True Q (Giveaway Post)

**This is part two of the follow-up to my teaser post last night. Hopefully it was posted as scheduled!

You may all be wondering (or not) what exactly that lovely meal was that I served with the glorious Maple Wheat Bread you saw earlier.

What’s funny is that the original idea for the meal started weeks ago when Amy posted about her crockpot pulled pork. She multitasked with it and made tamales, but I knew I had to try something similar. So yes, Miss Jessica, that was pork you saw last night!

I couldn’t leave the pulled pork naked though, and since I found when I got home that we were out of barbecue sauce, I decided to make my own. There are a couple of surprise ingredients in each recipe… read carefully!

Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork

Ingredients

* 1 3-lb pork shoulder, trimmed of visible fat

* 1/4 c. red wine vinegar

* 1 Tbsp. onion powder

* 1 Tbsp. garlic powder

* 1 tsp. Greek oregano

* 1 tsp. dried parsley

* 1 tsp. dried thyme

* 1 tsp. dried basil

* 1 tsp. dried rosemary

Directions

Place the trimmed pork shoulder in the slow cooker. Rub with all the herbs and spices, then pour the vinegar over the top. Cook on low for 10-12 hours. After that time is up, shred the meat off the bone (if there’s a bone) and stir well. Allow to cook another hour or so.

Sweet & Hot Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients

* 1 c. ketchup (organic preferable)

* 8 oz tomato sauce

* 1 Tbsp. onion powder

* 1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder

* 1/4 c. dark brown sugar

* 1/4 c. red wine vinegar

* 1/2 Tbsp. red pepper flakes

* 1/2 to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more for Biz)

* 1 tsp. Bacon Salt Original (Thanks Dot!)

* S&P to taste

Directions

Heat a small pot or skillet over medium heat. Add the ketchup, tomato sauce and vinegar to the pan and lower the heat to medium-low. Stir in the brown sugar until dissolved. Then, add the remaining spices, stir well, and simmer until darkened and thick.

Did you catch the surprise ingredients? In the pork, the vinegar helps to dissolve the tough bits in the meat to make it super tender and shreddable. Usually BBQ sauce calls for bacon or liquid smoke. Since this was a last minute recipe, I had to use what I had on hand, and this was the amazing Bacon Salt that Dot sent me months ago! I’d used it on breakfast potatoes before, but never in a dinner recipe. I usually stick with regular bacon for that! Paired with the delicious maple wheat bread, and this gorgeous fresh roasted broccoli, dinner was quite a hit!

As a thank you for putting up with my sporadic posting, I’ve got a little giveaway for you. The lovely people at MyBlogSpark and Proctor & Gamble sent me some samples of Cascade Complete dishwashing detergent along with a Pyrex baking dish with the instructions of: Bake a blueberry cobbler. Don’t wash the pan. Place it in your dishwasher and wash with Cascade Complete. Enjoy clean dishes. (or something like that). I didn’t bake a blueberry cobbler, but I did you know, cook sticky barbecue sauce. The dishes weren’t rinsed at all before we put them in the dishwasher and, lo and behold, they’re IMMACULATE. I heart Cascade Complete! I really think we’ll be buying it from now on!

The giveaway: A $25 Wal-Mart gift card from MyBlogSpark and Proctor & Gamble!

The rules: Leave a comment below about your favorite “messy” dish. You know what I mean. That meal that you dread cooking because it leaves the dishes and pans a complete mess…

Tweet about the giveaway for an extra entry being sure to mention @imadedinner and this post. Make sure to come back and leave another comment that you tweeted.

Winner will be announced Sunday, May 16.

Good luck!

Tagged as: crockpot, food, giveaway, pork, simple recipe, thank you