Pulled Pork, S'Mores Cookies, and salad! (Days 167,168,169,170)

While this year's 4th of July was a bit of a wash-out, the rest of the weekend turned out quite nice!  On the 5th of July, we hit the beach with my parents--fantastic time!  Then after getting cleaned up, went to their church for an outdoor picnic, live music, and a great view of the Worcester fireworks.  It was a great day and night and our kids enjoyed every second!  Meanwhile, at home, I had a huge pork butt slow-cooking in the crock-pot for our church's picnic the following day.  I love pulled pork, and it's so easy to make!  Everyone makes it different, but I like it spicy.  I don't put too much barbeque sauce in it while it's cooking, I save that for the buns when making the sandwich.  Instead, I use spices to bring out the flavor of the pork and let it cook for 10 hours or more so that when it's done, the meat literally falls off the bone with one touch.  Amazing!  And so incredibly good!  Here's my recipe:

So after the beach, I figured, "I'm already hot and sticky, might as well go for a run before my shower."  After the run I thought, "Well, I'm already hot, sticky, sweaty, and smelly, might as well pull the pork before I take a shower." :)

Spicy Pulled Pork
Let me first admit that I've had to "dull" this recipe down.  It used to be quite spicy, even intolerable for some.  I do love spicy food, but as a cook, I don't want my food to be a turn-off.  I feel like people can take this recipe and add in the spice if they want.  I've made my recipe a bit more user-friendly over the years and am happy with the way it turned out!

1 pork butt or shoulder, bone in or out, however you prefer

1 TB salt
1 TB pepper
1 TB paprika
1 TB garlic powder
1 TB Tastefully Simple's bbq spice OR a combination of cayenne, more paprika, more garlic powder, and chipotle chili powder
2 TB brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup barbeque sauce

Combine the salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and other seasonings to form a rub.  Massage the spices into the pork and let sit overnight.
The next morning, place the pork in the slow-cooker and add the brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, and barbeque sauce and cook on low for 10 hours or so.  Pull the pork apart with a fork.  Serve on bulkie rolls with extra barbeque sauce.

S'Mores Cookies
I recently posted a recipe for s'mores bars, courtesy of a good friend of mine.  Our church has a 4th of July picnic each year and has started having cookie baking contests.  I wanted to enter the contest with an original recipe, and it had to be a genuine cookie.  So I re-wrote the recipe for the bars to make them into cookies.  Here are the results:

2 sticks of butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup mini marshmallows
12 oz chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix.  Add the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, and salt.  Stir until well combined.  Add the marshmallows and chocolate chips and stir.  Plop a heaping tablespoon down on a greased cookie sheet and fill the sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes and set on a cooling rack to cool completely when done.

While both of these recipes were prepared on Saturday (Day 167), they were enjoyed on Sunday (Day 168) with leftovers on Monday (Day 169).  Tuesday's dinner (Day 170) was a little lighter.  I whipped together a quick salad with grilled chicken, nuts, apples, cheese, and cranberries.  Even Abby loves a good salad!