I just sat down - it's 9:06pm. I'm doing something wrong. I spend way too much time cooking and cleaning up the kitchen after cooking. I do pause in between to eat. And I take the dogs for a ride (yes, because it's too hot to walk right now, but they go nuts if they don't get an outing). But still, I've been home since 5:30. I made salmon, roasted carrots, zucchini and squash over couscous. It was divine and healthy, but still. I need to do more crock pot cooking. What do you all do?
I like to "barbecue" pork in the slow cooker (professional restrictions keep me from calling it a Crock Pot, because it's not that brand). I know it's not true barbecue, but it simmers in barbecue sauce, and I don't know what else to call it.
Anyway, I doctor up some standard barbecue sauce out of the bottles with cider vinegar, Cholula sauce, cumin, chili powder, garlic, cilantro, and some specialty spices that I get from Oregon.
I put the pork into the slow cooker, add sliced onion, poblano pepper, Anaheim peppers, and bell peppers. I dump the barbecue sauce over it, making sure the fluid covers it up, put the cover on the cooker, and start it up. I usually start it on high, then ratchet it down later, but if I have to leave the house right away and it's early, I'll leave it on low.
An hour or two before mealtime, I'll grab a couple robust forks and pull the meat apart into chunky threads, then let it simmer more. If it's amazingly tender and tasty by then, I might click the cooker down to "warm."
Oh, I forgot. I'll add fresh spinach in there too. It's good for you, it doesn't really taste like much of anything, it shrivels down to almost nothing, and it seems to soak up extra fat in the sauce.
I've done this with brisket and chicken, too, but the pork's my favorite.