It is no secret that I am not a fan of pork. Please do not try and feed me a pork chop. I don’t want to be ungrateful or rude, but I really don’t want to eat it. There is one exception to my nose-wrinkling (potentially unwarranted, I will admit) distaste for pork — barbecue pulled pork sandwiches. Mmm yummy.

I’d never made it myself before, but I’d heard that it was super simple in the crock pot. I was browsing Pinterest a couple of weeks ago when I saw a picture of 4 ingredients with the caption “Easiest and Best Pulled Pork Sandwiches Ever.” Alright, you got me. I was a little nervous because I’d never cooked pork before (see earlier note of dislike), but I needn’t have worried because it really was super simple. Even if you include my agonizing in the grocery store over what to buy. “The recipe said pork butt! Nothing here is labeled pork butt! Tenderloin? Shoulder roast? Boston something? WHAT DO I BUY?” Ahem. (I bought what was on sale, haha!)

I got my pork home, patted it down with Lawry’s seasoned salt and finagled it into my slightly-smaller-around-than-my-chunk-of-pork slow cooker. Poured some Diet Pepsi and BBQ sauce over the top and walked away. Several hours later, I came back and pulled the pork out to shred. The recipe suggested putting it back in the juices, which I did for a little while because I wasn’t ready to eat it yet, but that’s not really the way I like my pulled pork. I like mine extra saucy, not pulled from the juices with a little BBQ sauce poured on your sandwich. So when I was ready to eat, I removed it and kept only the tiniest bit of juices and instead mixed up the whole batch with some of the Sweet Baby Rays that was left. Served up on a kaiser bun with some potato salad on the side, delicious!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Source: Sweet and Savory Food

Pork butt
1 can Diet Pepsi
1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce
Lawry’s Seasoning Salt

Generally coat pork butt with Lawry’s seasoning salt, don’t be afraid to cover it all! Place in crock pot and pour in soda and barbecue sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours. If you have a larger piece of meat, it will probably take longer. After 4 hours or so, take two forks and shred the meat into bite size chunks. Let it sit in the juice to soak up all that flavor. It can stay on warm in crock pot while serving, and can easily be reheated the next day. Serve on a kaiser roll and add more barbecue sauce if needed.

I like my pulled pork really saucy, so I discarded most of the juices and mixed it all up with some of the remaining BBQ sauce.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had a food blog. And she would make recipes and take pictures and write about the things she was learning how to make. She would even post about these things on her blog on a semi-regular basis! But then she joined weight watchers and a roller derby team… and she stopped cooking new things and stopped taking the time to write on her blog!

Anyway, life is still busy and stressful, but this week is DERBY BREAK, and the point of DERBY BREAK in my world is to take the time to do the things you have neglected. For me, that means hanging out with non-derby friends, cleaning my apartment, and updating my woefully neglected blogs.

I have posted about sloppy joes here before… way back when, I wrote about Quick Sloppy Joes that just make a small batch in one pan, for a couple of people. I call them cheater sloppy joes. Today is sloppy joes made in the crock pot, perfect for taking along to a pot luck! Which is exactly what I made them for.

You’ll need: 3 lbs ground beef, celery, onions, green pepper, 15 oz. can tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, mustard, ketchup, sloppy joe mix.

Start by finely chopping your celery, onion and green pepper. You won’t need quite this much, but I chopped it all and set some aside for other uses.

Next, brown up your three pounds of ground beef with the celery/onion/green pepper mixture. When it’s all done, drain off the excess fat.

Then add a 15 oz. can of tomato sauce

2 T. Worchestershire sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup yellow mustard

1/4 cup ketchup

and 1 packet of sloppy joe mix.

Stir it all up until it’s well combined

Then transfer it over to a crock pot, set on low and cook alllll day. I started mine first thing in the morning for a shindig that started at 5 or 6pm (I don’t remember for sure). My mom suggested buying 24 buns for this amount of sloppy joes… it was pretty close.

I have to apologize for the lack of pictures of the finished product on a bun, ready to consume. The day I made these, I was also attempting to make a pan-fried onion dip… I burnt the first set of onions, and when I went to make a second attempt, I sliced open my thumb and ended up in the ER for 3 stitches and a tetanus shot. Needless to say, I made it to the party with my sloppy joes in tow, but was not necessarily in the right frame of mind to remember to take finished product pictures. Or even take my camera to the party. Ah well. They were delicious either way!

Crockpot Sloppy Joes
Source: Mom’s recipe box

3 lb hamburger
Celery
Onion
and Green pepper, chopped fine
15 oz. tomato sauce
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup ketchup
1 pkg sloppy joe mix

Brown hamburger with celery, onion and green pepper. Drain off excessive fat. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Transfer to crock pot and cook on low for several hours.

Today’s post is on one of my favorite things about summer. The bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, or the BLT. It’s just the perfect summer meal. Simple and delicious!

Making this BLT also marked the first time I have ever attempted cooking bacon. You’ll notice that the photos of this step are conspicuously absent. At first, this was because I was more worried about not burning myself than taking pictures. In the end, it was because I burnt the crap out of the bacon and filled my apartment full of smoke. In fact, the pieces of bacon that made it into the picture (plus enough for one more sandwich) ended up being the only pieces I ate. The rest made it into the garbage can. Since then, I’ve heard I should try cooking bacon in the microwave or in the oven, so I’ll have to try that. In the meantime, I’m happy with Oscar Meyer fully cooked bacon. Shh, don’t tell.

Everything you need for a BLT. Bread, tomato, lettuce, bacon, miracle whip, salt and pepper.

First, I sliced up my tomato. Then I fried my bacon, but we’ve already established that I won’t be showing you that step.

Then I toasted my bread.

Followed by a generous slathering of miracle whip. Seriously tomato, plus the “tangy zip of Miracle whip” is just wonderful.

Then I showed how completely weird and anal I am by cutting my tomato so I could put it in one single layer. Cause I’m strange like that and I don’t like it doubled up. I’m also a strange person who doesn’t like the meat too thick on my sandwiches either.

Salt and pepper the tomato. Usually I go all out and salt and pepper the other side of the bread too. Wild woman, I know.

Add your bacon, if it’s edible.

Then add your lettuce. Normally, lettuce picked out of a salad mix is not what I would use, but it’s what I had so that’s what you get.

Then put your sandwich together and eat! And use a napkin because it will drip yummy goodness everywhere!

The beautiful thing about summer, though? I’m just as happy with a simple tomato sandwich, where you’re done assembling after you salt and pepper your tomato. Which is exactly what I had with the rest of my tomatoes after I dumped my burnt bacon in the trash can and hauled it out to the dumpster while my apartment smelled like bacon for 3 days.