Easy Pork Chops and Lima Beans (not gross!) and
Fast Way to Upgrade Canned Stew

Well is has been a while now since I thought about this blog - I really doubt I have any readers, but it lets me put some of my ideas out there at least! I was recently fired (or 'let go') from a job I started at in August - at least they gave me a severance - and I now do some independent consulting work from home while looking for a new full time gig. I don't mind working from home really, I certainly don't miss being around people all day or trying to keep up with office politics - but sitting in a chair for 12 hours a day is wearing my back down!

I should also stick with a better gym schedule - I stopped because I was commuting about 2.5 hours a day each way and my day started at 5am - I didn't get home until 10pm (not fun)- hence I got out of any sort of gym schedule. It is really hard to get back into the swing of things, but after seeing some beach photos of my self from my honey moon I now know I have to!

I am also starting a five day juice fast next week- strange I know, but I've heard some good things about detoxing your body that way, and it might save on my food bills. It will also be gross I feel, cleaning out your colon is as good of a reason as any to not be around people - and I can see why so few people except rich and retired people take the time to do such a thing - you certainly can't go to work!

Anyway, I will write a little about that after I attempt it!

So here is my first recipe in months:

Pork Chops and Lima Beans

Ingredients
Package of 4 bone-in pork chops (you can go boneless, but they will cook faster and dry out, so you will need to remove them prior to the beans being done)

2 packages of frozen lima beans

1 14 oz bottle of ketchup

salt, pepper to taste

Steps

1) Preheat oven to 350
2) Place lima beans in pan, squirt on all ketchup
3) Mix
4) Add pork chops to pan - cover with beans and ketchup, add salt and pepper to taste
5) Cook for an hour

I would leave a temperature probe in the chops until they read about 150 or so - then remove them and cover them with foil. I like the ketchup to caramelize around the beans, so I would leave them in until they start to blacken and become crunchy- but it is all up to your personal taste since the beans are done as soon as the chops are done.

Enjoy! This is ridiculously easy and fast - and pretty darn good (though I hated it when I was a kid..)

Easy way to Perk up canned stew or thick beef soup:

Sprinkle on some Worcestershire sauce to the pot as it cooks - that's it. It really adds something to the flavor and makes it taste more like homemade!

Well that 's all for today - hopefully I will remember to update this weekly or so from now on, even if I have no readers at least I enjoy it!

Really Easy Beef Sandwich

Went to Costco a few weeks back - and found something there I was made fun of for buying, but ended up being a money purchase.... canned beef in beef broth.

Similar to the large cans of chicken they have there- that I love to put on sandwiches or make a salad out of, these are just that - large cans of cooked beef.

Sounds gross- and opening the can is even worse... it looks and smells a little like dog food at first!

Putting that aside- it is easily one of the cheapest and easiest ways I have found to create some really good meals. I made a beef sandwich (similar to french dip) and a beef and noodle dish, both the receipes are on the card that come with the beef cans.

I will give an easier receipe/idea for a great sandwich (I am eating one now...)

Ingredients:

1 can costco beef

2 Rolls

2 slice american cheese

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp ground pepper

Steps:

Open can, drain most of the broth - not all

Mix in onion powder and pepper

Place half of the beef & one slice of cheese on each roll.

Microwave for 1 min, 30 seconds or until warmed through.

Thats it! Easy, cheap, and tastes really good!

This is pretty good - not as fast as the real, traditional receipe - but a fast and cheap version you can make in about 30 mins or so. It will cost you about $10 and will feed you for at least 8 meals. I got this off of the foodnetwork site - from the southern lady that cooks with all the butter. This receipe probably isn't all that bad for you since it is mostly cabbage - and it makes so many servings!


Easy Corn Beef and Cabbage:

Ingredients:

1 head white cabbage - chopped
4 slices of bacon
4 table spoons unsalted butter
1 can of Corn Beef
1/4 cup of water

Optional (but I like these and it makes the dish taste better IMO):
about 12 baby potatoes - cut in half (you can usually find a small bag of these at the store)
1 bag of baby carrots
1 onion - chopped

Steps:

1) Boil a pot of salted water, add carrots and potatoes - cook for about 15 mins or until they are done (when it is easy to slide your fork into potatoes). Drain and set aside until the end.
2)Cook bacon in the bottom of a large cooking pot (the deeper the better - until the cabbage cooks down it will take up a lot of space).
3) Remove bacon, set aside for later
4) Add butter to bacon drippings
5) Add chopped onion - cook for about 10 mins on med-low heat
6) Add cabbage and water, cover pot with lid - cook the cabbage until limp (its better if slightly crisp), about 20 mins on med heat.
7) Add in corn beef, crushed bacon, and the cooked potatoes and carrots. add salt and pepper to taste.
8) Heat for an additional 5-10 mins.

