A Little Behind

I'm so thankful for my cousin buying me the slow cooker for my birthday. I already want more in different sizes so I can expand my newly growing repertoire. I've only done two dishes so far, mostly to money being tight these last two weeks and not being able to do my monthly stock up on meat products from Frigs.

Growing up I was never that into pork products, aside from bacon and pork tenderloin. I usually found Ham too salty and pork chops too tough and I just never really tasted anything like pulled pork until I was in my 20's. The first time I really remember having it was the summer of 2009 in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. Ryan and I were on vacation and staying with my dad's cousins and their neighbours invited us all for dinner one night. They had an amazing ceramic cooker called The Big Green Egg. The lid on that thing was so heavy I could barely lift it. They'd had tons of pork shoulder cooking since early that morning and was amazing. With homemade coleslaw and Serrano pepper hot sauce we piled our buns high and enjoyed the spicy spicy sandwiches with some premium beers. I dream of one day owning a Big Green Egg. Since then I've only made pulled pork a couple of times, and while it's always good, it's just not the same as my first earth-shattering experience.

Aside from the pulled pork, I've used the slow cooker to do up a nice little ham last weekend. I was a bit doubtful about the amount of apple cider vinegar the recipe I used called for, it was probably the best ham I've ever had. With 6 hours in the cooker, some green beans, and mashed sweet and creamer potatoes, it was one of the easiest meals I've made in ages.

And the final pork product that I've recently come back around to: pork chops. Growing up I don't think my mom ever brined our pork chops, and I always found them too tough and dry and just not very exciting. The world of brining has opened my eyes. Never again will I cook up a chop that hasn't been brined. Not only is the meat much more tender, but anything with ACV, honey, and mustard can't go wrong with pork chops.

So tonight my niece and a friend will be joining us for dinner of pork chops with honey glazed roasted tomatoes, green beans with lemon, sunflower seeds, garlic and butter, and mashed taters. So with no new recipes to offer, I'll leave it there and will hopefully return with something new in the next week.

Oh yeah, my mustard greens are looking amazing already!