Twofer.

Two recipes in one blog post - got yerself a twofer. :)

No pictures because I'm still mourning the loss of my camera lens. Don't shed too many tears, a lovely replacement is en route and should be here tomorrow (hopefully in time for our play date in the afternoon) and consider it a lesson learned to be more careful with my things (and the new case we got for it should help as well).

First up - last night I made pulled pork: yum. Normally when we've made it in the past, we just dump our pork shoulder in the crock pot, smother it in BBQ sauce and call it good til it's done. This time, I followed a recipe I found on Lil Blue Boo:

Southern Style Vinegar-Based Pork BBQ (Slow Cooked)

Ingredients:
4 lbs of pork roast
2 white or yellow onions
2 cups of apple cider vinegar
2 cups of apple juice
1 tsp of liquid smoke (I used Stubb's Hickory Liquid Smoke, found with the BBQ sauce)
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 a bottle of regular/classic BBQ sauce (about 9 oz) (I used Stubb's Original BBQ)

1. Cut up both onions. Place half the onions in the bottom of the slow cooker or crock pot. Place the pork roast in the slow cooker and top with the rest of the onions.
2. Place half the onions in the bottom of the slow cooker or crock pot. Place the pork roast in the slow cooker and top with the rest of the onions.
3. Mix together 1 cup apple cider, 1 cup apple juice and 1 tsp of liquid smoke and pour over the roast and onions.
4. Set the slow cooker to cook on low for approximately 6 hours. The roast should be ready to fall apart when you stick a fork in it. Remove the roast and discard the remaining liquid and onions.
5. Shred the roast and add it back to the slow cooker.
6. Mix 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 cup apple juice, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, brown sugar and half a bottle of BBQ sauce in a bowl.
7. Pour over the shredded pork and cook on low for another 2 hours.

I served mine on Rhode's Dinner Rolls (I would have put it on hamburger buns but I didn't buy any, so the rolls worked) with corn on the cobb & baked beans. YUM. I thought the pork needed more sauce (but I always do) so I poured more BBQ sauce over mine when I served it.

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Next up is a Ham & Lentil Soup I made tonight - this one I found on Cozi's Live Simply Recipes:

Ingredients
1 smoked ham bone (e.g., ham shank) or 2 small smoked ham hocks
1 lb lentils (about 2/12 cups), picked over and rinsed
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped (about 3 1/2 cups)
2 onions, chopped coarsely
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf

1. In a kettle or soup pot, add 8-10 cups water. Add ham bone and lentils and turn burner on high heat.
2. Chop mushrooms, onions, carrots and celery and add to soup pot. Bring to a boil.
3. Add cinnamon stick and bay leaf and reduce heat. Simmer for 1 1/2-2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove ham bone or ham hock, remove meat and dice or shred the ham. Add meat to soup and stir.
5. Remove cinnamon and bay leaf, add salt to taste, and serve.

I omitted the cinnamon stick (I didn't have one on hand) and changed the two chopped onions to 4 tablespoons of onion powder (I had a terrible shopping list and didn't have enough onions on hand for this recipe). This was really good, but Ben disagreed. He refused to eat any of it but did chow on the corn bread I served with. I'll make this again but I'll halve the recipe for our family. I have loads of left over pork and now left over lentils.