Pulled Pork (in the crock pot)

Well, hello blog.

"Learning" surgery has devoured every ounce of my energy and almost all of my free time.  I've been living off of things I made 3 weeks ago and put in the freezer for what I know would be busy weeks ahead.  Now that I think about it, I feel a little like a squirrel- hiding nuts to have later.  Or something.

So this weekend another en masse meal had to happen to feed us for the week.  Pulled pork in the crock pot it was.

Adapted from a recipe on this finance website (where it breaks down the cost of the recipe, because pork shoulder is relatively cheap).

Ingredients:
One 4-6 pound pork shoulder roast
Water
1-2 onions
6 cloves garlic
Dry BBQ seasoning
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 T chili powder
1-3 tsp cayenne pepper
1 T liquid smoke
Jar/bottle BBQ sauce of your favorite variety
Buns and Sriracha mayo (see below), for serving

(0. Optional: Rub dry BBQ seasoning generously over the pork and let sit, wrapped in cling wrap or covered somehow, in the fridge overnight.)
1. Cut the onion(s) into large chunks.  Slice garlic cloves in half.  Toss in bottom of slow cooker.
2.  Rub BBQ seasoning generously over pork if you didn't let it sit overnight with this.  Place entire roast in slow cooker.
3. Add bouillon cube (whole), chili powder, cayenne, and liquid smoke.  Then fill with water until meat is 3/4 covered.
4. Cook on low 2 hours, then high for 4 hours.  (Or you could do low for likely 8-10 hours; I didn't wake up early enough in the morning to accomplish this)
5. Pour off/drain all the liquid.  Discard the onions/garlic if you wish, or leave them if you're into that sort of thing.  Then use 2 forks to shred the meat.  It should pretty much fall apart when you touch it.  Discard any fat.
6. Put back in crock pot, on low, and add as much BBQ sauce as you would like.  Let it warm for 5-10 minutes, then serve on buns with sriracha mayo, additional BBQ sauce, and any other toppings you would like.

Sriracha Mayo (not really a recipe)
2 T mayonnaise (light will do)
1 tsp Sriracha (more to taste)

Mix, then use on sandwiches.

Croque Madame Breakfast Skillet

Happy New Year! (so I'm a few days late...current work hours have been crazy)

So this recipe breaks a few rules...it's not a sandwich like a typical croque madame, but it may be even better.  Everything is better with potatoes, right?  So I decided to skip the bread and add some hash browns.  In theory a croque madame should also involve some gruyere, but I went for a creamy mornay-like sauce.  This recipe is for one serving, but it would be easy to make in large quantities (and you could skip shredding potatoes and buy frozen hash browns to speed things along).

Ingredients:
1 potato, grated
1-2 T canola oil
ham (as much or as little as you like), cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 plus 1 T butter or oil
1/2 T flour
1 small clove of garlic, minced
1/2 C milk
1/4 C parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
nutmeg
egg

First, potatoes
1. Grate the potatoes using a box grater or food processor, then soak in water for 10-15 minutes.  Rinse, then use paper towels to dry really well.
2. Warm oil in a skillet on medium-high heat.
3. Fry potatoes in a single thin layer, covered, for 3-4 minutes or until browned.
4. Flip potatoes, uncover, and finish cooking the other side (another 3-4 minutes).
5. Remove to plate (if you aren't doing the sauce/egg simultaneously, consider putting plate in a 250-degree oven to keep warm)

While the potatoes are cooking, start the sauce
1. Melt butter over medium heat in a small saucepan, add the garlic at the same time as the butter
2. Once butter is completely melted, add flour and whisk together to form a roux.  Cook for a minute or so
3. Add milk and continue to whisk, a little bit at a time
4. Add salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg
5. Once milk is bubbly (a few minutes), add parmesan cheese, stir, and then remove from heat

Ham and egg
1. Warm pieces of ham in a skillet
2. Then remove ham, melt some butter or oil (about 1 T) in skillet over medium-high.  When hot, gently pour in egg
3. Cook for one minute, then flip and cook another 30 seconds, or longer if you desire your eggs more over-medium or over-hard.  Then don't accidentally break the yolk like I did.

Assemble!
Hashbrowns, then ham, then sauce, then egg!