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Pulled Pork BBQ Sliders

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Your family is going to absolutely LOVE these super easy slow cooker pulled pork BBQ sliders!

Put your slow cooker to work making this delicious and easy dinner!  Just toss the ingredients into your slow cooker in the morning, and you’ll have dinner on the table in a jiffy when you get home.  Whether you like a lot of BBQ sauce or a lighter infusion of flavor, this recipe is delicious either way!

 

Delicious BBQ Pulled Pork SlidersIngredients:

  • 2 pound pork shoulder roast
  • 1 T. kosher salt
  • 1 ½ t. black salt
  • ¼ c. apple cider vinegar
  • ¾ c. prepared BBQ sauce+additional sauce for serving
  • 2 whole cloves garlic, smashed, peels removed, roughly chopped
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 T. shallot, minced
  • Slider buns, opened with inside buttered and grilled (or toasted in the oven)
  • Red cabbage, thinly sliced (optional)

Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork SlidersDirections:

  1. Add the pork shoulder to slow cooker and season with salt and pepper.  Mix together cider vinegar, BBQ sauce, garlic, onion, and shallot, then pour over the roast. Cover and cook for 8 hours on low.
  2. The roast should be very tender after 8 hours. Carefully remove from slow cooker and place on a serving platter or cutting board reserved for meat. Remove large deposits of fat. Using a fork in each hand, start “pulling” in two directions, working on one small section of pork at a time. The goal is to “shred” the meat into small strands.
  3. Place shredded meat into a serving container or add it directly to the prepared slider buns. Top with red cabbage for some crunch and color – or add any of your favorite toppings. Add additional BBQ sauce if desired.  Serve immediately and Enjoy! 

If you enjoyed this super easy slow cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Slider recipe, you’re going to love our Family Friendly Menu Plans! Get a full year of our best family friendly weekly menu plans for around $4/month!

 

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Seared Sesame Tuna with Mixed Greens

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Once you try this delicious seared sesame tuna you will want to add it to your weekly meal rotation plan often!   

Seared Sesame Tuna With Mixed Greens

Mixed salad greens don’t love the extreme heat of summer. Instead, they thrive in the cooler temperatures of spring and fall. Fortunately, they are extremely easy to grow from seed in your own garden and they are readily available at local markets all year long.  

This healthy salad makes the most of this late (or early) season bounty by pairing these tasty greens with a hearty portion of seared sesame tuna steaks. This salad is substantial enough to serve as a light main dish or it can be paired with blackened broccoli or a seasonal soup for a more substantial meal.

This recipe is a sample of what you can expect from our Family Favorites Menu Plan!  Click here to get yours.

Seared Sesame Tuna with Mixed Greens

Ingredients:

Asian Dressing:

  • 2 T. sesame oil
  • ¼ c. grapeseed oil
  • 2 T. soy sauce
  • 3 T. Rice wine vinegar
  • 1 T. fresh lime juice
  • 1½ T. Dijon mustard
  • 1 medium shallot, finely minced
  • 1 T. fresh ginger, very finely minced
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Seared Tuna:

  • two 8-oz. 2” thick tuna steaks, cut into 2” cubes
  • 2 T. black sesame seeds
  • 2 T. white sesame seeds
  • 2 T. ground ginger
  • 3 T. olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

 

Serve with:

  • soy sauce
  • wasabi paste (optional)
  • 4 cups mixed salad greens


Directions:

To make dressing, add all ingredients to a glass bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended. Taste and add more lime juice to brighten the flavors, if necessary. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Add sesame seeds and ground ginger to a large bowl and stir to combine. Add chunks of tuna to bowl and toss to coat. Press to make sure seeds adhere to tuna.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over high heat. When hot, add coated tuna to pan and flash sear on all sides, approximately 30 seconds per side. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

To serve, add mixed greens to serving plates and top each plate with an equal portion of the seared tuna. Drizzle with dressing. (You can also toss mixed salad greens with dressing before plating, if desired). Serve with additional soy sauce and wasabi paste, if desired.

Grilled Herb-Rubbed, Bone-In Pork Chops

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Grilled Herb-Rubbed Bone-In Pork ChopsLooking for something different for dinner tonight?  Your family is going to LOVE these moist and juicy grilled pork chops!  

You will want to check out our signature Family Favorites Menu Plans for even more delicious and easy recipes your family will love!

Grilling pork chops is an entirely different experience than grilling red meat. While steaks can be charred on the outside and a delicious shade of pink inside, pork needs to be more uniformly cooked throughout. Therefore, use a medium direct heat while grilling pork so the inside cooks evenly with the outside.

Keep in mind when assembling the ingredients for the herb rub that it is more of a template than a hard-and-fast rule. We aren’t going for dainty precision with this technique, just a uniform infusion of robust herbal flavors.

