Pulled Pork

First off - Happy Valentine's Day! Any big plans for the evening with your special someone? J & I have decided to lay low this year. House shopping costs more than enough, so no flowers, no special dinner out, nada this year. We'll be hanging in and cooking a nice meal at home. 

Seeing as I don't even know when the last time I made it to the gym was, lets stick with food. How about another great recipe?

For some reason, I always forget I can use my crockpot to cook for us. Maybe it's because I don't have any family recipes or even memories, of crock pot meals. Maybe it's because I picked our crock pot up for a whopping $15 at Walmart one day, it has no pre-set timer, just high/low/keep warm. I have no idea. But what I do know, is that when I remember to use it, the meals are always amazing.

Who doesn't like pulled pork? So good. J & I love BBQ food. You just can't go wrong. We had a package of pork chops in the fridge that needed to be cooked this weekend. Unfortunately, I had little desire to stand over the stovetop and cook a big meal. This past weekend was all about relaxing, in between shoveling....

I started out by throwing in things we had that I remembered using the last time I made pulled pork, but then decided I'd double check a recipe. This recipe to be precise.

Because I was cooking for just J & I, and because I followed this recipe very loosely for 2 people versus 6, here's my rendition of it.

Ingredients - Serves 3 (a little extra for lunch the next day!)
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 lb pork chops
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablesoon brown sugar
8 ounces water
1 cup barbecue sauce

Place the onion in the bottom of the crock pot and lay the pork chops on top. Sprinkle in the seasonings, pour in the water (I avoided the meat so that the seasonings would stay put). Crock pot cooking is that easy.

I cooked this concoction on low for about 6 hours. When we came in from shoveling out my car, the condo smelled amazing! I have to thank the cinnamon. This was the first time I've added cinnamon before and it was a great addition. I may have even heard J say this was the best ever....

Not the greatest photo, coloring seems off from the seasonings and cooked fat, but I promise you it's tasty!

Once done, we shredded the pork on a cutting board, drained the excess water from the crock pot, placed the shredded pork back in and mixed in the barbecue sauce.

And, if you know me, you know that BBQ must come with a side of mac n cheese. It's bad, but I just love that stuff!

I think next time I'll opt for fresh garlic versus garlic powder but other than that, I'll be saving this recipe for a future use! Nothing like an easy, delicious meal to serve up during a snow storm. If you give it a try, let me know what you think! Do you normally put cinnamon in your pulled pork recipe? J & I were both very pleasantly surprised by it.

Enjoy!