Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

OH. MY. GOODNESS.  You have got to try this pulled pork recipe I found on The Pioneer Woman.  Definitely a winner!  I know it sounds kinda weird to cook a pork shoulder in Dr. Pepper, but trust me, you won’t be sorry!  You can’t really even taste a Dr. Pepper flavor.  It just brightens the whole experience and adds a little sweetness to contrast the spiciness of the chipotle peppers.  The Pioneer Woman cooked this in the oven, but I used a slow cooker and it turned out great.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1 large onion
  • 1 whole pork shoulder (“pork butt”) – 5 to 7 lbs (however, I only used about 1/4 of the meat since I was only feeding 2 people)
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 can (11 oz) chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (can be found on the Mexican food aisle)
  • 2 cans Dr. Pepper
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar

Start by peeling and quartering a large onion and scatter around the bottom of the slow cooker (or pot if you’re cooking it in the oven).

Here’s what the label will most likely say.  Don’t worry.  It’s not really a pork “butt”.  It’s the shoulder. 🙂  Still figuring out why they call it a butt.

The whole shoulder would have probably fed about 10 people so I cut about a quarter of it and put the rest in the freezer to use later.  Liberally sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place on top of the onion.

Pour the whole can of chipotle peppers onto the meat (sauce too).

Now, I know this might be going against your nature, and may seem weird, but trust me!  It’ll be worth it!

Pour both cans of Dr. Pepper over the meat, peppers, and onion.  I used room temperature Dr. Pepper even though we had cold ones in the fridge.  I figured, it was going to need to get hot anyway, so I might as well help it along.

Next add the brown sugar.  Stir it around so that everything is nice and combined.

Cook for at least 6 hours on Low if using a slow cooker, and at 300° if cooking in the oven.  You’ll want to turn the meat over 2-3 times while cooking.

When the meat is ready it will be practically falling apart, so use caution when taking it out of the pot.

Shred meat with 2 forks, separating the big chunks of fat as you go.  The fat should be pretty easy to see since it will be slimy and soft, and the meat will be more firm.

Place the shredded meat back into the slow cooker and keep warm until ready to serve.  Discard the fat.

I served the pork with a side of mashed potatoes.  The juices from the slow cooker made a wonderful gravy!  Hope you love it as much as we did!

Cute Etsy Finds

I was browsing through the jewelry section of Etsy today when I stumbled upon some of the cutest necklaces I had ever seen.  By the way, in case you didn’t know, Etsy is a website where ordinary people can sell their handmade or vintage items.  You can find many one of a kind treasures in any category you can imagine.

Such as this baking necklace.  I mean really, how do they come up with this stuff?  Isn’t this the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?  Resist the urge, Joanna.  Why do I torture myself like this?

It also comes in this copper color.

Chinese take out, anyone?

Really?  A carton of eggs?  What will they come up with next?  Off to drool over look at some more things that I really want, but don’t need.

Lasagna

I’ve never been much of a lasagna fan, but after seeing this recipe on The Pioneer Woman website, I decided to give it a try.  It’s actually fairly easy to make, and it tasted GREAT!!  So if you are a person that likes lasagna, I suggest trying this recipe on for size….or taste.

Here’s what you’ll need:  (I halved this recipe since I was only making it for 2 people.  We still ended up having over 3 servings left and we were STUFFED!)

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1 lb hot breakfast sausage

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans (14.5 oz) whole tomatoes (you can use diced tomatoes if you don’t want such big chunks in your meat sauce)

2 cans (6 oz) tomato paste (I used tomato sauce since I realized I was out of tomato paste at the exact moment when I needed to add it to the skillet)

4 tbsp dried parsely

2 tbsp dried basil

2 tsp salt

3 cups lowfat cottage cheese

2 whole beaten eggs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 lb sliced mozzarella cheese

1 package (10 oz) lasagna noodles (I used whole wheat lasagna, but you can use whatever you want.  Unfortunately I didn’t have any 5 net carb Dreamfields lasagna)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Add beef and sausage to a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat.

Add garlic to the meat.  I grated my garlic over a microplane, because I think it blends more evenly, and the flavor can saturate the meat more so than if I just chopped it very finely.

Brown the meat and stir to thoroughly combine.

Drain most of that lovely fat.  Can’t you just feel it clogging your arteries just by looking at it?

Add tomatoes, tomato paste (or sauce in my case), basil, 1 tsp of salt, and 2 tbsp of the parsley.

Stir until thoroughly combined, and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes.  I chopped the tomatoes up with my wooden spoon as I stirred.

In a medium bowl add the cottage cheese….

…egg…

…Parmesan cheese…

…and the rest of the salt and parsley.

Stir until thoroughly combined and set aside.

Meanwhile, drop some lasagna noodles into a large pot of boiling water and cook to “al dente” (still has a bite to it).

Now it’s time to assemble the lasagna.  Start by laying the lasagna noodles in a baking dish.  Overlap the noodles as you go.

Spoon half of the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles.

Lay a layer of cheese on top of the cottage cheese.

Spread half of the meat sauce on top of the cheese.  Then repeat the process all over again, ending with a meat layer on the top.

Liberally sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top of the meat.  And if you’re like me….throw a handful of cheese in your mouth.  Yum!

Pop it in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until it’s all bubbly on the top.

After struggling to keep the square of lasagna you just cut on your spatula and not all over the counter, place it on a plate and eat!  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!