where the meat is. I don't know how I ever came into this family. Starting when I was 15 until I was 23 I was a vegetarian. It started when in high school I decided that I no longer wanted to eat meat for many reasons, most of which had to do with living in Seattle at a time when everyone was giving up meat (I really do mean everyone, it was definitely a fad). My health struggled since I was not a good vegetarian. There are great and healthy ways to be vegetarian and vegan, I did not follow these plans. I ate a ton of cheese, some tofu and lots of nuts. By my early twenties I was anemic and heavier than I was comfortable with. So I slowly added meat back in. Then I moved, met my husband and got married. I didn't realize how important meat was to my husband until we were married. Then I had my two boys and it has gotten even worse. Luckily I like meat also, just not to the level that they do.  Pork is a family favorite and I make it frequently, normally once a week. Last week I made a new recipe for Peach Mustard Glazed Pork Tenderloin from the December 2012 issue of Southern Living magazine.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes a total time of 1 hour, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I did make a few modifications to the recipe. First I left out the bourbon. It isn't something
that I stock at home and I didn't want to buy just enough for the recipe. As most of you know I make my own chicken broth and this recipe was no exception. Do not overcook your pork. The one thing that a lot of people do is wait until their pork is overdone before pulling it out of the oven. Pull it out of the oven when it hits 145 and let it rest for 10 minutes. This resting period keeps the juices in so your tenderloin won't dry out. The recipe states to leave the roast in until 150, which is too long. The FDA now has 145 as the minimum temp for pork and the pork cooks at least 5 additional degrees while resting. If you were to take it out at 150, it would be 155 when it was eaten, which is overdone. Also, don't be alarmed if your pork is still slightly pink in the middle, this is normal. As long as your meat thermometer reads at least 145 it is fine to eat. If you don't have a meat thermometer, buy one, it is one of the most important kitchen tools a home cook can have.

The sauce on this pork was delicious. It was a nice combination of sweet from the peach preserves and savory from the mustard.  I also liked that it made enough sauce for everyone in my family. If you don't want to make 2 tenderloins this would work fine with 1. You would just end up with more sauce at the end. If you want a little more heat to the sauce you can add additional crushed red pepper, a 1/4 tsp isn't that much so it doesn't have a lot of kick.

For the recipe go to Peach Mustard Glazed Pork Tenderloin.

Spicy Maple Baked Beans

Today was my annual after Christmas cleaning day. After the gifts are all unwrapped comes the fun part, finding room for everything. So I spent the day cleaning, organizing and moving new toys etc. into their proper places. Luckily I had already spent the Sunday before Christmas taking an entire carload of items to donate, so I had made lots of room for new toys. I have always been adamant with my kids that in order for them to receive new gifts they have to donate some of the toys that they don't play with anymore. That way my house stays organized and they understand that donating toys to those in need is a good thing. The one task that I don't enjoy is all the laundry and dishes from guests and cooking. I don't have a dishwasher so everything has to be washed by hand. On a normal day it isn't a big deal, but on the holidays it can be a little overwhelming. Luckily I am on the last load of laundry and then I plan on allowing myself to relax and read a book this evening. I have definitely earned it. Last week I made a number of dishes to freeze for meals this week so I could cut down on my after Christmas cooking. One of the new recipes that I tried was for Spicy Maple Baked Beans from the January issue of Food and Wine magazine.

This recipe has 19 ingredients. According to the recipe is takes 3 hours and 30 minutes, 45 minutes of which is active and makes 8 to 10 servings. First things first I do not understand how this recipe states that it takes 3 and a half hours. If you follow the directions it should take no more than approximately an hour and 45 minutes. Maybe they are taking an additional almost two hours to slice the hot dogs, or I am completely missing something. I did have to make a few modifications. I have never been able to find canned navy beans in my area. So instead I used plain white beans, which while slightly different worked just fine. Since I eat gluten free I made sure that the Worcestershire sauce that I bought didn't include wheat. Additionally I used gluten free beer, since regular beer has gluten.  I used a dutch oven to cook the beans which worked very well, especially keeping the lid half open. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These beans were very popular in my household. My husband thought that they were the best baked beans that he had eaten in a long time and ate multiple bowls. Since the dish had hot dogs, my two boys were quite excited and ate a number of leftovers the next day. The best part was that since it made 10 servings I had enough for a meal last week plus leftovers for an entire other meal after Christmas.

For the recipe go to Spicy Maple Baked Beans.

