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.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken

Today was organization day for my cupboards. I try to keep my kitchen as clean as I can and bleach multiples times a day. However, my pantry cupboards go through phases. I will be great about keeping them clean during the summer in order that I have room for fruits and veggies that I have canned. By winter they have turned into chaos. One of the reasons always seems to be that when I come home from the grocery store I am so tired of dealing with lines, coupons you name it that I just don't have the effort to organize everything before putting it away. So everything gets stuffed into the cupboard and I have to search to find what I need when I'm cooking. Today I spent three hours cleaning and organizing everything in my pantry. I discovered that I had a number of ingredients that I had forgotten that I purchased which will be great to go into next weeks menu plan. This week I have been making a number of dishes using items from the freezer which I cleaned out last week. Earlier in the week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken from the October 2012 issue of Family Circle magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 5 minutes of prep, 6 hours of cooking on high and makes 12 servings. Since I eat gluten free I did make a number of changes. First instead of serving the pulled chicken in buns as a sandwich I served it over brown rice. I have tried a number of gluten free bun brands and they have failed to impress me, I would rather just eat my meals over rice or quinoa. Instead of using brown sugar I used local grown honey. For sweetening I prefer using honey since it is natural and using local honey is supposed to help with allergies (whether it actually does I don't know, but it is worth a shot). Instead of using boneless skinless thighs, I used bone-in thighs which I took the skin off of and removed the bones before pulling the chicken. I prefer keeping the bone in thighs since it gives the finished meat a better flavor. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two kids ate their servings on hamburger buns and loved it. I liked that it worked well over brown rice, which turned out to be a nice gluten free option. My husband thought that the meat became a little dry after sitting in the fridge, so it is best enjoyed the same night or make sure to add additional liquid when re-heating. The dryness could also be avoided by using all thighs instead of breasts and thighs since breast meat is much lower in fat and doesn't have as much moisture.

For the recipe go to BBQ Pulled Chicken. (registration required)

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.

Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili

This has been a long day. My youngest woke-up at 4 am this morning with a cough and insisted on mommy getting up so he could play in the living room. Of course an hour later he was sound asleep while I was drinking coffee since I knew there would be no way that I could go back to bed. These are the type of days that I absolutely love my slowcooker. There is nothing better than throwing together a recipe in the morning in a few quick steps and having a great meal ready in the evening. When I first started learning to cook in my crockpot I was the queen of mistakes. I filled it too full, I never seared the meat, and I either added too much or too little liquid. Now that my husband and I have been married for almost ten years I have learned that my crockpot can be a great time saver. It can also make horrible cuts of meat into delicious meals. The trick with the slowcooker is to find a great recipe and cook it for a long time at a low heat. Last week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili from the September issue of Family Circle magazine, which promised 15 minutes of prep and 33 grams of protein per serving.

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 10 1/2 hours of slowcooking and makes 8 servings. Instead of using a beef brisket, which can be very expensive I substituted a chuck roast. The chuck roast was half the price of the beef brisket. I no longer serve white rice, so I chose to serve this recipe over brown rice. I forgot to actually buy limes, so I did not serve the finished recipe with lime wedges. The recipe doesn't state to sear the chuck roast before adding it to the crockpot. However, I always sear my meat since it in keeps the moisture and flavor.I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I really like that this recipe has so many beans. The beans make a great addition to the beef and the flavor blend well together. This recipe does take longer than a lot of slowcooker recipes, but the results really are delicious. The long amount of time really is worth the effort. Overall, a great crockpot recipe that would be delicious in the cooler weather coming soon.

For the recipe go to Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili.

Peach-Bacon Baked Beans

I love fresh fruit, my husband on other hand has to be basically forced to eat fruit. My two kids are more like me, they will eat whole pints of blueberries within hours of them being purchased and always go for the fruit first on their lunch plates. Over the almost nine years that my husband and I have been married I have tried numerous times to encourage my husband to realize that fruit can indeed be delicious and is an important part of a healthy diet. All my attempts have been met with vehement and stubborn refusal. So I have learned to hide fruit in my husband's food. I know that sounds like what one would do with children, but my husband is as picky as my three-year-old and way more stubborn. Recently the July issue of Family Circle Magazine had a recipe for Peach-Bacon Baked Beans, which looked delicious and a perfect way to sneak fruit into my husband's meat based diet. 

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 3 hours in the crockpot and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Originally I had bought fresh peaches, but the peaches available at the super market so far this year haven't been great and they molded in less than a day. So instead I used frozen peaches in this recipe. I didn't actually have time to thaw the peaches, so I threw them in frozen and they worked just fine. Don't be alarmed if your frozen peaches turn a little brown when cooking, this is perfectly normal. The photo in the magazine is deceptive, I'm assuming they used fresh recently sliced peaches instead of fully cooked ones. I always use kosher salt when cooking. I prefer the flavor in everything, with the exception of baked goods. It really does work better than table salt. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I used ancho chili powder in this recipe so my beans had a little bit of a kick. I liked that the beans where on the spicy side and even my father-in-law who is sensitive to spicy foods really enjoyed his serving. My husband the non-fruit eating person that he is loved these beans. He liked that they were spicy and still sweet from the molasses and peaches. I wasn't sure if my two boys would eat this recipe, but they ate their whole servings plus leftovers the next day. Definitely a baked beans recipe that I will make again!

For the recipe go to Peach-Bacon Baked Beans.

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.

Saveur Barbecued Baked Beans

If you've been reading this blog for a while you know that my family loves pulled pork and chicken. I tend to make pulled meats at least once a month and it's one dish that I can guarantee that the leftovers will be eaten. Since I make so many pulled pork and chicken recipes, I am always looking for new sides. I can only make cornbread or corn so many times before I long for something different. I have tried a number of baked bean recipes over the last couple of years, some have been great, some less than stellar. As I was flipping through a recent issue of Saveur magazine I came across a recipe for Barbecued Baked Beans, which looked delicious and perfect as a side with pulled pork sandwiches.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It makes 6-8 servings and takes approximately 2 and a half hours to prepare and bake. There are a number of ingredients in this recipe, but they were all very easy to find at my local grocery store. Normally I would have used leftover pulled pork that I had made myself, but this was a week that I took the easy road out and bought pre-made pulled pork. I prefer homemade, but there are actually some decent brand of pulled pork available at our local grocery stores, which I buy when I run out of time (or don't feel like cooking all day). To crush the tomatoes, I use a ziploc bag, seal and then crush by hand. It saves the mess and makes clean-up a snap. It's also a great way to crush graham crackers or saltines for recipes. I would have used dried beans, instead of canned, except I have never been able to find dried navy beans at any of the grocery stores in my area. Since most people use pinto beans, they are the most readily and abundant beans available. Make sure to wait until the beans have cooled for 15-20 minutes before serving. The recipe suggests waiting 10 minutes, but I found waiting 20 minutes helped for the beans to completely thicken after standing. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I hadn't made homemade baked beans in a long time and this was a big hit with my family. My two boys liked the sweetness and thought they tasted like 'candy beans'. The only complaint I received was from my husband, who wasn't a fan of the texture of the bacon. That's to be expected from him though, he has to have his bacon almost burned to get it crispy enough for him to eat. The leftovers heated well for a dinner later in the week, and my boys ate multiple bowls as snacks. This recipe makes a large amount of beans, more than enough to take to a potluck or to have plenty of leftovers for future meals. Overall, a delicious baked beans recipe.

For the recipe go to Barbecued Baked Beans.