My youngest requested pulled pork sandwiches and pork shoulder was on sale! I like it when requests line up with sales!  I’ve done a few pulled pork variations in the past, including this pulled pork in the slow cooker where you basically make your own barbecue sauce with onions, garlic, chili powder, black pepper, chili sauce, brown sugar, cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. But the other day I had some barbecue sauce in the pantry I’d bought on sale and wanted to use up, so I “cheated” and used it up.

Cut whatever fat you can off the pork shoulder or pork roast. You won’t get it all for sure, but you can eliminate the big pieces of it.  If yours is tied together with twine, as mine was, just cut the twine away. You WANT the pork to fall apart!  Pour about a cup of barbecue sauce on it, your favorite bottled variety or your own homemade, and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for much longer. You want to be able to pull it apart with two forks, so you want it really well done and soft and falling apart.

To serve, I usually add more barbecue sauce as the sauce in the slow cooker has been thinned down so much. Stir in the sauce and heat through, then serve on buns. Goes great with coleslaw on the side or in the sandwich.

I’ve got this recipe for coleslaw without the mayonnaise or you can mix up some dressing along the lines of:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbs cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbs celery seeds

Adjust the sugar/salt/vinegar ratio to suit your tastebuds.

I experiment now and then but I keep coming back to this one. It’s so simple. I always have the ingredients on hand. It goes together quickly. I usually serve it with ribs, slow cooked over a 300 F grill for a few hours, turning every 45 minutes.

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 3 Tbs brown sugar
• 3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Mix it all up and simmer very slowly, stirring now and then, for 30 minutes or so.

Pork Carnitas

These are both repeats but WORTH repeating!  First the pork carnitas.  Keep an eye out for pork roasts on sale and this is cheap gourmet!  I usually cut a roast in half and just cook up half at a time. Hint, if you’re working with the half you froze before don’t defrost it all the way. It’s much easier to cube the pork when it’s still partially frozen.
Last time I made the tomatillo salsa I didn’t have the pickled jalapeno. I found some in a can at Safeway and added two pieces to the recipe tonight. Definitely kicks it up a notch!

Pork carnitas recipe

Tomatillo salsa recipe

Served with refried beans, good thick tortillas, grated cheese, sour cream, chopped avocados, and a green salad.

Tomatillo Salsa

Not much leftover for lunch tomorrow!   Served 4 of us, including 3 teenagers.

I tried a new recipe for Chili Verde tonight, since pork roasts had been on sale. I bought two roasts (4 pounds total) and used one for the chili verde tonight, then Food Saver’d the other for later. There were a two major differences between this and my earlier recipe for chili verde. This one used a can of tomato sauce rather than a can of diced tomatoes. It also added a cup of green salsa and used a smaller can of green chilies.

Both recipes are good. This one came out much less “green” looking. The tomato sauce caused a definite red coloring. But the flavor was just as good. The jar of green salsa cost more than 4 more ounces of green chilies, but I only used half of it.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds boneless pork roast, cut in 1″ cubes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce (or 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes)
• 1 4 ounce can diced green chilies
• 1 cup green salsa (salsa verde)

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large deep skillet. Saute the onion and garlic while you cut up the pork. Add the pork to the pan and brown, stirring now and then.

Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, bring to a simmer, cover partially, and simmer 2-3 hours. If it starts getting too dry, add more liquid. If there’s too much liquid at the end, you can mix 1 Tbs cornstarch with 2 Tbs cold water, then stir that in and simmer a few minutes to thicken.

Total cost:

Pork: $4
Onion: .30
Garlic: I grew it so nearly nothing
Tomato sauce: .85
Green chilies: .85
Green salsa: $1.25 (I used half a $2.50 jar, more green chilies would have been cheaper)
6 Tortillas: 1.80

Total cost per serving: $1.50 or less. I’m guessing conservatively at the t servings.

You could also add some sour cream, grated cheese, more salsa, pinto beans, rice, etc. and get more servings out of this meal and can adjust the cost accordingly.

All in all, a very frugal, very delicious meal.

This would be great with either leftover pork roast or pork tenderloin. I used the leftover pork tenderloin I’d barbecued a few days back but the book I got it from suggested leftover pork roast. I seem to be having an issue posting Amazon links so will forfeit the 50 cents I’d make off the link and say it was from Cheap! Fast! Good! This is pretty kid-friendly and makes good use of leftovers. I used some frozen mixed bell pepper slices since I didn’t have any fresh.

2/3 cup rice
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup frozen corn or 1 15 oz can corn
1 15 oz can black beans or 2 cups homemade

2 tsp oil
1 cup chopped bell peppers (red, green, or a mix)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 15 oz can “Rotel” tomatoes (diced with green chiles)
3/4 to 1 1/2 cups cubed/chopped leftover pork tenderloin or pork roast
1 cup shredded Cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Heat the water, salt and rice to a boil. Lower to a simmer, cover, and cook 20 minutes.

Place the corn and black beans in a colander and rinse. If the corn is frozen, rinse a few times so it starts to defrost.

In a large skillet, heat the oil and then add the chopped peppers. Mince the garlic and add it. Add the cumin and chili powder and stir.

Add the can of tomatoes (with juices), the corn, the black beans, and the pork. Stir well. Cover the skillet and cook over medium heat until heated through, stirring now and then.

