BBQ Pulled Pork and Mac and Cheese Sandwich

I love grilled cheese sandwiches.  This sandwich takes it up a few notches!  It proves that grilled cheese is not just for your kiddos and this is perfect for dinner.  When I make BBQ pulled pork I usually have leftovers because it makes so much.  I often freeze some and pull it out to make these amazing sandwiches and since it is already made I can throw it together quickly on nights when we have a baseball game or other evening activity

Ingredients:

• 1-1/ 1/2 lbs Pulled Pork either Best Darn Pork BBQ or BBQ Pulled Pork {Cincinnati Style}
• Macaroni and Cheese (recipe to come soon)
• Butter
• 8 Slices of Sour Dough Bread

Serves 4

Cook the Pulled Pork according to one of our AMAZING recipes.  

Prepare your favorite Macaroni and Cheese recipe (I will post mine soon).

Butter one side of each piece of bread and pile on the pork followed by the mac and cheese.  

 Place in skillet and toast each side to a golden brown.  Be careful not to lose the insides of your sandwich as you flip it!

Low Carb Italian Chopped Salad

I love Italian sub sandwiches, but I dont really love all the fat and carbs, but you can turn almost any sandwich into a delicious salad? Here's my take on an Italian chopped salad.

For the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• Lots of pepper
• Salt

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend. Chill for 30 minutes.

For the salad:

• Romaine or iceberg lettuce
• Turkey pepperoni, fat free ham and hard salami
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Red onions
• 2 slices mozzarella cheese
  

Chop up lettuce into small bite size pieces. Chop desired amount of other ingredients and toss all of it lightly in the dressing. Serve immediately!

This recipe was featured on the Marvelous May Menu, be sure to check out the rest of the May Menu.

Best Darn Pork BBQ

My younger sister has celiac disease and therefore cannot eat any gluten. Since she often comes over for dinner, I try to find ways to make gluten free food, or at least give her gluten free options when she eats here. Everything in this post is gluten free EXCEPT the pretzel rolls. While I wholeheartedly prefer the rolls, this meal still does taste great over rice. I ate at a Latin restaurant once that served Kahlua pork with coconut rice and bacon black beans, it was delicious! I think you could cook your rice in coconut milk and just crumple cooked bacon in your beans and use my pork recipe to create this. Maybe I'll make that with the leftover pork and post later!

Anyway, here are the ingredients for the pork roast:

• 2-3 lbs. pork roast
• 1 tbsp. dry mustard
• 1 tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbsp. sea salt
• 1 tbsp. black pepper
• 1/4 cup liquid smoke

I'm going to be honest and say I never measure out those spices. I just rub them all over the meat until it looks well coated in the spice rub. Use however much you think is appropriate for your taste. After you rub the spices on the pork, place in slow cooker and pour in liquid smoke. Cook on low for at least 12 hours. The longer the better. I recommend cooking on low for 8-10 hours then leave on "keep warm" overnight. I have left this on low for 20 hours before and it was deliciously (forgot to turn to keep warm before bed so it cooked on low all night). Transfer the pork to a dish and shred with a fork. Since inlet this cook all night, I store it until dinner that night, so I reserve about 1/2 cup of the liquid from slow cooker for later. I then heat up pork in the liquid in a pan on the stove. Serve with warm BBQ sauce below.

BBQ Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 cup ketchup (Heinz for gluten free)
• 2 tbsp.  Orange Juice
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce (Lea and Perrins or Kroger for gluten free)
• Dashes of liquid smoke, cayenne pepper and dry mustard

Again, I don't measure the last few ingredients, just a dash is how I measure. Use more cayenne if you like your BBQ spicy, none at all if you don't want any spice. You can use a bit more sugar and even add honey if you like your BBQ sauce even sweeter. Add BBQ sauce to the pork and combine. Serve on pretzel rolls.

This recipe was featured in Two Magical Moms March Menu Madness and our Appetizing April Menu.  Check out the menus and try out some of our other YUMMY recipes!

Perfect Picnic Chicken Salad

I decided to take the night off from cooking on Friday. I still needed to run to the grocery store for a few items so I picked up a rotisserie chicken from Wegmans prepared foods section. We ate half of it for dinner and I used the other half to make chicken salad for lunch on Saturday.
Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup mayo
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sweet relish
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 hard boiled egg diced (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• pepper to taste
• 1/2 rotisserie chicken cubed

 ***makes enough for 4 sandwiches**
Mix all ingredients, except egg, together in a bowl. After they are all mixed together add in the diced hard boiled egg. I do this last because I don't want it to get smashed.

Serve chicken salad on croissant or toasted whole wheat bread. This is perfect for lunch or GREAT on a hot summer night when you don't want to eat hot food. BTW I think that the chicken salad is SO much better when it sits for a few hours in the fridge. The flavors mix together nicely!

This recipe was featured in Two Magical Moms March Menu Madness.  Check out the entire menu and try out some of our other YUMMY recipes!