Pulled Pork Sandwiches

My husband normally doesn't like pork. At all. Every once in awhile I'll throw it into the rotation just for a little variety, but I never expect him to like it a whole lot. Saturday I was craving BBQ but didn't want to go all the way outside (an entire 20 feet from my kitchen, poor me) and grill. Instead I settled on these pulled pork sandwiches. I threw everything in the crock pot in the morning, and it was perfectly cooked 8 hours later. It took less than 5 minutes of work and the results were spectacular. Juicy, smoky, flavorful, falling-apart, melt-in-your mouth tender. My husband loved these and said he never knew pork could taste so great. The leftovers lasted less than 24 hours, which is nothing short of a miracle. This definitely has our stamp of approval, and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

1 boneless pork shoulder or pork loin (2-3 pounds, mine was about 2 pounds and it made 6-8 sandwiches)
3/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika or chipotle chili powder (optional, but I love a little kick)
2 cups water
1 Tb. hickory flavored Liquid Smoke (you can usually find this by the Worcestershire sauce and BBQ sauce)
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
buns, for serving

Rinse pork in cold water and pat dry. Combine pepper, garlic salt, and paprika or chili powder. Rub all over pork shoulder, making sure to cover well. Place pork in crock pot. Cover with water and liquid smoke. Cook on low for 7-10 hours, until pork is tender and falling apart. Remove pork, drain liquid. Shred the pork and return to the crock pot and add 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce. Stir to coat and cook on low for 20 minutes, until sauce is absorbed and heated through. Serve on buns with additional barbecue sauce if desired.

Monterey Chicken

Not only does this look delicious (it's one of my favorites to make when we have company over) but it is super tasty! Really, how can you go wrong with grilled marinated chicken topped with barbecue sauce, cheese, and bacon? Garnish with some fresh chives or scallions and you've got yourself a showstopper! This is a great recipe to enjoy before the end of summer and the end of grilling season.

Monterey Chicken

Marinade:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup water
2 Tb. canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tb. vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. chili powder (I like to use half regular and half chipotle)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
dash onion powder
1/2 of a 12 oz. can Sprite or 7-up

4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb.)
4 slices bacon, cooked crisply and sliced in half horizontally
1/4 cup barbecue sauce (I prefer bulls-eye)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar or colby-jack cheese
sliced chives or scallions and/or diced tomatoes for garnish (optional)

1. Combine all marinade ingredients in gallon-size ziploc bag. Add chicken and shake to cover chicken completely. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
2. Grill chicken over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes per side or until cooked through. Immediately top each piece with 1 Tb. barbecue sauce, 2 Tb. cheese, and 2 bacon pieces (1 slice, halved). Sprinkled with chives, scallions and/or diced tomatoes to taste. Serve immediately!

This is also my favorite fajitas recipe, see the recipe here, so you can grill up double the amount of chicken you need and make fajitas or quesadillas with the extra chicken the next night!

Baked Beans

Hello friends! I've missed you! Sorry that it's been so long since I've written. Here's the thing: I'm 13 weeks pregnant and food is just not appealing to me right now. But, today I had a hankering for some baked beans so I whipped these up for dinner. This recipe comes from my mother-in-law Sandy. The first time she made these baked beans, I begged for the recipe, and I've never gone back. I know there are some kind of strange ingredients in this recipe, but trust me, these are delicious. Enjoy!

Baked Beans

4 small (or 2 large) cans Pork & Beans
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 pound bacon, diced
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 Tb yellow mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. parsley flakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook bacon & onion in large skilled. Drain.
3. In large casserole dish or 9 x 13 pan combine all ingredients. Mix well. Cover with tinfoil.
4. Bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and bake for another 30 minutes.

Barbecue Chicken & Black Bean Pizza

On Saturday I was making lunch for Corey & I and I was craving barbecue chicken pizza. I didn't want to have the same boring pizza, though, so I came up with this. I know it sounds kind of strange, but it was unbelievably delicious. Who would have thought that black beans on a pizza would taste so good?

Barbecue Chicken & Black Bean Pizza

1 recipe of your favorite pizza dough
1 cup barbecue sauce (recommended: Bullseye)
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 chipotle bullion cube (I found these at Wal-mart on the Mexican food aisle. If you can't find them, you can substitute a couple of tablespoons of the sauce from a can of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce or a teaspoon of chipotle chile powder)
2 Tb. honey
4-5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 Tb. olive oil
1 red pepper, halved and thinly sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup pepper jack cheese
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray pizza pan with cooking spray or coat with olive oil. Roll out pizza dough to fit the pan. Spread dough with barbecue sauce.
2. In medium skillet heat vegetable oil. Add onions and cook until caramelized (golden brown), about 7 minutes.
3. In small bowl mix black beans with honey and chipotle seasoning. Microwave for two minutes and stir well.
4. On top of pizza crust evenly layer chicken, black beans, bacon, caramelized onions, and red pepper. Sprinkle with both cheeses.
5. Bake 18 - 25 minutes, or until crust is brown throughout (use a pizza cutter or pizza peel to lift the pizza and look at the bottom crust to ensure it is throughly browned). Sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

Enjoy!