Triple Bean Bake with Bacon

My mother cooked a lot of great meals growing-up. We never had a lot of money, but she was always able to make something delicious. The one food that she never really made was beans. She would occasionally use beans in chili or soup, but it wasn't a huge stable in our diet. I think a lot of it had to do with my dad being a huge meat eater and the local church by our house giving out meat every week to families. It was also the 80's when everyone ate more meat than they do now. Even when I moved out on my own and was a vegetarian I ate a lot of tofu and nuts, but beans were always an after thought. None of my friends seemed to eat a lot of beans either, so maybe Seattle in the 90's had a bean aversion. When I moved to West Virginia, beans were everywhere. Restaurants, grocery stores you name it beans were there. It took me a long time to adjust to eating beans on a regular basis, but eventually they became a stable in my diet. My two kids have always eaten beans and absolutely love them. They become very excited when I make a recipe with their favorite type of bean. Last week I tried a new recipe from the June/July issue of Taste of Home magazine for Triple Bean Bake with Bacon, which looked sweet and full of one of my family's favorite foods, bacon.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of baking, 15 minutes of prep and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. My husband is very particular about the type of bacon that we buy and insists on thick-cut. I do admit that thick-cut bacon is delicious and works very well in recipes. I prefer to keep my bacon whole when frying and then cut it into pieces when finished. The texture is better and the bacon is crispier when fried in this manner. I let my beans bake for an additional 15 minutes after the suggested baking time in the recipe. This additional time allowed the beans to fully thicken. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These beans turned out very sweet with a bit of a kick from the horseradish. My two boys really loved these beans and ate their whole servings. The level of sweetness could be adjusted based on the strength of the horseradish that you use. Milder horseradish will make for sweeter beans. I do suggest the additional baking time in order for the beans to thicken completely. This dish would be a great side dish for roasted or fried chicken.

For the recipe go to Triple Bean Bake with Bacon. (registration required)

Lentil-Chickpea Chili

Have you ever had one of those weeks? The kind where everything seems just a little bit off. I am definitely having one of those weeks this week. My oldest got out of school for the summer on Tuesday, it was 95 degrees today and I feel blah. It doesn't help that I spent the evening watching Great Expectations on Masterpiece Theater, I love Dickens, but not great for my mood. So where does that leave me, making crockpot dinners for the week. I have had very little motivations to cook anything complex or taking hours to prepare. Luckily there have been great slow-cooker recipes in a number of magazines in the last couple of months. I love using the slow-cooker when the weather is too hot to cook or I just don't feel like dealing with dinner at all. Thankfully the February issue of Family Circle magazine had a recipe for Lentil-Chickpea Chili, which with 15 minutes of prep looked perfect for the less than perfect week I have been having.

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 8 hours on low in the crockpot and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients at the my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. I was particularly happy that I found out that one of the stores in my area now has shallots by the pound. A huge difference in price, before I could only find the pre-packaged shallots which are $1.99 for 3 ounces. Now I can buy them for $3.99 a pound, talk about a huge price difference! I completely forgot to make flatbread, so instead I served the chili with homemade whole-wheat bread, which worked just as well. After adding the chickpeas (I left out the cilantro) I allowed the chili to cook for an additional 15 minutes. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With 22 grams of protein and completely vegetarian this dish is a nice change of pace for my family. I have been trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals and this recipe was easy to prep. This makes a large amount of chili! It states that it makes 8 servings, but honestly it looks like I still have 10 more servings in my freezer. I really liked the flavor of this soup, it was flavorful without having to add meat. My husband wasn't a fan of the chickpeas, but that is normal for him. He prefers chickpeas to be mashed or completely cooked until almost mushy. I was surprised that my boys ate their whole servings and asked for more. Overall this was a very easy slow-cooker recipe that was well received by everyone in my family.

For the recipe go to Lentil-Chickpea Chili.

Country-Style Barbecue Ribs

I can't believe how quickly this year is going, it's already Memorial Day weekend! My oldest had this last day of kindergarten this week. Apparently he decided to take part in the talent show at school at the last minute and now is mad at me for not being there. Oh well, mommy fail for the week apparently. Memorial Day means one thing to me, the beginning of the barbecue season. I absolutely love to barbecue. Growing up my dad was always in charge of the grill. Now granted we had a charcoal grill (my husband and my father have that in common neither one will touch a gas grill) and for whatever reason my dad tried to almost burn himself while trying to start the fire every year. One would think that he would eventually not do that, but alas he had the same problem with camp fires every year as well. The beginning of summer is one of my favorite times of the year. There is something very nostalgic about having a barbecue with ribs, chicken, great potato salad and of course a spectacular dessert. Unfortunately my husband and I never seem to actually have the time to grill any more so instead I have found a great alternative for making ribs, my slow-cooker. The June issue of Family Circle magazine had a recipe for Country-Style Barbecue Ribs, which with 15 minutes of prep looked perfect for a busy summer dinner.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 9 hours in the crockpot and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store, most of them I already had on hand. This recipe is very straightforward the only changes I made were to use light brown sugar since that is what I already had in my pantry and to use slightly more than the 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke. After tasting it I thought it would benefit from a slight increase. As I always do I chose to cook this dish on low, I prefer cooking on low in my crockpot. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I felt that this recipe didn't make enough sauce once it was done. There were only a few tablespoons of sauce left to brush the ribs with. If you are like my family and love sauce you should definitely double the sauce amounts. The sauce was mild and would appeal to people that like simple bbq sauces like Kraft. If you are like my husband and like more bite to your sauce than you should look for another recipe. My two boys loved this recipe, it was very child friendly. The pork was very tender and falling off the bone, which is perfect. Overall, a very easy slow-cooker recipe that has 38 grams of protein per serving.

