I have this really bad habit, that when I want to cook or bake anything I must first be certain that I have my hands on the best recipe possible. This simply means that I search every website on the internet for people’s reviews, comments, likes, and dislikes before I even enter the kitchen.

I wouldn’t consider this bad habit of mine symptoms of a perfectionist. No. I would consider it more of a dire need to please my taste buds.

It’s not every day that I wait 8 hours for my dinner to be ready, but I was really in the mood for barbecue this weekend. So when my mom asked me to do the food shopping for her I used this as a perfect excuse to pick up some pork. Pork isn’t exactly cheap, so I figured when I came home from the food store and my mom pulled out a $13.00 slab of meat, I’d react with a, “I have no ideaaaaa how that 3-pound slab of pork butt got into my groceries!” Yes, it’s called pork butt, although I’m not exactly sure that’s what it actually is.

I’ve made pulled pork in the past. I’ve even photographed it – but I’m not going to link the post in here because the pictures are actually embarrassing. Now that I have my big girl camera (my Canon Rebel XSi), I was more inclined to photograph this dish. The truth is, these photographs don’t even do this pulled pork justice. This was the best pulled pork I’ve ever made. It was spicy, juicy, flavorful, fall-off-the-bone, finger-lickin’ good. I got this recipe from Two Pea’s and Their Pod’s blog and I will forever keep this as my go-to pulled pork recipe. Please do note that you can use whatever barbecue sauce you’d like though. You don’t actually cook the pork in the sauce, so add whatever your heart desires at the end.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 2-3 pounds pork butt
• Rolls or buns
• 1 1/2 cups of your choice of barbecue sauce (or more if you like it extra saucy)

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients except the pork butt, salt and pepper, and the buns in a large slow cooker. Stir together with a spoon until well combined. Season the pork with salt and pepper on all sides. Add the pork and place the lid on the slow cooker. Cook for 8 hours on low or until pork is tender and easily pulls apart from the bone.

2. Take two forks and shred the pork. The pork and all the ingredients will form a very oily, fatty-looking juice. I drained this and got rid of it, then shredded the pork and put it back into the pot with barbecue sauce for about a half hour. Stir well and serve on rolls or buns.

Last Saturday was one of the most successful days I’ve had in a while – in the kitchen that is. While living at my sister and her husband’s house for a week, watching their absolutely adorable mini doxin, I decided I would do some stuff I was deprived of at school – bake & cook – oh, and carve a pumpkin! Apple picking last weekend left me with a ton of crispy, delicious apples and I was ready to make my first apple pie of the season.

My sister made a pie last weekend that was incredible, so I used her recipe. I will keep this apple pie recipe forever. Chris – who claims apple pie is the key to his heart – looooved it, so that must say something, right?!

For dinner, we decided on bbq pulled pork and corn bread. Chris picked up a 7 lb pork shoulder and a box of Trader Joe’s corn bread mix (which I modified to make sun-dried tomato and smoked gouda corn bread – recipe to come soon!). I looked up a quick, simple, and delicious pulled pork recipe and stuck that sucker right in the cooker.

While the meat was cookin’ we carved our pumpkins. Earlier that morning, Chris and I hit up a local farm and each picked out our pumpkins. They were about 20-25 pounds and they were perfect

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We had a kit handy, but drew our own, personalized, face stencils. I’m pretty sure this was my first time carving my own pumpkin, and it was definitely harder than I thought it was, but so much fun! These are the end results:

So after two Paulander Oktoberfest Biers and two goofy jack-o-lanterns, our meat was almost done. I whipped up the corn bread and stuck that in the oven for 25 minutes while we pulled the pork and smothered it in Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce. We all know not everything we make comes out perfect, and we all have kitchen blunders – trust me, I’ve had my share – but my friends, this dish was perfect. The meat was so tender and juicy. The bone pulled out easily and the meat tore effortlessly.

There was just enough sauce – not to overwhelm the flavors of the meat itself. We added muenster cheese, but it really didn’t even need it. I even had some of the left-overs for lunch the next day, and it was just as good, if not better!

The corn-bread was yummy, too. I used a box of Trader Joe’s mix, but added a few ingredients from a recipe I found in my recent purchase, Things Cooks Love. The bread fluffed up in the pie pan and kept so moist I didn’t even think it was done cooking. It was the perfect side dish to the sandwich.

Needless to say, by the end of the night we were stuffed! It was a very successful cooking/baking day, and those days always make me happy