To All the Mothers

That is me and Jonathan St. Pierre, a nice and very sweaty man (I had to crop out poor Jenny who was making a very unfortunate face). I went to my first ever Argos game this past weekend with Jenny, Homer and Ian. After this photo was taken, Jenny had the brilliant idea to go to karaoke at the Fox and Fiddle, since Ian and Homer are sort of karaoke all stars. So in a cab we hopped, off to Bloor and Beverley. We had a couple of beers at the game and let's just say a few more drinks were consumed (maybe some doubles) and Ian, Tristan and Jenny each brought the house down with their respective numbers. We got home at 2:30am. I had people coming over the next afternoon, and had promised food, ouch.

Here is where the title comes from (well sort of, not to imply that all the mothers I know like going out to sing karaoke until all hours). Luckily I had already planned to make the easiest recipe of all time - Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos. These take 15 min to pull together (and that is if you make your own taco seasoning, which I did because I realized it was the one thing I had forgotten to buy). It is also great for working mom's (like the mom whose blog I got it from). Just throw the ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning and bingo-bango.

You can see the full post where I found the recipe here. In it the author links to her preferred recipe for taco seasoning which I ended up using. I thought it was just enough - she would have used a little more. She mentions that you can even put the chicken in frozen, which I have done in the past, it just takes the full 8 hours on low to cook. This time I just put the chicken in uncooked and not frozen and it was done in about 6.

I had three good size chicken breasts and this (along with a small bag of frozen corn, on can of black beans and a small salsa) made enough to feed 4 adults with a TON of leftovers.

Great for lunches the next day, as a topper for salads or over rice.

I link the Friendly Butcher above, a shop new to the Danforth. Friendly as the name implies and helpful. I hope they last longer than the other butcher did.

A final note, you should visit my friend Avery's blog - she talks about our recent Jam making party and how you can host your own!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

I recently had my friend Kinnon over for dinner and I wanted to make something that would allow me to actually visit with her instead of rushing around in the kitchen.

So I thought why not break out the Slow Cooker

I decided to take a Kraft Canada Pulled Pork recipe and make it slightly healthier. It is also incredibly economical, coming out to about $2.00 a head for the sandwiches. Since it serves 12 it would be great for a crowd.

Here's the recipe, try it for yourself!

Slow Cooker Orange-BBQ Pulled Sandwiches

Prep: 10 min Total: 8 hours and 10 min

1 cup Kraft Calorie Wise BarBQ Sauce
1/4 cup Kraft Pure Orange Marmalade (I used PC 50% more fruit brand)
1 boneless pork shoulder (3lb/1.35kg)
1/2 cup low fat PC mayonnaise
12 sandwich rolls split, toasted (I used a multi-grain variety)

Mix barbecue sauce and marmalade. Place meat in slow cooker; top with barbecue sauce mixture. Cover with lid.

Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours (or on High for 4 to 6 hours). Remove meat from slow cooker; cut into small pieces or shred with fork (I did this in a big roasting pan). Return meat to slow cooker; stir until meat is evenly coated with the barbecue sauce mixture.

Spread dressing onto the sides of the rolls. Fill rolls evenly with meat mixture.

Makes 12 servings or 1 sandwich each.

If you don't use all the pulled pork in the sandwiches you can freeze it. You could also use it in other ways. I made pulled pork quesadillas!