I'm a big fat liar. But I'm ok with it.

Ok I lied. I'M SORRY! I told you all that I would be posting a recipe for cookies and cream cupcakes. But I have something else today. something delicious. something fantastic. and something that is quite possibly the exact opposite of cookies and cream cupcakes. I would like to introduce you to my new favorite slow cooker recipe:

PULLED PORK!

Now, when my dad is bored, he makes pulled pork on the grill. That's right. When he's bored. I can't explain it. But some days I will notice that he is going outside a lot and then for dinner there's like 20 pounds of pulled pork sitting in front of me. It's fantastic, and I love when my dad is bored, but this is soooooo much easier. Basically you throw a sauce together. Pour it on top of however much pork you can cram into the slow cooker and then leave it for eight hours. Make it before work and come home to a tasty, subtly spicy, pulled pork sammich.

1 onion, roughly chopped

2-3 carrots, roughly chopped

3 lbs of pork shoulder (or like I said before, however much fits in the slow cooker)

1/2 cup vegetable/chicken broth

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup chili sauce (less if you don't like spicy)

1 cup apple juice

Mix up the wet ingredients in a bowl. In the slow cooker, put the onions and carrots in the bottom, then put the pork on top. Pour about half of the sauce over the pork then turn it on low and cook for 8 hours. Put the sauce in the fridge and wait.

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go to class

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do your homework

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watch mtv and melt your brain

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take a nap

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DINNER TIME. Heat up the rest of the sauce in a saucepan. With tongs, pull the pork out of the slow cooker and put it into a bowl. It will basically fall apart as you're doing that, so it doesn't take much to really shred it. Just throw it around with the tongs a bit.

Then grab some bread or rolls, put the pulled pork in the middle, pour sauce all over it, and eat that delicious sammich! Or--this is what I did--Heat up some tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds then make pork tacos! Shredded pork with sour cream and lots of sauce. yummy.

Beware! Depending on how much chili sauce you add (and how sensitive you are to heat) the sauce can be pretty spicy. I wasn't expecting that and basically drowned my pork tacos in the sauce. But it was totally worth it.

Go make this for dinner tonight!

XOXO

Natalie

Pollo-rific

Do you know why I love costco? THIS is why I love costco!

That is an enourmous jar of pollo. Do you see how big that is in comparison to the pitcher? It's like 35 oz! zomg. so much pollo.

Anyway, speaking of pollo, last night I made chicken santa-fe. It's a really tasty slow cooker meal. Slow cookers are amazing beautiful things. I throw everything in and then a few hours later, delicious food! I definitly recomend this for a busy day. Here's how to make it!

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cans sweet corn, rinsed and drained

6 chicken thighs (I used boneless, skinless. If you are using breasts, shorten the cooking time or they will dry out)

1 cup salsa

4-8 oz cream cheese, cut up into cubes

shredded cheese

Rinse and drain the beans and corn and throw those in the slow cooker. Then add half of the salsa and the chicken. On top of the chicken, put the rest of the salsa.

I used more than a cup because, hey, I'm crazy like that.

Turn it on high and let it cook for three hours. (If you're using chicken breasts, check on it at about two hours and see if it's done)

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three hours goes by

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nap time

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homework time

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DING chicken's done!

When the three hours is up, take the chicken out of the slow cooker and shred it up into bite sized pieces.

Put the chicken back in the slow cooker and add about 4 oz of cream cheese. If the sauce looks creamy enough to you, stop there. If not, keep adding it until it has the consistency you want.

Serve over rice and add plenty of grated cheddar cheese on top!

YUMMM chicken. Tastes like salsa. What could be better?

XOXO

Natalie