Grilled Herb-Rubbed Bone-In Pork ChopsIngredients

  • 2 T. Kosher salt
  • 6-8 large fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
  • 2 stems fresh rosemary, leaves stripped from stems and crushed
  • 2 T. fresh thyme leaves, crushed with fingers
  • 3 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 T. black Hawaiian salt 
  • 4 thick-cut bone-in pork chops, approximately 1” thick

Directions

Combine salt, basil, rosemary, thyme, garlic and pepper thoroughly in a small bowl. Rub mixture over all sides of pork chops until thoroughly covered.

Scrub grill grates with a wire brush prior to starting. Preheat grill to medium before adding pork chops over direct heat. Cook for 7-8 minutes, turn once, but otherwise keep the lid closed as much as possible.  If your chops are thinner or thicker than 1”, adjust cook time accordingly.

Remove chops from heat, cover and let rest for 3 – 5 minutes before serving. Serve with a grilled summer vegetable medley and top with a pat of compound butter seasoned with the same herbs used in the rub.

Know what goes great with this recipe?  These grilled veggies!

Grilled Summer Vegetable Medley With Herb Butter

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Grilled Summer Vegetable Medley with Herb Butter

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Grilled Summer Vegetable Medley With Herb ButterGrilling is a great way to enhance the natural sweetness of summer garden vegetable. For best results, cut all vegetables to a uniform thickness and angle your cuts to ensure the largest surface area possible.

Ingredients:

Herb Butter:
4 T. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 t. fresh thyme leaves, stems removed

Pinch of salt, or prepare on Himalayan salt block.

3 small yellow squash, washed and halved

3 small zucchini, washed and halved

3 red bell pepper, core removed and cut into equal-sized flat pieces

1 medium red onion, tough outer layer removed and cut into ½“ half round sections

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 T. black Hawaiian salt

Directions:

For herb butter, combine butter, thyme and salt into a small bowl or on a Himalayan salt block, if you have one. (Do not add additional salt if you use this method). Combine thoroughly with a fork (bowl method) or a large knife blade (salt block). When finished, transfer to a serving container.

Prepare grill by brushing grates with a wire brush. Set heat to medium. When ready, temperature should be between 350-450 degrees.

Brush both sides of each vegetable section with extra virgin olive oil and place on grill. Cook on medium, direct heat until vegetables are crisp tender. For zucchini and yellow squash, this should take about 5 minutes. Onion and bell pepper will take approximately 10-12 minutes, maybe slightly longer. Turn once while cooking.

Remove from heat and serve immediately with grilled bone-in pork chops. Add a pat of herb butter to the vegetables and pork chop for an extra bit of flavor and a nice presentation.

This recipe goes great with these pork chops:

Grilled Herb-Rubbed Bone-In Pork Chops

 

 

One-Skillet Lemon Chicken Orzo

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One Skillet Lemon Chicken OrzoThis dish is perfect for those busy weeknights when you want something quick and satisfying that won’t dirty every dish in your kitchen.  This recipe pairs bone-in chicken thighs with lemony orzo for a hearty meal you can have on the table in just over half an hour. 

If you enjoy this dish,  you will LOVE our Family Favorites Menu Plan.  Get a full year of our best family friendly weekly menu plans for around $5/month!

For this recipe, the chicken thighs are cooked with skin on to impart extra flavor, but removed for serving to save a few calories.

One Skillet Lemon Chicken OrzoIngredients:

  • 4 bone-in chicken thighs
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 3 T. olive oil

  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 1 c. orzo pasta
  • 3 c. organic chicken broth
  • 1 T. lemon zest
  • ½ organic lemon, thinly sliced and seeds removed
  • 
½ c. fresh parsley, chopped, plus some whole sprigs for garnish
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Directions:

Pat chicken thighs with a paper towel to remove excess moisture, then season with salt and pepper.

In a large skillet with deeps sides, heat olive oil and garlic over medium-high heat. When garlic turns brown, remove chunks from pan and discard.

Place chicken, skin side down, in the heated pan and cook for approximately 4 or 5 minutes, or until nicely browned. Turn and repeat on the other side. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm.

Pour off excess fat in pan, while reserving approximately 2 tablespoons. Reduce heat to medium and add the orzo to pan. Stir until orzo is coated and slightly toasted. Add chicken broth to skillet and stir to scrape up brown bits from bottom of pan.

Increase heat to medium-high and bring broth to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Return chicken breasts to skillet along with lemon zest and slices. Simmer, covered, for approximately 10 minutes or until the orzo is tender. Keep an eye on it during this time to make sure there is enough liquid in skillet to keep orzo from sticking to the bottom. Stir occasionally.

Uncover and continue simmering until most of the excess liquid has been absorbed, approximately 2-3 minutes. Stir in chopped parsley and season with additional salt and pepper, if desired.

Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.