Pulled Pork

So, one of the ways we work our grocery budget is by buying proteins in bulk at Costco. Their Kirkland's Smoked Pulled Pork is a little strong in the smoke flavoring, but we've found several recipes that could not be easier and provide a variety of flavors and dishes to get us through a week or so. Without further ado, here they are.

The first, and easiest, dish is to just heat up a helping of pork, roast some veggies, and serve the whole thing with BBQ sauce. The pork comes fully cooked, so all you have to do is heat it. The photo above is the pork simply heated. We actually do prefer to cook it further in the other dishes, but this is easy and good, too. I also love a good BBQ pork stuffed sweet potato, or baked potato.

One of my favorites is this Slow Cooker Pork and Apples dish I discovered on Pinterest years ago. The original recipe from katheats.com calls for pork chops, which I don't particularly love, but I used this shredded pork as a replacement and it was the best outcome we've ever had. It has such a delicious combination of flavors--a little sweet, a little savory--and we served it over brown rice above, but it would pair well with white rice, couscous, quinoa, roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach--so many possibilities!

To make this, I simply layered enough pork for two adults + leftovers, 2 or 3 red apples (cored, peeled, and sliced--I LOVE this gadget I got on Amazon last year), and topped the whole thing with a mixture of 1 tablespoon each apple cider vinegar, mustard (stone ground since dijon gives me heartburn), and brown sugar. Add some cinnamon, salt and pepper, and 1/4 cup water. I leave out the liquid smoke because we find it overwhelming anyway, but with this Costco pulled pork it's already been smoked, so it's even more unnecessary. I also forgo the cayenne--we are not spicy food lovers over here. I am NOT a precise cook, which is my favorite thing about cooking. I simply add more or less of each flavor as is desired for that meal. I just let that sit in the crock pot for 4-6 hours on low (since the meat is already cooked) and dinner is served!

This is my personal favorite for a quick lunch with leftovers, though my husband would never touch it. If you're a huge fan of rice bowls or salad bowls (as I am) then you may just love this, too. I made this one day with some leftover spaghetti squash, leftover pulled pork, roasted red peppers, cooked spinach, black olives, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper, and topped it all off with a little dairy free ranch dressing. It was so. dang. good. I absolutely love cooked vegetables and the tangy ranch set off all the flavors. It was filling but not too heavy. Definitely worth repeating again and again.

Lastly, pork tacos! These are always a hit. They're delicious and just happen to be super easy. This particular night (pictured above), I actually added the frozen three pepper blend from Whole Foods right in the skillet with the pork and seasoned all of it with ranch, taco seasoning, salt, and pepper. It. was. de-li-cious.

My husband loves to layer some pork, BBQ sauce, and cheese to keep it simple. I actually find that Costco's Santa Barbara Peach and Mango salsa is the. perfect. complement to the smoked pork flavor and often forgo the BBQ sauce in favor of a more traditional taco pairing. I also don't do dairy, so no cheese for me. But there is so much substance to the salsa, and you could add rice, maybe some beans, olives, peppers. I mean, there are no rules and no fails when it comes to tacos, amiright? 

There you have it! Several meals out of a 2 lb. package of Costco smoked pork. Have I left out any pork dishes you love? The kind woman at the check out said she loves to make nachos with this pork. You could also make a good omelet. What can't go in an omelet, seriously? So many ideas. Such a good deal. 

Best,

Emily