Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Nice and easy...and amazing flavor!

1 (5 pound) pork butt roast
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (12 fluid oz) can beer (I used Alaskan white wheat ale.  Apparently you can use root beer as well)
1 (12 oz) bottle barbecue sauce (I used Stubbs Sticky Sweet, has all natural ingredients)

Place the pork in the slow cooker, season top of pork with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (I just sprinkled away, not measuring).  Pour the beer into the bottom of the slow cooker and place lid.

Cook on high for 1 hour.  Reduce heat to low and cook for at least 8 hours or overnight (with our new crockpot, we did 7 hours).

Remove pork from the slow cooker and shred with two forks (I sort of forgot to remove it but really, it just fell apart with a meat fork so not sure I could have removed it if I tried!).  Discard juices and rinse out slow cooker crock (I ladled the juices out and into a strainer to catch the meat to add back in.  Doing this, I didn't get all the juices but it was ok.  A little juicer at the end but no complaints there!).  Return pork to slow cooker and stir barbecue sauce into pork.

Cook on medium for 1 hour (ours doesn't have medium so I did low for an hour).

Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-beer-pulled-pork/ 

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwhiches

Nice and easy recipe with delicious results!

1 lg onion, quartered and sliced (I used about 1 tblspn of powdered onion)
1 beef roast, bottom round, rump, or other lean cut, about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds
1/4 cup water
1/4 dry white wine (or use 1/2 cup water total - what I did)
1 package au jus gravy mix
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
dash garlic powder
sandwich rolls or French bread

Place onion in slow cooker (I about covered the bottom).  Place roast on the onions.

In a bowl, stir together wine and water (or all water), au jus mix, pepper, and garlic powder.  Pour over roast.

Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours or on low 10 to 12 hours, or until meat is very tender.
Note: we bought a Hamilton Beach programmable cooker and only took about 4 hours on high.  I highly recommend this crock pot!

Remove meat from liquid (it FELL apart! It was awesome!) and let stand for 5 minutes (yeah right, we just dove right in).  Slice roast thinly across grain (again, it fell apart, no cutting needed!).

Make sandwiches on bread with meat and onions (we used mozzarella cheese but provolone would work well too.  We did not do onions but will be trying it with green peppers and maybe caramelized onion next time).

Serve the cooking liquid for dipping (yes.  do this.)


Source: http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotpotroast/r/bl83c14.htm

Cheesy Chicken in the Crock Pot

This one is from a tin of crock pot recipes and I hadn't made it in a while.  I've discovered that cooking overnight is best for me and especially with my older crock.  It turned out delicious and easy...and inexpensive. 

6 count or about 1 1\2 lbs chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cheese sauce (from the soup isle)
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic (recipe calls for garlic powder but I minced fresh garlic)
Pasta, rice, or potatoes to serve over (I used rotini pasta)
Parsley

Lay half of the chicken at the bottom of the crock pot and season with salt, pepper, and garlic. Repeat with rest of the chicken.  Mix the soups in a small bowl and pour over the chicken.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  Pour mixture over the pasta of your choice and sprinkle with parsley.

When ready, I mixed the chicken and sauce in the crock so that the chicken shredded as I mixed.  After I cooked and drained the pasta, I mixed it all together.

Next time I would like to add in some red pepper flakes to spice it up!