BBQ Pork in a Crock Pot!

While I am not particularly proud of the lazy photos taken for this recipe, I was very proud of how easy this BBQ Pork crock pot recipe was.  I decided on a Saturday morning a few weeks back that the pork that had been defrosting needed immediate attention, lest it wastefully go bad.

We can't be wasting food round these parts.  I can't stand wasteful things.  Like not recycling.  Or not finishing a glass of wine.  Or people who don't finish a plate of nachos.  Seriously?

Me and BBQ Pork are tight.  If there is BBQ Pork to be had on the menu, there's a very high probability that that is what I am ordering.  So, after consulting a few recipes on the intrawebs, I threw the pork in the crock pot and started adding ingredients.  Now, I could have used a bottle of BBQ sauce, but I didn't have any on hand.  However, all you need is a few ingredients to whip up a homemade BBQ sauce:

•  Ketchup - 1/2 cup
• cider vinegar - 1/4 cup
• brown sugar - 1 or 2 tbsp
• spicy mustard (optional) - 1 or 2 tsp

Mix it all up in a bowl, tasting as you go along.  Maybe it's too tangy - add more brown sugar.  Too vinegar-ish?  Add some more ketchup.  The spicy mustard is optional, but I liked the way it blended together.  Once you have a preferred BBQ taste, pour mixture over pork and into crock pot.   If I had had them on hand, I would have chopped up some onions and thrown them in here too.

Turn on your slow cooker and walk away.  You can do high for 6 hours or low for 8.  That's right.  Walk away and let the magic happen all on it's own.  Trust the slow cooker, it is your friend.

This is what I came back to.  I have to admit.  I was scared.  It was so dark and scary and I hadn't done ANY stirring or anything.  I was shocked - the sauce had gone from scarily red to scarily over brown.

Take two forks and start shredding the pork apart.  This is easy.  As this was happening, the sauces started blending back to a less burnt looking color.  It started to look like a BBQ sauce color.

 Once you've shredded, add to a sandwich.  I picked up a loaf of country wheat from Panificio in Beacon Hill.  So good.

Here's the final sandwich:

Stop judging. I was hungry. And it was BBQ Pork. Next time I make it, you'll see the ultimate BBQ pork sandwich, with onions, maybe some apple slides and a tangy slaw. But I have to admit, this pork, as lovely and plain as it was, did not last long in my house.

Slow Cooker Tomato Rotini Soup

Want to wake up, throw some ingredients in a pot and arrive home 8 to 9 hours later to a delicious home cooked meal?  Below is the simplest soup recipe... if you mess this up - I suggest you plan to live on take out for the rest of your life.

Slow Cooker Tomato Rotini Soup:

• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 4 cups tomato juice
• 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 medium carrots, sliced (about 1 cup)
• 2 medium stalks of celery, chopped (about 1 cups)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 1/2 cups rotini pasta (about 4.5 ounces)
• Shredded Parmesan cheese, optional.

Four Steps:
1 - Chop ingredients

2 - Throw in a crock pot, set for 8 to 9 hours on high

3 - come home from work, add pasta.
4 - Cook for 20 to 30 minutes on low and serve.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  What I can tell you is that I added WAY too much pasta.  I did much closer to the whole box (okay, fine, I did the whole box) and the result is less soup like and more pasta like.  It's still soupy - like a minestrone in both flavor and consistency - but the pasta was overkill.  I should have stuck to the recipe.

Also - it makes about 1,000 servings.  My freezer is filled with tupperware of this soup and I've eaten it for lunch for three days in a row now.  It's very good - but next time I would half the recipe.  My freezer isn't that big!