All the Foodies in the House

As you know, I've been spending time lately perusing my cookbooks and stalking food blogs, searching for the perfect recipes to add to my fall repertoire. There are several blogs I love but until now I haven't tried any of their recipes. Sure, everything looks delicious but are these people really good cooks, or just skilled photographers?

This week I tried out two new recipes with much success! First up was BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches from Life's Ambrosia. Thanks for the website tip DeeDee! I slow-cooked a 5 lb. pork shoulder for eight hours, made the sweet and tangy barbecue sauce and piled it all on top of a toasted kaiser roll. I don't know about you but for some reason pulled pork has always seemed mysterious and challenging - something you would get in a restaurant but never make at home. Boy was I wrong! (Or perhaps misled but well-meaning non-barbecue fanatics?) It took about five minutes to make the dry rub for the roast (that includes hunting down the spices from my overflowing spice rack), two minutes more to slice the onions and pour the beef stock over everything and then those eight hours in the slow cooker while the delicious smell wafted through the house. A recipe for homemade potato chips was also on the website but that just seemed a little too hard compared to opening a bag - they looked good though!

So simple to just push a button.

The most time-consuming part of this recipe was shredding the pork but even that didn't take long.
Isabelle helped make the barbecue sauce.

After the sauce goes on it bakes in the oven for 30 minutes.

The finished product - everyone had happy tummies after dinner!

Isabelle was snack girl at preschool this week so we made whole wheat apple muffins from the Smitten Kitchen blog. They turned out great too and since it's apple season up here in the apple state I think they'll be making some future appearances at our breakfast table. I wasn't thinking and didn't take a picture of the muffins after they'd been baked. I promise they look (and taste) even better after they've been cooked!

P.S. I know I just updated my profile to say that I'm trying to eat healthy organic meals so after reading this post you're probably thinking I'm a big fat liar. However, everything was organic. Don't judge me people! :)