Slow Cooked Pork Goodness

Yesterday, I took a risk. Let me tell you how fabulously it paid off!

Awhile back, Buppy and I purchased part of a pig from a coworker of his. Whether we got ¼ or ½ of the pig, I’m not sure. We got bacon, sausage, loin, tenderloin and whole bunch of packages labeled “pork roast”. Hmmmm, how nondescript. While I’m familiar with cooking with different cuts of pork, it gets much more complicated if the package isn’t labeled and you have no idea what cut you’re working with. At least for me.

A month or so ago, I decided I wanted to make a garlic-oregano pork roast like my mom makes. I pulled out a “pork roast” from the freezer, cooked it like normal, and it was tough. Horribly tough. This particular pork roast is supposed to fall apart, and off the bone if there is one in the roast. It was such a struggle to try and get the meat off the bone, and it had almost no garlic-oregano flavor. Ick. Total let down.

While on vacation, I discussed the issue of my mystery cuts with my parents, and we decided that I should try to cook one in a slow cooker and see what happens. So earlier this week I pulled out another roast, thawed it and plopped it in the slow cooker yesterday morning before work. I added some water to the bottom, sliced up about ½ a large onion and threw that in, then rubbed all sides of the roast with hickory smoked salt. I sprinkled pepper on top, put the lid on, turned that baby on low and left for work.

Buppy didn’t get home much sooner than I did last night, and both of us agreed the house smelled very tasty. The meat was fall-apart tender. The onions were absolutely fabulous. I think I could cook a whole field of onions in that juice and call it a meal. Serious yum-age. While it didn’t have a whole lot of hickory smoked flavor, that was alright because we added some to our sammies. I was careful when I rubbed it on because I once-upon-a-time way over salted some pork chops with it. Good flavor, but it’s important to remember it’s salt and not seasoning.

I shredded the meat and we both had sammies on whole-wheat buns for dinner. Buppy mixed some BBQ sauce into his meat before loading it onto the bun, but I just built the sandwich with the pork, a little more hickory salt, some of the cooked onions and then added some of the juice from the meat. A side of fried potatoes and onions rounded out our meal; corn on the cob was scheduled to make an appearance too, but it had dried out and looked too pathetic to even attempt to cook.

So there you have it. Cook mystery meat in the slow cooker and you shall be rewarded. And don’t forget to add lots & lots of onions! Enjoy!

*Linked to Life as Mom’s Ultimate Recipe Swap today, 3/10/11, for slow cooker recipes.

Menu Plan Monday - July 5, 2010

I think I was a slacker this past week and didn't menu plan at all. Buppy's father and his wife were in town at the beginning, work has been somewhat stressful and I just didn't have the time or energy to menu plan. We survived all the same, so it's all good. But I'm back on it this week with some yummy recipes to try!

Monday lunch [because Buppy & I are both off work]: grilled brats, raw cauliflower, grapes
Monday dinner: spaghetti & meatballs, green salad

Tuesday: slow cooker easy beef & broccoli

Wednesday: grilled turkey Italian sausages, whatever fruits/veggies/salad we decide on

Thursday: my night home alone, so probably a tuna sandwich or leftovers

Friday: Parmigiano & herb chicken tenders, roasted cauliflower

Saturday: we're heading to a housewarming party that starts at 1pm, so no lunch or dinner plans

Sunday lunch: jalapeno popper dogs, cheese & crackers
Sunday dinner: cheeseburger pizza, green salad

Slow Cooker Italian Beef

I first tried this recipe for Italian Beef when planning Tiny Tot #2's birthday party for incoming family. Our plan was to do a sandwich extravaganza with cold cuts, different spreads, cheeses, veggies, breads --- we wanted everyone to build their ideal sandwich. There is a restaurant in Stevens Point, WI (where I went to school) called Bill's Pizza; they have the most amazing Italian Beef sandwich ever. I miss it a lot and haven't eaten there in a few years now (I moved away from Point in 2006). I was, however, determined to recreate their masterpiece so I could have a little piece of Wisco here in my new home in MD. This recipe didn't disappoint; I didn't think it would though as it has over 700 reviews and 4.5 stars on allrecipes.com! I only made one change to it as it appeared originally, and that was to add 2 packets of Italian dressing seasoning instead of just 1. Well, that and my roast was slightly smaller than 5 lbs.