Barbecue Chicken & Caramelized Onion Quesadillas

This is one of my favorite ways to eat a quesadilla...and I eat a lot of quesadillas, so I should know! This is not your traditional quesadilla, I don't even eat it topped with salsa & guacamole, just plain is great with me. If you really wanted to top it with something I'm sure it would be great with ranch or quacamole, but I think it's perfect just as is.

Barbecue Chicken and Carmelized Onion Quesadillas

1/2 large sweet (Walla Walla or similar) onion, thinly sliced
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1 Tb. canola oil
1 Tb. honey
1/4 tsp. chipotle chili powder
1 cup shredded colby jack cheese
4 tortillas
1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I recommend Bulls-eye)
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

1. In medium saucepan heat oil over medium heat. Add onions. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5-10 minutes or until onions are brown and caramelized. Stir in honey, barbecue sauce, and chili powder. Stir until well combined. Add diced chicken.
2. Place one tortilla in large saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup cheese. Top half of quesadilla with a quarter of the chicken/onion mixture, and a sprinkle of cilantro, if desired. Fold in half. Cook for 3 - 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Repeat with remaining 3 tortillas. Cut each tortilla in quarters. Serve with fresh veggies or green salad.

Oven Baked Barbecue Ribs

I love barbecue. Especially ribs, and pulled pork. Basically anything that's been slow cooked and comes off a pig. It all tastes really good. So I had to have a way to make it myself, at home, with no smoker, barbecue, or grill. What I did, being the practitioner of debrouiller that I am, is steal a skillet pork chop recipe from America's Test Kitchen and modify it to suit my purposes. Here you go:

Ingredients-

One rack of pork spare ribs (I don't want to even hear about anyone using beef ribs. That's an abomination that must be stamped out. Pork is where it's at. But I guess you could substitute baby back ribs.) Also make sure this is the non enhanced meat, so that it doesn't already have a brine added.
1/2 cup salt- for the brine

Spice Rub-
1 tablespoon Paprika (I like it better if you use half regular Paprika and half smoked, but do it how you want.)
1 1/4 tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Ground Coriander
1 1/4 teaspoons Ground Cumin
1 1/4 teaspoons Ground Black Pepper

Sauce-
A little over 1/2 cup Ketchup
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon corn syrup
2 tablespoons grated onion
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Directions-

1- First dissolve the salt in with about 2 quarts of water in a large container to create a brine. Put the ribs (after removing the membrane, from the back side) in the brine, submerging them completely. You may need to cut the rack of ribs into smaller pieces to make it fit. Cover, and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

2- Mix the ingredients for the spice rub in a mixing bowl. Try to create a fairly even consistency, especially breaking up any large chunks of brown sugar. Separate out about 2 teaspoons worth to mix into the sauce.

3- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and take the ribs out of the fridge when they are done brining. Pat the ribs dry with a towel, so that the spice rub will stick. Place the ribs on a large baking pan (or I use a cutting board), and coat the outside completely with the spice rub.

4- Wrap the ribs tightly (and I really mean tightly, otherwise you'll lose all the tasty fat) in foil (if you have more than one piece, wrap them all separately), put them on a pan and insert into the 250 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

5- After 30 minutes turn the heat down to 200 degrees. Leave in the oven for 3 hours.

6- About 30 minutes before the ribs are done take the ingredients for the sauce, whisk them together in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir occasionally for about 15 minutes, then turn off heat.

7- After the 3 hours are up, take the ribs out of the oven. Move the oven rack up to the top position and start the broiler at 500 degrees.

8- Unwrap the ribs carefully, there will be hot liquid fat in there! Take about 2 tablespoons of the fat and add it to the sauce, incorporating it fully. Drain the rest of the fat off.

9- Put the unwrapped ribs back onto the pan and baste the tops with some of the sauce. Just enough to cover them. Place the ribs under the broiler for 5 minutes. This should make the sauce just a little crunchy and caramelized.

10- Serve ribs with the rest of the sauce.

It takes a lot of time, but they're very, very tasty. (and that isn't a picture of when I made them, I stole it from the web)

Joe Morley's Bar-B-Q

If you like barbecue at all then Joe Morley's is somewhere that you'd love. It doesn't look like much. Sort of a hole in the wall place, that's decorated very, very simply. They let their food do all of the talking. And boy can it talk.

Joe Morley's specialty is smoked beef. It can either beef served on a platter or as a sandwich. I usually opt for the sandwich, but both of them are excellent. They come with steamed onions and Joe's special barbecue sauce on the side. It's ridiculously good sauce. We keep a bottle of it in the fridge at home. It gets used up awfully fast. Some other highlights on the menu are the ribs, chopped pork and the polish sausage. The killer keilbasa appetizer is freaking fantastic. All platter come with a choice of two sides, I recommend the baked beans, cole slaw and fries.

I give this place my highest recommendation. There is no better barbecue in the state as far as I'm concerned. So if you're ever in Midvale, check it out.