Weekly Pinterest Project: Pulled Pork Sammiches

Last week I was struck with a craving for messy, juicy, bar-b-quey, pulled pork sandwiches. I’d heard a rumor that these could easily be made with a jar of BBQ sauce and a slow cooker, so I set out to find a simple recipe on Pinterest. My searchings for ‘easy pulled pork crock pot recipes’ all yielded results requiring me to make my BBQ sauce from scratch. Ain’t nobody got time for that. 

Then I found this pin, which had basic directions, but wasn’t actually linked to a more detailed recipe. 

The general instructions were included in the caption beneath. This was the recipe I had to work with: "EASIEST BBQ PULLED PORK-pour your favorite bbq sauce in the bottom of crock pot, add a little onion (opt), rub seasoning salt on our pork loin and place it in crock pot. I added a little water. Pour a little bbq sauce on top of loin and cook on low 6-8 hrs. Remove meat and place in lg. bowl, use 2 forks to shred and then place it back in crock pot and add more bbq sauce. Cook another 15-30 min. Absolutely the easiest way to make pulled pork! "

I was a tad nervous to try to new dish with such round-about, non-specific instructions, but was tempted by the simplicity. 

This was my first time ever cooking a pork dish, so I was a little lost on the meat aisle. Jonathan had requested Pork Loin since it’s the least fatty cut, but the closest I could find was Pork Loin Joint. 

It had quite a load of fat on the surface, which was in direct contradiction to my sweet hubby’s request, so I spent a solid 30 minutes trimming the fatty parts off of the loin. Now, my food aversions have improved greatly over the past week, but I’m still not in a place where I enjoy being intimately involved with a piece of raw meat. 

Once I managed to substantially de-fat the pork loin, I poured about half a bottle of BBQ sauce into the bottom of the crock pot and added ¼ cup of onions. I then rubbed the pork down with salt, pepper, and Tony’s (also not a pleasant prego experience) before placing it into the slow cooker. I added another ½ cup of BBQ sauce on top of the pork loin, and also added about ¼ cup of water. 

Then I let it cook covered on low for 5 hours and high for 1 hour. It could easily cook on low for 7-8 hours if you need to leave it all day. After about 6 hours of cooking, I separated the pork and shredded it before placing it back into the pot and stirring it into the sauce, making sure each morsel was coated with heavenly goodness. 

I let it marinate on low for another 30 minutes before diving in. I like my pulled pork on a hamburger bun with cheese and mustard, which is just how Jonathan likes his as well. 

It was another Jonathan approved recipe, one which he even ate a third helping of. I was especially pleased that he mentioned how lean the meat was, assuring me that my highly uncomfortable 30 minute raw meat session was not in vain.   

And even though I got the smallest loin cut I could find, there was still plenty left over…well until Jonathan tripped over Samson and accidently dropped the leftovers, at which point last night's dinner quickly became dog food. Samson and Bailey were also big fans of the pulled pork experiment. Sam ended up with quite a bit of it on his back, which Bailey was courteous enough to lick clean for him. Having two dogs finally paid off! 

Now, pre-pregnancy, I was not a big fan of pork (hence me being a pork cooking virgin before this), but with my recent disgust with poultry, I’ve had to substitute with the other white meat. Now that my aversion to chicken has been significantly reduced, I think I’ll try a similar version of this recipe with chicken breasts. I found an actual recipe here, though it calls for the making of your own BBQ sauce as well. Don't these people know that you can buy this stuff ready-made??? (You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take the America out of the girl....)

Now I realize that most of my pinterest projects lately have been recipes, but I’m ready to get my craft on. We decided on a theme for the nursery and I’d love to make some homemade things to decorate the room with. The theme is the sky and we hope to fill it with clouds, hot air balloons, stars, and sunshine. For instance, how adorable is this cloud mobile: 

(Original Source)

If that's not worth having a baby for, I don't know what is.

I could either spend a whole lot of money on etsy or I could use my position as ex-pat housewife to make some of these items myself. If you see any crafting projects along these lines, please let me know. And if you wanna come over and join me for a cuppa and some crafting, you’re welcome to join!