That's it! Pretty easy to make, makes a ton - and tastes pretty good. What else could you want???

I'm back! I've been pretty busy lately - trying to get a few websites built (I will work for myself someday!!!! well, I hope so... I wish I were a coder, this would all be so much easier) and moving next week, not to mention looking for a new job - is taking its toll.

But I've still been cooking! I haven't made much new - but I thought I would write a little about what I've done recently...

Easy Baked Chicken Parm

This is pretty easy - you can do it two ways, fry the chicken in canola or peanut oil first- making sure that you have flattened the chicken out a little first to make it cook quicker - or just cook in the oven.

To fry:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Flatten out chicken to around .5" thick

Coat with flour

Coat with egg

Coat with breadcrumbs (italian seasoned)

Heat Canola or peanut oil

Fry chicken until almost done and the breading is browned.

For oven:

Preheat oven to 400

Coat chicken with bread crumbs

Cook chicken until almost done (about 20-25 mins), coating will probably not become as brown as the frying method.

Add some tomato sauce - any kind will do, use your favorite

Add some fresh basil (optional)

Add some Fresh Mozzarella cheese to top of chicken

Add some salt and pepper

Cook until cheese is fully melted and starting to brown.

Thats it!!! Not much to it. The 2nd method is a little healthier, but both are easy to make and taste great!

Easy Thai Peanut Chicken

This is really easy to make if you buy Thai Peanut Sauce at your local store.

Noodles:

1) Get some asian rice noodles - or use angel hair pasta

2) Cook noodles until done

-You could use rice too if you want

While noodles are cooking, do the chicken:

1) Cut up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite sized pieces

2) Heat peanut oil in pan until hot

3) Fry chicken in hot oil until done

In the meantime, toast some sesame seeds for a few mins in a pan over med-low heat - until brown.

Mix Chicken Pieces with Peanut Sauce - put over noodles - and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top!

Easy to make, tastes great - and something different! After cooking the chicken, you could also drain out most of the oil and stir fry some veggies like sliced carrots, snow peas, broccoli, etc.!

Should make a good amount of food - and this is something that you can easily make for just one person.

Wow - beena while since I posted something here. I've been out looking for new apartments around the NYC area - something I would not want to go through again... want to try to find a place without a broker? Good luck - I had no luck with Craigslist or any other non-broker service! We actually went to see a 'one bedroom with private garden' place that was $1495/month - great deal we thought . So did about 20 other people. When we walked into the place, if it was more than 100 sq feet I would be surprised! It was so small the room would have enough for a twin bed, if that! I don't even think that would fit in the 'living room'. It was hilarious! Oh well - we ended up spending more than we wanted to each month, but at least we have a great place... price you pay for living in the city I guess.

I haven't really made much that was new for a while - between New Years and things going on I've just been making basic things like chicken sausage and rice, or other meals that aren't really 'receipes'.

I did make Chicken Paprikash the other night, and it turned out pretty well despite my ghetto version of this receipe - my Mom used to make this when I was a kid (I'm hugarian and this is a Hungarian dish). I'm sure there are more 'official' receipes for this out there, but I thought that this was quick and easy and fit the bill close enough - plus it was cheap and pretty tasty... and cost maybe $10 to make at least 8 meals+!

Chicken Paprikash:

What you need:

1 Large Pot to put everything in
1 pot for cooking pasta

48 oz chicken broth
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
16 oz of sour cream (I used reduced fat)
2 jars of sliced mushrooms (optional)
4 Tbl Paprika
2 tsp cumin and 2 tsp curry powder (this is optional, i just threw it in because I like those two spices with paprika)
Salt and pepper to taste.
1 pkg egg noodles (I tend to buy the 'No Yolk' brand - less fat and cholesterol)
4 bay leaves
1/4 cup+ of flour to thicken mixture, mixed in a seperate small bowl with some water until all lumps are gone.

