Evidently I'm Awesome

"The beans are awesome. The pork is awesome. You are awesome." The follow up to that statement was "but you know what this meal is going to do to me right?" Lovely. And so goes the third installment of my "Yearning for Home" series. First we recreated the delicious cheese platter and beef sandwiches of Clark's, our favorite Syracuse hangout. Then we grilled up some coneys to pretend we were at Heid's. Tonight we ventured back to our favorite pig-out place: Dinosaur BBQ!

I was pretty happy with our imitation bbq. Of course, it's all due to the sauce which Mr. Lawyer received for Christmas. The original recipe called for pork tenderloin which we all know is a pretty outrageous cut of meat to use for crockpot bbq, any cheaper cut would work just fine. It cooked in root beer, I'm not sure it made a huge difference once the sauce was added in but the final product was delicious so I wouldn't change a thing! I also used enough root beer to cover the meat instead of just one can. The beans were a last minute addition but they were delicious!

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin (or any hunk of pork)
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer (I used enough to cover all the meat)
1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
8 rolls
Directions:
1. Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours.

2. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce and cook on low for 1 hour.

3. Serve it up!

Baked Beans

(adapted from bushbeans.com)

Ingredients:
2 (15 ounce) cans baked beans with pork
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
2 slices bacon (we omitted the bacon)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a 9x9 inch baking dish, combine the pork and beans, brown sugar, onion, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with the bacon slices.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until sauce is thickened and bacon is cooked.