For the recipe go to Country-Style Barbecue Ribs.

Eating Well Warm-Potato Salad with Bacon-Mustard Dressing

Potatoes are one of my favorite foods. Growing up every Sunday my dad would get up early and start fried potatoes. Those fried potatoes to this day are one of the most delicious dishes I have ever had. I have tried to duplicate them in my own house and they never seem to be as good as the ones my dad made. My dad and husband have told me that I'm too impatient with the potatoes and flip them too often and too soon. They are probably right, they are both way more patient than me. Instead of obsessing over perfecting fried potatoes I have fallen in love with trying new types of potato salad. Not the store bought overly mayonnaise based varieties, but real homemade potato salad. Eating Well Magazine recently had a recipe for Warm Potato Salad with Bacon Mustard Dressing, which looked easy and low in fat and calories.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time and makes 10 servings. All the ingredients are basic and I had no problems finding any of them at my local grocery store. The fingerling potatoes cooked quicker than the recipe suggests so make sure to turn them frequently in order to prevent burning. I let my potato salad cool slightly before serving, my husband wasn't a fan of the salad being hot when served. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The dressing on this potato salad is delicious. It is the perfect combination of sweet and savory and makes a great compliment to the potatoes and apples. The best part of this salad is that it only contains 129 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving. Even my two boys enjoyed this salad, including my currently very food picky three-year-old. There are more than enough servings to take to a party or potluck or for multiple family meals.

For the recipe go to Warm Potato Salad with Bacon-Mustard Dressing.

Taste of Home Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad

My family isn't a salad family. For whatever reason I rarely remember to buy or make salad. Growing up my mom made salad with almost every dinner and I always ran to the salad bar at restaurants. Somewhere between moving out of the house and having kids I stopped eating salads. I will still occasionally order a cobb salad at restaurants, but for the most part my love of salad has diminished. The main culprit seems to be the lack of taste of most homemade salads. I find salads to be either overly sweet or just ho-hum. Recently, the October issue of Taste of Home magazine had a recipe for Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad, which looked delicious and different from ordinary salad recipes.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of prep and makes 9 servings. I had to make a few modifications to the ingredients due to their lack of availability at my local grocery store. I was unable to find bibb or Boston lettuce, so I substituted baby greens. I had no problems finding any of the remaining ingredients. For the vinegar I used white whine vinegar and golden delicious for the apples. I toasted the mustard seeds on a pan on the stove, watch out they burn easily. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The taste of this recipe was delicious. My husband really loved this salad, he even ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. I served the salad alongside a chicken dish and the combination worked well. The salad would also work well with beef. The combination of apples and blue cheese was perfect and very popular with everyone in my household. The one change I would make to the recipe is to cut down on the amount of olive oil, maybe to 1/3 cup instead of a 1/2. Overall, a great salad recipe, that even this normally non-salad eating blogger enjoyed.

For the recipe go to Apple, Blue Cheese, and Bibb Salad.

Everyday Food Cheese Crackers

I have a slight obsession with cheese. Growing up I wouldn't go for chocolate, or candy, but instead I was fascinated by the fancy cheese section of our local grocery store. I loved going out to restaurants to try new types of cheeses and recipes, and would spend hours in the local Italian grocery store which had a huge fresh cheese section. I wasn't surprised when my youngest son started taking blocks of Parmesan out of the fridge and eating it like an apple. He doesn't seem to understand that blocked cheese isn't a snack that most children would request before candy. As I was looking through the November issue of Everyday Food magazine I came across a recipe for Cheese Crackers, which looked perfect for my cheese loving family.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 4 and a half hours of prep, chilling, and baking time and makes 24 crackers. All the ingredients are very simple and I either already had in my pantry or they were easy to find at my local grocery store. Make sure to watch the crackers, they burn easy, I took mine out at exactly 15 minutes of baking time. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These are best eaten the day they are made. After sitting for a day they become far less crisp. My two boys really like these crackers and ate the majority of the recipe by themselves. The best part of this recipe is that it could easily be modified to include other types of cheeses, bacon, or fresh herbs. I think when I try it again I will add cooked chopped bacon, a crowd pleaser with the men in my family.

This recipe is currently unavailable online. However, it can be found in the November issue of Everyday Food magazine. I did find some other cracker recipes on the Martha Stewart website, which are Peppery Cheese Crackers and Mushroom and Blue Cheese Crackers. They look just as delicious and I plan to try them in the future. Tell me if you have/or do try them!