PW’s Spicy Pop Pulled Pork

The other day, I was watching my version of Saturday morning cartoons:  Food Network “In The Kitchen”.  One of my new favorite shows is the Pioneer Woman.  Sure, she’s not the best on camera, but she’s a food blogger.  I’m a food blogger.  We have something in common.

So anyhow, there I was watching the show when she did a fancier version of my Crock Pot Pulled Pork.  Just the other day, I was rereading my food diary from when I lost 35 pounds a few years ago and I noticed a common theme.  Pulled pork and barbeque.  Since my pulled pork had been lacking something the past few times I’d made it, I decided to try Ree’s version.

It’s quite simple, really.  You lay your pork roast over a bed of onions, top with a can of chipotles in adobo, brown sugar, salt, pepper, pop and you have her recipe for Spicy Pop Pulled Pork.  I made it the other day before going in to work and I gotta tell ya.  It’s pretty yummy.  Just spicy enough to hit all the notes on your tongue, but not so spicy you’re gulping water.

I topped our sandwiches with a little Dorothy Lane BBQ sauce.  It’s the best I’ve found in Dayton.

Then, the next day, I was hunting around in my fridge for breakfast options and saw the pulled pork.  The wheels in my brain started turning and I created Pulled Pork Scramble.

Scrambled eggs tossed with leftover pulled pork and topped with bbq sauce.  Now, I know what you’re thinking.  Eggs with pulled pork?  Really?

Well according to my brother, eggs go with everything.  Who am I to question a chef?

So what do you think?  Do eggs go with pork and BBQ sauce?

Glazed Over

I don’t shop at Walmart.  Like…ever.  I grew up in the boonies where we only had a handful of entertainment options:  the movies, football games, driving up and down “the strip”, and  going to Walmart.

“On any given Friday night,
We’d drive a hundred miles,
Between the Sonic and the Grocery Store,
Laughing all the while,”
-Carrie Underwood, I Ain’t in Checotah Anymore

Yep.  It was that kind of town. Because of this fact, I think I have a mental aversion to the store.  I won’t say what kind of people I think shop at Walmart.  (Sorry, Martin folk…)

Well, the other day I found myself at Walmart.  I don’t remember what I was looking for, but I know I needed some stuff for dinner.  Since my Walmart is part grocery store, I wandered over to that side.  I think I was looking for some meat marinade, which is how I ended up in the marinade section.  While browsing for Lawry’s Caribbean Jerk marinade, I spotted one of my favorite southern ladies, Mrs. Paula Deen herself.

Now, I don’t try not to get swayed by the pretty packaging and big Food Network chef names, but this Sweet Bourbon Glaze looked delicious.  I bought it, brought it home, and promptly forgot about it for a few weeks.

The other night, I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner without having to go to the grocery store when I spotted this bottle in my pantry.  I thought back to the various cuts of meat in my freezer and remembered I had some thick cut, bone in pork chops.  Perfect!

I thawed them out and heated up my grill.  After rubbing the grill with a paper towel coated with a little vegetable oil (my new secret for getting the meat not to stick to the grates), I sprinkled the meat with my trusty DLM steak seasoning and plopped it down.  I brushed the meat with the glaze every time I flipped it, cooked it to 155º, and let it sit to redistribute the juices.

I also prepared some asparagus by drizzling it with olive oil and, again, my DLM steak seasoning.  Then I threw the whole pan on the grill to cook.

While cooking, I did something I hardly every do anymore…I had a glass of wine!  I almost never drink wine these days partly because I don’t think of it and partly because I’m looking after a little baby.  I don’t buy whole bottles because I’m afraid they’ll get yucky before I can drink the whole thing.  You don’t often find Riesling in to go bottles (maybe that’s just me), so when I saw these at Kroger the other day, I grabbed a pack!  They’ve been in my fridge for just the right occasion and a perfect 72º night by the grill was the ticket!

The pork was wonderful with just the right balance of heat and sweet.  Jeff said it tasted a lot like he was eating ribs!  I can’t wait to try this glaze on chicken and fish.  The fish might have to wait until Carolyn comes to visit in a few weeks though!

As for the asparagus…I think I’ll stick to the oven for that.  Thank goodness for frozen corn!

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

Meatloaf is one of those things…you either love it (and like my husband wants it every week), you tolerate it, or you just can’t stand it.  I used to be in the “just can’t stand it” category, until…

Enter the wonderment that is Brown Sugar Meatloaf.  Now, I know all of you are going to look at this recipe and think, “Yeah…what’s so special?  It’s meatloaf.  What planet has she been living on?”  But, my friends, there is something magical (to me) about this meatloaf.  I can’t explain it.  I can just share with you.

One of the reasons this meatloaf is so special to me is because I made it the night we went to see our current house for the first time.  We did our walk through and then went home to make dinner.  I don’t remember what sides we had, but I do vividly remember putting the loaf together afterward.  It’s the weird stuff that sticks in my memory sometimes…

Anyhow…I give you Brown Sugar Meatloaf.  Make it.  And serve it with Sister Schubert rolls.  Match made in heaven.  I promise.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf
(adapted from allrecipes.com…of course)

1 medium onion, diced
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, grated
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup saltine crackers, crushed
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound lean ground pork
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Saute the onion, pepper, and garlic in the oil until soft and fragrant (about 5 minutes).

In a mixing bowl, mix the milk and saltines together and let sit.  Take a tip from me…pick a big enough bowl to start with or this happens:

You want the crackers to soak up the milk.  That’s better.

After your veggies finish cooking, add them to the milk mixture along with the eggs, salt, pepper, and ginger.  Mix well.

In a separate bowl, start working on the meat.  You want to break up the meat a little bit before you start mixing it with the other ingredients.  Don’t grab it like a baseball…

but instead, use your fingertips to gentle break apart the meat.

If you grab and squeeze the meat, it can become tough.  After you get your meat worked up a bit, add in your veggie mixture.  Mix to combine.

Now grab a loaf pan.  (This, unfortunately, is not a one pot meal, my friends.)  If it’s metal, you want to spray it with cooking spray.  If you have a silicone loaf pan as I do, you should employ it here.  Meatloaf gets messy.  Press the brown sugar into the bottom of the pan.

Then top with the ketchup.  (If you’re good, you’ll notice I did this step backwards and put the ketchup down first.  Hey…no one’s perfect!)

Top your ketchup with the meat mixture.  Press it down in an even layer.  Place the loaf pan on a cookie sheet (to catch potential boil overs) and place in the oven.  Bake for 1 hour or until the juices run clear.

Now…here’s the great thing.  You can portion control these out.  All you have to do is use a muffin tin instead of the loaf pan! (I was making a bunch to freeze and give away this day.)

This recipe freezes beautifully.  Just cook your meatloaf in the muffin tins, let them cool, pop them out and place the cooked meatloaves on a sheet pan and freeze.  Then, once they’re solid, move them to a zip top bag (or Foodsaver bag) and store in the freezer.  When you want a quick meal, remove however many you want to eat and defrost them in the microwave.  You may have to make a little more brown sugar/ketchup mixture for the top, but that’s easy enough to do.

As I said, my husband loves this meatloaf.  Every time I ask him what I should make for dinner he says meatloaf.  It is a great thing to have tucked away in the freezer for him.  He can pull out a meatloaf muffin and have it for dinner on the nights I have to work.  It’s a great go to meal.

Do you have a favorite meatloaf recipe?  What recipes do you like to stash in your freezer?