What you do:

1) Bring to a boil chicken broth, adding bayleaves
2) Bring to boil pasta water - cook pasta until al dente, 6 mins or so
3) Cut up chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces
4) Once broth is boiling, add chicken and spices, turn down heat to simmer
5) Cook until chicken is fully done - about 8-10 mins, remove bay leaves
6) Add sour cream, and flour mixture - stir in
7) Add mushrooms, cooked noodles - let simmer for a few more mins until heated through


Thats it! Easy, pretty tasty, cheap, and it makes at least 8 servings - not bad!

Well I hope once we move I don't have to just eat Rama noodles for every meal (only 25 cents though!!!) - on a positive note this blog will list even cheaper meals, hopefully giving some inspiration to other poor want-to be chefs out there!

Made that BBQ pork last night that I've posted about before - should be good for more than a few lunches, and at $10 for the pork, rolls, and BBQ sauce you can't go wrong! I also made some baked ziti last night, which is really easy and cheap to make - so I'll write about that today!

Easy Baked Ziti:

What you need to buy if you don't have on hand:

1 Box of Ziti

1 small container of Ricotta cheese (lowfat if you want to save calories, do not get fat free- it tastes pretty bad!)

1 Jar of Pasta Sauce (get the most natural you can find - without added oil, etc. Not only will this save on calories and fat, but I think they taste better since they aren't as processed).

1 Fist sized chunch of fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into thin slices (yes you can use processed and it will be fine as well)

1 small block fresh parmesean cheese, grated (you can use the dry parmesean as well - it will be fine)

Couple of teaspoons of dried Oregano, Basil, and Parsley

Couple of teasons of Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper

Few teaspoons of Olive Oil

Optional - 2 Medium Tomatoes, chopped

A few sprigs of fresh basil, chopped

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2) Cook Ziti in boiling salted water for 8-10 mins

3) Combine Ricotta, parmesean, pasta sauce, dried herbs & salt and pepper in large bowl - mix well (you can add 2/3 of the fresh basil here as well)

4) Drain Pasta, trasnfer to bowl - mix well.

5) Pour mix into a good sized baking pan, spead out evenly

6) Layer fresh tomatoes and the rest of the fresh basil on top (if you are using these)

7) Layer Mozzarella cheese on top, if using fresh mozzarella sprinkle some Olive Oil over top. Crack some pepper over top as well.

8) Cook for 15-20 mins, or until cheese starts to brown and bubble.

That's it!

Pretty easy, fast, and cheap - plus it will last two people at least 3-4 meals, or one person most of the week! You will probably be sick of ziti by the end, but you can't complain when you're on a budget, and it's not like you are eating Rama noodles!

Well I didn't make much this weekend- it was our annual college footbal rivalry, so there wasn't much I did other than drink beer...

I did make a huge pot of chili though- something that is really easy to make and will keep you fed for a long time (if you don't mind eating chili lunch and dinner for a week..though you can freeze it if you want).

Its pretty easy to make too- so I will list out a basic chili receipe that I use. I also add some other ingredients like using steak I chop up instead of hamburger meat, chipotle chili w/ adobo sauce and other dried chilis, but I will stick to the basic receipe, which is easy and tastes just as good!

By the way- this tastes best when cooked in your crock pot! You can make this in a large pot on the stove, and just let it heat up, but it tastes better when cooked slowly for hours and hours!

Easy Homemade Chili:

Ingredients:

3 lbs ground beef (browned and drained)

4 tsp cumin

12 tsp chili powder

2 Tbl Sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp cracked pepper

4 tsp Oregano

4 tsp Parsley flakes

2 cans red kidney beans (rinsed)

2 cans tomato paste (those small cans - 6 oz?)

1 medium onion- cut up

2 tsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

2 cans low sodium beef broth (it is easier to add salt later than to have it too salty at first)

1 chipotle chili (optional) in adobo sauce

Some corn or tortilla chips (in case the chili is too watery, crush some up and add them- they will thicken the sauce and add some salt to the mix)

Steps:

1) Brown beef, drain

2) "sweat" onions and galic w/ olive oil for 10 mins or until onions become translucent (clear)- this just means cookin in a pan over low heat.

3) (Optional step) blend the onions, garlic, and chipolte chili until mixture is smooth. If you do not have a blender make sure you chop these up fine.

2) Rinse Kidney beans

3) add all ingredients into a large pot, or preferably a crock pot. Stir to mix.

4) Cook over medium low heat until hot.