Slow Cooker Italian Beef
From allrecipes.com

3 c. water
1 tsp. of each of the following: salt, ground black pepper, dried oregano, dried basil, onion salt, dried parsley and garlic powder
1 bay leaf
2 packets dry Italian salad dressing mix
1 (5 lb.) rump roast

Combine water with everything but the meat in a saucepan. Stir well and bring to a boil. Place roast in slow cooker and pour spice mixture over the meat. Cook on low for 10-12 hours or high for 4-5 (mine actually took a little longer on high than this but eventually did get super tender and fork-shredable). Remove bay leaf and shred meat with forks. Place meat back into slow cooker and let it cook for another hour (or more) on low setting to allow meat to absorb flavors. Great served the next day also. I've found that I like this best on crusty bread, and if you top it with crinkle-cut dill pickles, it's just like Bill's! Enjoy!

The spread for the party --- see the slow cooker waaaay at the end? That's the beef!

*I'm sharing this on Life as Mom’s URS (Ultimate Recipe Swap). I'm late, as slow cooking was the theme last week but hey, this recipe is still worth the mention! Her URS's are awesome for great new ideas to try in the kitchen, so stop over and check 'em out if you've got some time.

Here's a quick pic of Buppy with the 2 kiddos getting ready to blow out the candles. I'll have to blog at a later date about that fabulous cake I created....

Here's a picture using the same recipes on a pork roast instead. While it doesn't absorb quite as much flavor as the beef, it's still really, really tasty.

Crockpot Horseradish Scalloped Potatoes

I realize I should probably not make this my first food post since, well, let's be honest, it sucked, but all the same, I'll fill you in on the awfulness that was the crockpot horseradish scalloped potatoes.

The recipe seemed simple enough at a glance. The plan was to make them on Tuesday night when Buppy (as my boyfriend is affectionately known) was at work. I wanted them for myself for dinner and figured he could survive with some leftovers. I stopped at the store and got milk just for this recipe! And then I got home to discover that I had roughly 1 1/2 lbs. of potatoes and the recipe called for 3. Oh well, I'll just make half. Good call dear, except that once the potatoes were peeled, I realized they were older than I'd thought and had a lot of bad spots that had to be trimmed off. I wound up with about 1 1/4 lbs. potatoes in the end and decided this just wasn't gonna cut it. I made mashed potatoes out of those, and Buppy so kindly picked me up some potatoes yesterday specifically for this recipe. My status on Facebook talked about my plan to make these delish potatoes. Friends were excited and already asking for the recipe. And now?

Now I have to tell them all it was a bust.

There are only 7 ingredients to the recipe, one being Parmesan cheese as an optional garnish. The other six are potatoes, horseradish, heavy cream (I subbed 1% milk knowing it would affect the creaminess but hoping it wouldn't damage the taste), nutmeg, salt and pepper. As for damaging the taste? There really wasn't much of one. At all. I tried a bite once the potatoes were tender and it tasted like a hot potato, with pretty much no other flavor. It's wasn't like it was horrible and I spit it out, but it was just so . . . blah. I'm not a fan of blah foods and this? This was beyond blah.

Buppy and I will not be making them again. The problem is now we have these potatoes that are cooked that have the potential to be decent if we use them in another recipe. My suggestion was to make them the crust or top layer of some type of casserole. Wish me luck.

*Just an FYI --- usually I take pictures of my food so you'll get to see the good stuff, but this wasn't really worth it.