On cold, rainy blah days I usually feel like using the crock pot to cook. I like those days when I’m busy, or just don’t feel like standing in the kitchen in the evening, when I can toss something in the crockpot and just literally forget about it until dinner time. This is one of those meals.

Today I just had a lot to do. Catch up on laundry, do school with the kids, teach my son that you cannot put a little bit of a roll of toilet paper into the toilet and then flush repeatedly to let the ENTIRE roll go down the toilet. I also had to teach him that he still needs naps and that he cannot repeatedly come out of his room during naptime. He also learned that if he holds his food out towards our dog, Duke, and tell him “no”… Duke will not listen. He will eat the food being held out to him. The experiences today were the normal… 3 year old testing mommy on what she’ll say no to today… because yesterday I learned the other stuff she said no to. Exhausting. Tiring. But… rewarding. I wouldn’t change the opportunity to mother these babies for anything. Not a thing. I’m blessed beyond what I ever could have imagined.

Now… to the easy dinner I made. 🙂 I really think it took me MAYBE 10 minutes. Maybe.

My recipe is adapted from this great blog: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/03/slow-cooker-smoky-bbq-pulled-pork.html

Ingredients:
2 lb pork shoulder roast (mine did not have the bone in)
1 Tablespoons paprika
2 1/2 tsp himalayan sea salt
2 tsp fresh black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 packet instant coffee (7 oz.)
1 tsp unsweetened baking cocoa
2 Tb olive oil
1 (16-20 oz) bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
Buns or… like me, if you don’t have any or time to make some… use sliced bread!

Ok, take a minutes to look at the picture above. Seriously. I put that in the crockpot FROZEN with the seasoning rub on it. I then covered the crockpot with tin foil to keep all of the heat in it, and had it on LOW all day. The CRUST on the outside of that pork was AMAZING! It looked and tasted like I had it in a smoker or a grill. I didn’t even sear it!!!! The inside of the pork was juicy and tender and just fell apart!!! This was probably the best shredded pork I have had out of my crock pot to date. Amazing. My husband said “restaurant quality!”. Try it. Seriously.

Directions:
Spray the inside of slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray (or use a slow cooker liner). Combine paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, unsweetened cocoa and instant coffee in a small bowl and set aside. Drizzle olive oil over the roast and rub in. (My roast was still frozen. I did NOT thaw or sear it at all, and it still came out AMAZING!) Take the seasoning and rub all over the roast, covering all sides. (Optional: poke your roast with a large fork a couple of times to let the flavors really soak in). Place lid on slow cooker and bake on low for 8-10 hours (or high 5-6 hours). Shred meat when finished and add bottle of BBQ sauce. Serve on buns or sliced bread and enjoy! You can serve this with a cold salad, cole slaw, potato salad.. or just some fruit and veggies! Endless options!

For the quote of the day: There has been speak a lot in the media and different blogs that I follow that talk about mom shaming, bullying, just overall judging others. We all know it’s wrong too! What is it? Most likely insecurity. We’ve gotta stop it! Let’s look at ourselves in a positive light, and build others up around us. I’ll start! 🙂