Not Another Pulled Pork Recipe!

I was at a loss. Pork loin was on sale. Crazy cheap. But you had to buy the family size. Limit two. Did I mention it was crazy cheap? So I bought two of the family size. I had plenty of room in the freezer. And we eat a LOT of pork around here. But buying a lot of pork for crazy cheap in Oklahoma means you end up with about 47 pounds of pork in your freezer. No lie.

I figure it'll last me all winter.

Anyhow, now I had to figure out something to do with all this pork. I wanted to make just a basic pulled pork in the crock pot with the barbecue sauce and a few onions, but I had no sauce and my roommate was kind enough to make sure to devour all the onions along with virtually every other morsel of food in the house.

So I hit the kitchen and took stock. No, not chicken stock. The roommate got that too.

Sigh.

So that's how this recipe was born. It was a Hail Mary and it just happened to work.

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You're Better off Living Alone Pulled Pork

5 lbs pork loin, bone-in or partially boneless, still frozen

2-3 tsp garlic powder

1 quart water

2 recipes of this copycat of Lipton Onion Soup Mix*

Put all ingredients except for the meat into the slow cooker and give it a stir. It doesn't have to be completely blended, you just don't want any of it dry when you add your roast.

Add meat, cover, and cook on low for about 14-16 hours. Around the 10 hour mark, turn the roast over and put the cover back on.

*If you don't want to make the copycat, you'll need 2-3 packets of the store-bought onion soup mix.

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I kid you not. That's really all there is to it. The secret is low and slow. I am convinced that's why meat that I cook in the crock pot always comes out more tender and flavorful when I begin with it still frozen. It takes longer to cook sometimes, but it's so tender it almost melts in your mouth.

The broth is amazing, more like soup. I've mentioned before I'm not a gravy person, so I think rice pilaf would be a great side for this. However, we served it with baked sweet potatoes, cornbread, and summer squash smothered in onions.

I promised my pal Tony that I would post the rice pilaf recipe too, but I don't have the time right now, so I'll make a note and you can all have it next Sunday instead.

Don't look so sad. Tell you what: as a consolation prize, I'll tell you my plans for the leftover broth, since that's all that was left over.

Again, just dump the broth into the crock pot. If you don't have enough, make up some of the liquid with some canned beef or vegetable broth, or even water. Add your meat. Same deal -- about a 5 pound pork loin, either partially boneless or bone-in, still frozen. (You could even get away with frozen broth.)

Cook it on low for about 8 hours. Turn the meat over, add about 2-3 pounds of mixed frozen vegetables. (Whatever kind you want. I think I'm going to use spinach and whatever bags of veggies are sitting in the freezer half used.) Also, stir in about 2 cups of rice and let it go. Check on it after about 4 hours to see whether the rice is done and/or you need to add more liquid.

Happy Crock Potting!

Taters 'n' Onions

In an effort to make some of my favorite recipes allergy free, or at least lower in allergens, I've been scouring Pinterest for copycats of various premade ingredients. Now, I don't think I've ever used Lipton Onion Soup mix to actually make soup, but it's always been a staple in my pantry, just as it was in my mother's.

I've used it for pot roast, both in the slow cooker and in the oven. -- Throw a cheap cut of meat (I like a chuck roast), some potatoes, celery, carrots, onions, and water into an oven bag or a crock pot and cook it low and slow. The meat comes out fork tender and the veggies end up tender and soaked in a beautiful gravy.

I've used it for onion dip -- Pour one packet of the soup mix into a quart of sour cream and stir. It's best if you refrigerate it overnight to rehydrate the onion. Of course, these days, I'm more likely to use Greek yogurt as a more healthy alternative to sour cream.

But my favorite use for it is oven roasted potatoes -- This recipe is courtesy of the back of the Lipton Onion Soup Mix box. The only difference is that I reduce the amount of oil. Scrub potatoes and cut into desired shape. (I usually go with chunks or steak fries.) Mix a packet of Soup Mix with 1/4 cup of oil in a zip top bag. Add potatoes and shake until they're coated. Bake on a nonstick cookie sheet at 425 until potatoes are tender in the middle (about 45-60 minutes).*

The potato recipe was my litmus test for these two Pinterest experiments. Heh. Like I needed an excuse. As always, click the section title for the pin.

Click for the link to the official original recipe. This is also the source of the above photo.

#2 Homemade Onion Soup Mix

This one is really good. It's got a nice, bright flavor, like fresh green onions, and would be a great starter for soup. I would probably also use it for roasted potatoes or a flavoring for other roasted vegetables. If you aren't a lover of the Lipton, try this one as the flavor is quite different.

#1 Copy Cat Recipe -- Lipton Onion Soup Mix

I would love to tell you that this one is an exact copy of the Lipton mix, but I can't. I actually like it better. The flavor is so close, but it's somehow cleaner. I don't know how else to describe it. That said, if you want the Lipton flavor without all the crap, use this one with the gluten-free bouillon granules.

*Now because this is a favorite recipe of mine, I do vary it so it never gets boring. Here are a few variations I use that you might appreciate:

• Before tossing the potatoes with the oil and onion mix, microwave them to speed up the cooking time, then finish them off in the oven. It changes the texture slightly but saves a ton of time.
• Par-boil the potatoes (boil them until they're almost done) before laying them out on the cookie sheet. Then pour the oil and onion mix over the top and toss it all to coat the potatoes. This changes the texture quite a bit. They come out much softer, like good, old-fashioned home fries.
• I love onions and hate to see them go to waste, so when I have an overabundance, I cube them and toss them with the potatoes. It just adds another layer of onion to the recipe.
• Finally, this one was a (very naughty) tweak passed on to me by a friend. Add chopped, fresh onion, more oil, and half a stick of butter. Oh. Em. Gee. This is one of those recipes best reserved for special occasions. (But it's sooo good.) For another layer of naughty, add bacon. Best to cook this one in a baking dish with higher sides and you'll need to stir it a few times so the bottom doesn't burn.

Happy Cooking!