Pulled Pork Sliders

The strong desire for barbecue at a tailgate is definitely fulfilled with these pulled pork sliders. Cooking the pork in a slow cooker leads to two beautiful things - effortless preparation and TENDERNESS. The pork roast is seasoned with your favorite barbecue sauce, and then releases lovely juices as it cooks for 8 hours. The sauce and juices combine to make one final magical sauce that's already in the slow cooker waiting for you when it's done! Just shred, mix in all the flavorful pork goodness, and serve on slider buns. So simple and easy and mouthwatering!

Featured in La Petite Fashionista Magazine :)
Pulled Pork Sliders
Makes 24 sliders
Cooking Time: 8 hours
Assembly Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 8 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients
3 lb boneless Boston butt pork roast
24 slider buns
1 cup barbecue sauce

1. Place pork roast in slow cooker fat side down and cover with barbecue sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours.
2. Discard any unwanted fat pieces. Shred pork in slow cooker and mix with the juices. Serve on slider buns.

A big heaping cup of barbecue sauce!

Slather the roast in the barbecue sauce and cook on low for 8 hours! That's it!

When the roast is done there will be plenty of added pork juice with the barbecue sauce. The mixture is THE BEST.

Remove any unwanted fat pieces and shred with two forks.

Mix the shredded pork with all of the juices and sauce and you're done!

Serve on slider buns and you've got yourself an easy game day dish! I'll tell you, it's impossible to stop eating these once you've started. The pork is so tender from slow cooking and it's not only slathered in barbecue sauce... it's slathered in barbecue sauce mixed with pork fat goodness. As Emeril says - Pork fat rules.

Italian Sausage, Spinach, and Heirloom Tomato Pizza

I'm VERY excited to share this recipe! I think it's the perfect balance of meat and veggies. I usually go for pepperoni and some veggies for pizza toppings, but I had a hankering for spinach pizza. And Italian sausage! And I was given MORE organic produce (I know, lucky lucky lucky) and tried heirloom tomatoes for the first time and they rocked my world! They taste like a flavor-concentrated version of regular tomatoes. Not only are they brighter in color, but I thought they tasted brighter in flavor too. I know they are expensive, but for certain dishes like this where tomatoes are one of the stars, I will definitely shell out a little extra cash for the heirlooms in the future. There is no sauce on this pizza! The diced heirloom tomatoes are the first layer of the pizza so you get a little burst of tomato with each chunk. And it's absolutely delightful! 

Italian Sausage, Spinach, and Heirloom Tomato Pizza

Makes 1 large pizza (4 servings)

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

Pizza dough for large pizza

1 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 Italian sausage links

3 heirloom tomatoes

10 oz frozen spinach (1 box), thawed

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Remove sausage from casing and cook over medium heat, breaking into small pieces. Cook until no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Place cooked sausage on a plate lined with paper towels to drain the excess grease.

2. Remove stems from tomatoes and dice. Wrap thawed spinach in 3-4 paper towels and squeeze as much liquid out as possible.

3. Roll out pizza dough. Top with the heirloom tomatoes. Sprinkle with garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese over the tomatoes. Top with spinach, Italian sausage, and remaining cheese, all evenly spread in layers.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

I thoroughly enjoy sausage on pizza! Remove the Italian sausage from the casing and cook over medium heat, breaking up into pieces. Cook until not longer pink. This picture shows it's close to done.

Place the cooked sausage on a plate lined with paper towels to drain some grease.

Look at these beauties! I loved the colors of the heirlooms. I even had a few that were kind of magenta and purple looking! Remove the stems and dice the heirloom tomatoes.

Wrap the thawed spinach in paper towels and squeeze as much of the liquid out as possible!

Roll out the pizza dough and top with the heirloom tomatoes. Sprinkle the garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. These chunks will be little tomato flavor explosions when you eat the pizza!

Add 2/3 cup of the shredded mozzarella cheese.

Layer on the spinach, sausage, and the remaining cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

You get just enough of each ingredient in every bite. The fruity heirlooms act as your sauce and give you little bursts of tomato flavor each bite, there is enough spinach to make it still feel like a spinach pizza, and the Italian sausage is the perfect meaty addition. And of course all of this is layered in mozzarella. Mmm!!! Some of my best work. YOU WILL LOVE THIS PIZZA I promise.

Shredded Pork Burritos

Burritos are on the menu today in Saucy Jocey's Kitchen! I used my slow cooked pulled pork and I also made fresh guacamole mmmm. With these shredded pork, guacamole, and cilantro lime rice recipes, you're off to a great start for tasty burritos. Add whatever else you like! I added black beans, salsa, sour cream, Tobasco green pepper sauce, shredded cheese, and lettuce.

You'll need:
tortillas
shredded pork
guacamole

cilantro lime rice (I like Budget Bytes cilantro lime rice recipe)
whatever else you like (black beans, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, lettuce, etc.)

The only bad thing about writing a food blog - Pausing to take pictures when you're hungry!

Pulled Pork

Mmmm pulled pork. It's so delicious and I think it can be very versatile when seasoned a certain way. This seasoning on slow cooked boneless Boston butt pork roast gives the pork great flavor while still complementing the flavors of other recipes. I'll use this for barbeque pork sandwiches and shredded pork burritos, for example, and add other flavors and seasonings accordingly. It's like a blank canvas of pork!

I'm a college student and cook on a college student budget, so if I'm going to cook an enormous cut of meat, I better be happy eating it all week. With this pork recipe I'm free to get creative because the flavors go well with variety of dishes! I eat home-cooked meals on the cheap all week and don't get bored. Perfect!

Pulled Pork

8-10 servings
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 7 hours
Total time: 7 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients
3 lbs boneless Boston butt pork roast
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1/2 Tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper


1. Combine garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.

2. Rub seasoning mixture on pork roast.

3. Place seasoned roast fatty side down in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.

4. Shred pork in slow cooker with two forks and remove any unwanted fatty pieces. Mix shredded pork in the juice drippings in the slow cooker. Enjoy!

I like this seasoning mixture for the pork roast because the flavors go well with everything. I hate to call it "neutral" because that makes it sound bland, but it really is neutral in the sense that it keeps a lot of possibilities open for recipes to use the pork with. And that's the idea when you're trying to cook on a budget and keep some variety in there!

Rub the seasoning mix aaaaaall over the pork roast. You'll get messy, but it will be worth it.

Place the roast in the slow cooker, fat side down.

Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. Everyone should invest in a slow cooker! You can cook inexpensive pieces of meat and they will still be tender and delicious.

Mmmm and after 7 hours - this juicy goodness.

Shred with two forks. It will easily pull apart and you can remove any fatty pieces you don't want. I like to shred it in the crock pot so you can mix it in all the juice! It would be a shame to  waste.

Tonight it's a pulled pork sandwich with Sweet Baby Rays Sweet 'n Spicy barbeque sauce, salad, and loaded baked potato fries from Budget Bytes.  Nom nom nom.