At this point the rice is probably done. If not, just leave the skillet over low.

When the rice is done, turn the heat off and remove the skillet from the burner. Add the rice, cheese, and sour cream and stir, then serve.

This rub makes enough for 2 pork tenderloins. If you don’t want to cook both, freeze one (with the rub on it) and it will be all ready to go after an overnight defrosting in the refrigerator.

• 2 tsps brown sugar
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt

Rub the spice mixture onto the pork tenderloin.

Preheat the barbecue. For a gas grill, I use Pam Anderson’s method of 7 minutes on high, then turn the tenderloins and cook 6 more minutes. Then, without raising the cover, turn the grill off, and leave the tenderloins there to finish cooking another 5 minutes.

I hardly even knew where to look to buy pork sausage without the casing, but I found it. I guess it’s called ground sausage… but isn’t all sausage ground? Anyway, this came from The Lady & Sons, Too!: A Whole New Batch of Recipes from Savannah, which I bought on a whim.

Both my kids (14 and 17) liked this, although they initially expressed some doubts. I served with some sliced red peppers on the side for a vegetable. I would have done a salad had I had more time.

1 pound ground sausage
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup milk
3 ounces cream cheese, cut in chunks
3 eggs
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp Worcestershire
1/2 tsp salt (or less, depending on your sausage)
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 9″ pie crust, partially baked

Make and bake the pie crust or use a storebought pie crust. Turn the oven to 375 afterwards.

Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium heat, stirring and crumbling it up as you go. Paula Deen said to drain the fat, remove the sausage, then add 1 Tbs butter.

I just removed the sausage and left about 1 Tbs of fat in the pan. Add the onion and cook until soft. Add the milk and heat through, stirring, but try not to let it simmer or boil. Add the cream cheese and stir a bit, lowering the heat way down. Turn the heat off as the cream cheese melts a bit.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Stir in the shredded cheese, then add the slightly cooled onion mix.

Pour this into the prebaked pie crust and add the cooked sausage on top. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or so, until the egg is set. I couldn’t fit all the sausage in since I was using a smaller pie crust but you should be able to with a deep dish pie shell.

Leftovers will be gone by the time breakfast is done I predict!

When I buy a roast, I usually cook half and save half, either whole, sliced, or chopped. I vacuum seal it and throw it in the freezer for a bit. I was in the mood for some pulled pork sandwiches but didn’t feel like paying as much attention as my regular recipes call for. (But if you feel like doing a bit more here’s another recipe for pulled pork.

For last night’s dinner, I went the easy route, defrosting the pork roast (which was cubed already) and dumping a bottle of barbecue sauce on it. You can make your own barbecue sauce or use store-bought.

When it’s falling apart done, shred with some forks. Serve on buns with coleslaw.

I have used a great pulled pork recipe many times with great praise from family and friends. I was in the grocery store perusing the magazines by the checkout stand and one called “Quick and Simple” caught my eye, probably because of the starburst promo calling out “17 Budget-Friendly Recipes.” They had a pulled pork recipe in there from a guy who has a tv show called The Poor Chef that sounded good and it was quite similar to my recipe I got from who knows where originally. I point that out because people, particularly new cooks, are often hesitant to alter a recipe. I think if you compare the ingredient list for these two you’ll see that the actual ingredients are about identical. The main difference is some minor variations in the proportions (more brown sugar, less vinegar, more black pepper, etc. ) So if you’re a bit shy of one ingredient in a recipe like this, experiment!

I had bought a pork roast a while back and made a Cuban Pork Roast with half of it. I threw the other half in the freezer. I used that for my pulled pork the other night.

1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 12-oz bottle chili sauce (look near the ketchup!)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2-3 pound boneless pork roast

Put all the ingredients in a slow cooker and stir around a bit to coat the pork.

If you have an older slow cooker, cook about 8-10 hours. (You can get the whole thing ready the night before and refrigerate, but really it’s pretty quick to throw together.) If you have a newer slow cooker, consider adjusting the time a bit. I find my newer one cooks so hot that meals are usually done in half the time called for in older recipes. In this case, I cooked the meat from 12-4, then shredded it, let it cook another half hour or so in the sauce, then refrigerated until we were ready to eat. I heated it up on the stove while I mixed up some coleslaw to go with it.

Definitely a winning recipe.

These were easy and good. I haven’t made gravy this way before but it came out delicious so I’ll definitely do it again. This came from an old Cooking Light magazine. It tastes richer than it is. The only thing particularly “light” about it was the idea of spraying the skillet first, rather than relying on more butter.

1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp each salt, pepper, marjoram, sage, and thyme
4 boneless pork chops, about 3/4″ thick (or cook way less for the thin ones)
1 Tbs butter
1 1/2 cups milk

Mix the flour, salt, pepper, marjoram, sage, and thyme together in a shallow pie pan or other shallow dish.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, then melt the butter in it over medium high. Dredge both sides of the pork chops in the flour mixture. SAVE the leftover flour mixture. You’ll use it for the gravy.

Brown the pork chops about 2-3 minutes on each side, then reduce the heat and cook another 5-6 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Remove the chops from the pan and keep warm.

Combine the leftover flour mix with the milk and whisk together, then add to the pan. Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until it comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 2 minutes, stirring, until thickened.

I served this with mashed potatoes and succotash, which was also a hit.