5) If chili is too watery add crushed up corn chips as needed. They will dissolve and thicken the mix.

Thats it!

Personally I think it does taste better slow cooked for hours and hours in the crock pot. But technically the chili is done as soon as it is warm as the meat was already browned!

Optional: Use chuck steak instead of hamburger meat and cut into small cubes about 1 cm.

Enjoy!

Well no fiancee around last night, so I made a steak (she doesn't eat red meat, and it's usually annoying cooking one thing for me, another for her...).

I am poor- so unless I get to costco and buy steak in bulk (like I posted about previously), I tend to buy it cheap. One cut of meat which really isn't so bad is London Broil - a tougher cut which can be really really cheap in your local store- but isn't so bad to eat!

I think I bought my last one for $2/lb - but it was a manager 'special' and wasn't the best London Broil cut you could get, too much tendon (making for tough to eat pieces). I don't know if I would recommend getting the special on an already budget cut...but if you're not too picky and really want red meat, why not?

The best way I've found to cook this cut is to look for a good piece- one that looks like a solid slab of steak, and doesnt' have too much fat in it. While marbling in better cuts of steak is desired, in Londen Broil it more likely means that the meat will have lots of tough gristle! Get the steak home, salt with kosher salt and crack some fresh pepper on it.

Cook the meat as you usually would your steak- and when you go to serve it instead of serving in large pieces, as you would a fillet or ribeye- cut the steak across the grain into thin strips. This will make the meat more tender and taste better!

Marinades are also great to use on Londen Broil, as the meat isn't the most flavorful cut.

By the way, slicing steak like this can really make your money go further! People tend to eat what they are given- and 5 slices of steak are actually a nice size portion- but much less than if you were given an entire steak to eat! You will find you will eat less, and will have leftovers that you can make a nice steak sandwich the next day with... get a nice roll, add some A-1 steaksauce, a slice of american cheese, and you're done!

Thats' it!

Monday yet again :( Made some good stuff over the weekend though- we had a 'roommate thanksgiving dinner' (I live with my financee and 3 other friends) and it is now 1pm the next day and I am still not hungry! We ate and drank a ridiculous amount of food and wine- but it was worth it!

Lets see now...

Friday I made Tequilla Lime Chicken with Avocado & Salsa:

This is really easy- and you can make it with or without the marinade, or try adding anykind of Lemon, Lime, or citrus marinade or sauce to the chicken. Serves two.

Ingredients:

Tequilla

Fresh Lime juice

Red Pepper flakes

Fresh Salsa (the 'home made' style- the kind that needs to be refrigerated. NOT the red salsa made for chips).

One Haas Avocado

2 Chicken Breasts

Steps:

Make the marinade:

Pour enough tequilla to cover the chicken in a ziplock bag

Add plenty of lime juice (I do not measure either of these)

Add some red pepper flakes

Let sit for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350.

Take chicken out of marinade, put in a oven safe dish- and cook until chicken is done (165 degrees), about 25-30 mins.

Slice Chicken into thin strips

Cut up avocado - easy way to do this is to slide a paring knife through the middle, splitting the avocado in half. Hit the pit w/ your knife, making the pit stick in the knife- and slide out pit. Then take the knife and slide behind the avocado meat- each half should fall out of the skin easily. Slice into thin slices.

Put chicken on plate, arrange avocado slices around the chicken, and then take a few spoonfuls of fresh salsa and place on top.

That's it! Easy, fast, and cheap to make!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

For the Thanksgiving dinner we made mashed sweet potatoes (see previous receipe), broccoli casserole, pumpkin pie, and a Turkey breast (look up on FoodNetwork.com for Rachel Ray's herbed turkey breast- that is the one we used).

The Broccoli Casserole is one of my favorites from my family Thanksgiving dinners- it is really easy to make, and tastes really good! Will serve about 8 people.

Ingredients:

2 boxes frozen chopped broccoli (cooked, or defrosted)

2 cans cambells condensed cream of mushroom soup (or golden mushroom) - do NOT get the reduced fat kind- it will make the dish bland

1 can Kraft Old english cheese spread, or 5-6 oz of Velveta Cheese

1 tsp of Garlic Powder

1 cup chopped celery

3/4 cup chopped onion.

2 Tablespoons butter

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350

Sweat Onions and Celery w/ butter over med-low heat for around 10 mins, or until onions start to get translucent.

