Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Tacos with Cilantro Lime Sauce & Corn and Black Bean Salsa

I must again give credit to someone else for a recipe.  As a final hurrah while my little sister was in town, my brother and sister in law had us all over to their house for pork tacos.  I had heard much about them, and while optimistic - had never actually had pork tacos.  Let me say right now, I am now a believer, and not an italicizer.  I can say with certainty that I would make these again, and again, and again.  And yes, I had FOUR of these puppies that night.  At the time I said I would repent by skipping dessert.  But by the time dessert came, I had that too.  We were celebrating though, so its ok, right??

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Tacos

Here's what they used:

1 4lb pork roast
1 cup medium salsa
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup 7-Up

Here's what they did:

Put roast in crock pot. Mix other ingredients together and pour over roast. Cook on low for 8 hours. Shred when done.

Yea, that's it.  Hahaha.  So easy its funny.

This was served buffet, or "make your own", with the following choices:

Pan-Warmed Corn Tortillas (we used a cast iron skillet, but a non-stick skillet will also work.  Keep them warm between the folds of a clean dishtowel until serving)
Corn and Black Bean Salsa (recipe to follow)
Grated Cheddar/Monterey Jack Cheese Blend
Green Onions
Shredded Romaine Lettuce
Cilantro Lime Sauce (recipe to follow)

Cilantro Lime Sauce

This may have been my favorite part of this recipe.  Tangy, zippy, perfectly topped each little dainty taco.  I think I have had dreams about this in the 2 days since we had it...

Here's what they used:

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
3/4 cup mayo
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 bunch cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp salsa verde (green salsa)
1 lime, zest and juice
**add 1/2 of a fresh jalapeno for HEAT
Here's what they did:

Add dressing ingredients in blender and mix well. Make ahead and chill for several hours.

Are you seeing a theme here?  EASY.  And delicious.

Corn and Black Bean Salsa

While we added this to our tacos, it is also delish with chips, or just warm corn tortillas, scooping up portions as an appetizer.

Here's what they used:

1 (15 ounce) can yellow corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) can white corn, drained
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
1 bunch finely chopped cilantro
5 green onions, finely sliced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced
2 tbsp olive oil, or to taste

Here's what they did:

Stir the yellow and white corn, black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, green onion, red onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a large bowl. Gently mix in the lime juice and avocado. Drizzle with olive oil to serve. I would also add S&P to taste, and adjust flavors to your liking.

So the theme of that meal was not only DELISH but EASY.  Easy, easy, easy.  Enjoy!!

Sunday Family BBQ (Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Caprese Salad & Strawberry Poundcake)

The hubbs and I (okay mostly the hubbs) cleaned the house top to bottom yesterday. He got up at 6:15am expressly for the purpose of doctoring & putting his 7 lb pork butt into the gas grill for what would be a 14 hour cooking marathon. Was it worth it? A resounding YES! from the 6 adults who waited, and waited, and waited some more. It was AMAZING. Now if I can dig up the recipe. I have already been turned down on my request for him to "guest blog" because he doesn't want to "have to write it all down".

My contributions to the evening were: Caprese Salad. Strawberry Poundcake. Recipes below.

Garden Grown Caprese Salad

Here's what I used:

2 dozen fresh-picked cherry tomatoes (usually use roma)
1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese
1 bunch fresh sweet basil
2-3 tbsp good olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
S&P

Here's what I did:

I halved all my homegrown cherry tomatoes (never refrigerated - please don't refrigerate your tomatoes!) and threw them into a serving bowl. Added olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and generously sprinkled w/ S&P. I then covered it and let it sit for several hours on the counter to marinate.

Once we got closer to eating (see "waiting" notes above), I plucked the biggest, best basil leaves, stacked them on top of one another, rolled them into a "cigar" shape, and chopped them across their width. This gives the basil a "string" shape. Then I chopped once across their length to shorten them. I also took my fresh mozzarella ball, and cubed the mozzarella into little 1/2 x 1/2 cubes. It probably would have been better to get the leetle balls, and half them, to mirror the cherry tomatoes - but alas they were not on SALE and mozzarella is "espensive" around here.

Throw cheese and basil into the mix, and stir. Serve immediately. AMAZING. And so satisfying that I grew the little "maters" myself.

~

Strawberry Poundcake

Here's what I used:

2 big containers of strawberries, pitted, cut into 1/2"-ish pieces
2 tsp splenda (or sugar)

1 loaf Sarah Lee Poundcake (CHEATER!! I know. I'm so ashamed)

1 can Whipped Cream

Here's what I did:

Super easy. Add strawberries to bowl, sprinkle with sugar. Cover and let sit for an hour or two. The strawberries will begin to break down and create a juice. When ready to serve, slice the poundcake (head hanging in shame), top with strawberries, strawberry juice and whipped cream.

The Caprese Salad was a huge hit with the family. Everyone said it was the best they've ever had. I attribute it to the fresh, never fridged tomatoes. They were so incredibly sweet, it was almost unbearable. The strawberries were delicious. I need to get the husband unit to give me the pulled pork recipe, it was ridiculously succulent and just amazing. He's a bbq master, I bow to his grilling power.