Add Soup and Cheese spread

Stir in Garlic Powder

Wait for cheese to melt completely- and everything to mix well.

Add in cooked chopped broccoli, mix well.

Pour mix into a casserole dish, place in oven for about 1 hour.

That's it! Another easy meal to make that really tastes great!

Made Eggplant Parm last night.

Pretty easy, really good, and since I usually bake it really healthy for you.

This will serve at least 4 people.

Easy Baked Eggplant Parm:

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant (if you just want to make one service get one of the smaller italian eggplants instead)

2 eggs, beaten - put in a bowl

some flour - put in a second bowl

italian seasoned breadcrumbs - put in a third bowl. If you just have plain breadcrumbs, no problem, just add oregano and basil flakes.

add about 1tsp of salt and 1 tsp ground pepper to bread crumbs.

Some fresh basil

Fresh Mozzarella cheese

Tomato Sauce (get something without a ton of oil- the more natural the better)

Some Olive oil

Steps:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Skin Eggplant using vegtable peeler.

Cut Eggplant into round slices - about a half inch -> 3/4" thick

Dip coat each piece in flour (you need to do this so the egg has something to stick to), shake off excess.

Dip each coated piece in egg wash, let excess drip off

Dip each piece in bread crumbs - coat well, shake off excess.

Let sit for 5 mins or so on a baking sheet or wire rack, then stick to oven for about 30-35 mins or until nice and brown.

Once brown, add a spoonful of tomato sauce to each piece, a piece of fresh basil, and top with a slice of the fresh mozzarella. Drizzle a few drops of Olive Oil on each piece.

Let bake until cheese is melted and starts to brown (about 5-10mins)

Thats it!

Really easy to make, healthy, and cheap! What can be better?

Made Mashed Sweet Potatoes for the first time yesterday- they were surprisingly easy to make and tasted better than I would have thought.

I also bought this package of marinated turkey cutlets - which were about $4 for on package that had two cutlets. Enough for 4 good sized servings. You just take them out of the package, put them in the oven as per instructions, and wait an hour- thats it and they are really good!

I served them w/ some white rice on the side (I personally like to put soy sauce on rice). Minute Rice has this awesome 'Rice in Bag' thing now- all you do it boil the water, put the bag of rice in (which has 2 servings in it) and wait 5 mins... that's it! I love it.

Anyway- here's the receipe...

Mashed Sweet Potatoes (anyone else have trouble spelling potato?):

2-3 sweet potatoes or 2 yams (they are the same thing for the most part, just different names) yams tend to be larger.

2 Tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

You will also need a steamer for this- sweet potatoes aren't like white potatoes and can't stand up to boiling well - plus you loose a lot of nutrients to the water when you boil them!

Steps:

Peel potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes.

Steam cubes for 20mins or until fork tender.

Dump in bowl, add butter, salt and pepper.

Mix with potato masher or fork until smooth.

That's it! Makes about 4 servings.

Nothing else to do- unless you want to add some gravy for the turkey (and since you won't have turkey drippings to make fresh gravy I would just buy canned...).

Alton Brown had a variation of this receipe on Good Eats the other day- he added one minced chipotle pepper and a tablespoon of the adobe sauce it comes in to the mix.

Made a pretty easy pesto and chicken pasta dish last night using some leftovers I had.

I had some chicken I made the other night (nothing fancy, just baked chicken breasts w/ some chicken seasoning on them...) so I chopped it up into bite sized pieces. I then just boiled some pasta I had, drained it, added some extra Olive Oil, a few spoonfuls of pesto, threw in the chicken, and added some parmesean cheese. I just let it heat for min or two on the burner over low heat- at thats it!

Nothing fancy, nothing expensive- just used leftovers!

I wish I had more money- I was just looking at that heritage foods site I listed yesterday and man would I love to order some pork or beef right now...

On an aside- when I'm bored I try as hard as possible to keep myself busy. I do research online, I blog, I write to friends, I study, I read the news, I do anything I can to keep my mind off of the fact that my job sucks and there is nothing to do. My coworker, on the other hand, will literally just sit and stare....for hours!!! How in the world can you do that? He stares at his blank computer screen and hardly moves. What is wrong with him? I guess it would be nice not to feel any desire to do anything productive- my life would be much less stressful if that were the case. But still- he's been doing this for over an hour now! I just want to head over there and shake him...

Aromatics & Easy Potatos

Just cooked some chicken, the asparagus I wrote about before, and some potatoes tonight. The chicken I just cooked in the oven w/ some chicken seasoning I bought.

Here is what I did for the potatoes:

Ingredients:

1 bag of baby red potatoes (for two people maybe 8 of them)

- You can use any kind of potato though, I personally like the mixed bags of baby potatoes that have the blue kind, red, and white..

Some Olive Oil - a couple of tablespoons.

Kosher salt (1tsp or so...)

Dried Rosemary (about 1 tsp)

Ground Pepper (half tsp)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 375

Cut up potatoes into bite sized pieces

Add olive oil

Add kosher salt, ground pepper, and rosemary

Mix to coat

Put in oven for around 45 mins - 1 hour or until they get nice and brown and crispy looking.

Thats it! Easy and really really good. You can try adding some parmesean cheese to the mix near the end, or pretty much anything you want. I will add that anything that you think will burn (like pesto, the cheese, etc) should be added in the last ten mins or so that you will be cooking.

Easy Aromatics

I don't usually get too much into the decoration and other things like that around the holidays, but with Thanksgiving and the holidays coming up I thought I'd mention something that will make your home really smell great. Its really easy and really makes your place smell like the holiday season, if there is such a smell...

All you have to do is get an orange, some dried cloves, a little ground nutmeg, and some cinnamon sticks. Dump them in a pot, add water, bring to a boil - reduce heat and let simmer all day (add more water as needed). That's it, and it really will make a huge impact - much better than any of those smelly candles people put out...

Well that's it for today, can't think of anything else and I'm getting a little tired!

Got to catch up on some sleep- just woke up...ahhhh.

Started making some Pulled Pork BBQ yesterday- really really easy here but it's looking and smelling great so far...

Pulled BBQ Pork

OK- You NEED a Crock Pot for this - like I've written before, get one. They are so easy to use that you really can't go wrong with using one for an easy meal like stew, chili, soups, etc.

Ingredients:

Brine:
1 Cup Kosher Sale
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Table spoon whole pepper corns
1 Gallon Zip lock bag

Pork:
1 Pork shoulder, pork butt, or pork something - it doesn't really matter though Pork Butt is traditional (I used Pork shoulder this time just because it was on sale for like $1.99 at the store).

1 bottle BBQ sauce - I used Stubbs Origninal for it this time, I haven't had it before so I'm hoping its good. I would avoid thick BBQ sauces if you can, and stick w/ a 'real' bbq sauce that is a little thinner in texture.

Some Ground Pepper

Thanks it!

What to Do:

1) Make brine as shown above- just pour ingredients into bag, add pork, and cold water- mix. Put in fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is better.

2) Take out, rinse well.

3) Put pork in crock pot- add bottle of BBQ sauce.

4) Cook on 'High' for at least 8 hours, 12 is better. I did this one on 'Low' overnight so far (12 hours) and just turned it up to 'High' for another 5 hours. The longer and lower heat the better, as it breaks down the muscle fibers more and makes the meat more tender.

5) Take out meat when done. Move to a cutting board and shred by pulling at the meat with a fork. The meat should come off in little shreds, like pulled pork is normally. If this does not happen easily, put back into crock pot until done. The meat literally should fall apart.

That's it! Simple, Easy and really really cheap. It will also make a lot so you will be eating for a while.

I like mine on a nice crusty roll, but you can use hamburger rolls- or even put over egg noodles (the wide, flat, short noodles).

You can change this receipe up by using a teriaki marinade instead of a brine, pouring some of the marinade in with the Pork when in the crock pot - maybe adding some scallions near the end. I would probably put that over white rice or something, though egg noodles would do great as well.


By the way- is it just me or is the spell check on this blog site suck?

Also, let me tell you about the pork shoulder I bought. It was pretty funny, what I thought was a layer of fat on it was actually a thick layer of actual pig skin! I've never seen that before- maybe that's why it was so cheap! Anyway, I made sure to cut off the skin (it came off in one big strip) leaving some of the fat layer below. You need fat when BBQ'ing, as it helps with the flavor, and also helps keep the meat tender.

One of the things about pork (which I just heard on Good Eats last night) is that it is really lean and doesn't have much sodium in it (contrary to popular belief) and needs some help to not dry out. Hence the need for brining pork before cooking it. If you don't feel like brining the meat though, don't worry about it- because you are cooking it for so long I think the pork will still become very tendar and flavorful regardless!