BBQ Chicken Sliders with Cole Slaw

Serves:6-8

Ingredients:

• 12 Homemade Rolls, split
• 4 cups shredded chicken

Sauce:

• 1 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 (12-ounce can or bottle) beer
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Frank’s hot sauce

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, bring all sauce ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Add shredded chicken to crock pot. Pour sauce over chicken and stir until combined. Cook on low heat for 4 hours.
3. Spoon bbq chicken mixture on rolls and top with cole slaw (recipe below)

Cole Slaw for BBQ Chicken Sliders

Ingredients:

• 1/2 green cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 red cabbage, chopped

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix dressing ingredients together. Wrap with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to chill. (Do this while the BBQ Chicken is in the crock pot.
2. Keep cabbage wrap in plastic wrap or zip loc bag until ready to use.
3. When ready to serve, add cabbage to a medium to large bowl. Pour just enough dressing to lightly coat the cabbage.
4. Top BBQ Chicken with cole slaw and serve.

If most of you fellow foodies are like me and enjoy watching Ree (Pioneer Woman), then you must have seen her episode this past Saturday where she wakes up at the crack of dawn to throw a pork butt into the oven for a mouth watering lunch. I do mean mouth watering!

On my last grocery shopping trip, our grocery store was having a BOGO sale in the meat department so I stocked up. I added Ree’s recipe to my shopping list to try out and was on last night’s meal plan. I didn’t want to wait till the weekend totry out the recipe, so I improvised the recipe by using the crock pot. I cooked it on the low setting for 8 hours; little longer than the 6 hours her recipe called for and it still was falling off the bone, tender and juicy. I had used a 12 ounce can of chipotle peppers in adobo and it was a bit spicy, even for my husband and I. (We love spicy food!) However, it was way too spicy for the kids. Next time I’ll cut back on the peppers to maybe half the can so they are able to eat it. I’m still trying to think of a way to balance the flavors a little better so one ingredient isn’t overpowering the other. Here’s the recipe:

Pioneer Woman’s Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork

Servings: 18

Ingredients:

• 1 whole Large Onion
• 1 whole Pork Shoulder (“pork Butt”) – 5 To 7 Pounds
• Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 can (11 Ounce) (I used 12 ounce can) Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce
• 2 cans Dr. Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Lay them in the bottom of a large dutch oven. (I used the crock pot.)
3. Generously salt and pepper the pork roast, then set it on top of the onions in the pan.
4. Pour the can of chipotle peppers over the pork (include the sauce.) Pour in both cans of Dr Pepper. Add brown sugar to the juice and stir in.
5. Place lid tightly on pot, then set pot in the oven. Cook for at least six hours, (6-8 hours using the crock pot and I didn’t touch it.) turning roast two or three times during the cooking process. Check meat after six hours; it should be absolutely falling apart (use two forks to test.) If it’s not falling apart, return to the oven for another hour.
6. Remove meat from pot and place on a cutting board or other work surface. Use two forks to shred meat, discarding large pieces of fat. Strain as much of the fat off the top of the cooking liquid as you can and discard it. Return the shredded meat to the cooking liquid, and keep warm until ready to serve. (You can also refrigerate the meat and liquid separately, then remove hardened fat once it’s cold. Then heat up the liquid on the stovetop and return the meat to the liquid to warm up.
7. Serve on warm flour tortillas. Top with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, grated cheese, avocado slices, salsa, and whatever else you’d like.

Recipe and from by Ree (Pioneer Woman)

For those of you who have tried the recipe, have any suggestions for balancing the flavors?

Now that the holidays are behind us, it’s time to focus on what’s in store for the new year. Getting back to the swing of our normal busy routines can be a challenge for some families. I don’t know about you, but if I can find a way to get a head start on tackling my weekly projects ahead of time, I’m all for it. That said, I love to have a plan.  One of the easiest projects I have is meal planning. And it’s because I’ve stuck to it. In the beginning, meal planning can be a challenge for some families. But if you are willing to try it for at least 6 months routinely, you’ll soon find that a year has passed and you’ll have one of the most difficult of challenges behind you and it will become a normal routine.

And I never have to feel more stressed that I don’t have a dinner plan when my family is hungry, the sun has set, and dinner is nowhere near ready to serve. Meal planning definitely helps me avoid that feeling. And planning for the entire month, helps me even more because I save some time throughout the month to accomplish other projects.

This year, I won’t be cooking without my new crock pot.  Yes, I did say new. Last month, I took advantage of  a great sale and purchased a 7-quart crock pot. I can fit a whole chicken and 4-6 whole potatoes in it without having to worry that I don’t have enough room. Plus, there have been numerous times where I’m using the crock pot and want to create another crock pot dish like my Homemade Crock Pot Greek Yogurt at the same time.

One of the ways I’m implementing our meal plan is by having a theme for the night. Weekly Dinner Themes are definitely a great way to create a menu and they make meal planning a whole lot easier.

This month, we’re creating some new savory slow cooked meals on Slow Cooker Mondays.  Anything involving my slow cooker is a surefire entertaining winner.

We’re starting off the new year with a savory 5-Spice Beef slowly cooked and served over a fluffy bed of white rice.

5-Spice Beef

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds stew meat (less expensive on grocery budget)
• 1 teaspoon Chinese Five-Spice
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon chili sauce
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 scallions, chopped for garnish (optional)
• slivered almonds for garnish (optional)
• Rice (make enough to serve your family size)

Happy New Year! Are you ready to get organized this new year? Here’s to a brand new year full of wonderful family meal times together. Noel’s Family Meals is helping you and your family save money, time and eat better this year. In my house, life is shared in the kitchen and around the table over delicious homemade recipes that I grew up to love and ones I created and will hopefully be passed down to our children. The table is where we stay close to one another. It’s where we define ourselves by the food we eat and the wonderful stories we tell, as we pass around our plates around the table. A family meal is all about sharing. It’s not about getting dressed up, or serving fancy food. It’s a chance to step back in our busy everyday lives, everyday worries and focus on what really matters.

I love to plan our new dinners weekly and this year we’re starting off with a new creative way to meal plan. We’re starting off our week with Sunday Suppers (Dinner Around The Table). This is one night of the week you really shouldn’t miss gathering around the table for dinner. Sunday Suppers start the week off with a fresh new and positive look at the week ahead.

This year, I won’t be cooking without my new crock pot. We’re creating some new savory slow cooked meals on Slow Cooker Mondays.  We’re starting off the new year with a savory 5-Spice Beef slowly cooked and served over a fluffy bed of white rice.

If that’s not enough to get your mouth watering, then stick around for Italian Tuesdays where we’ll serve up dishes like Chicken in Lemon Creme with Penne; the theme meal ideas are endless with Italian night.

Mix It Up Wednesdays will feature meals from everyday family entrees such as Stuffed Zucchini and Red Bell Peppers, Garlic and Citrus Chicken, to easy carefree dishes like Tomato Soup with Pancetta, Sub Sandwiches, Scramblewiches, and many more entrees your family will love.

As we move to the end of the week, we’ll go back in time and remember those meals we grew up loving with Casserole/Comfort Food Thursdays. You’ll definitely remember growing up with these favorites – Baked Macaroni and Cheese,  Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf Patties with Pan Gravy, Stuffing-Topped Pork Chops, Country-Fried Steak with Milk Gravy, and Beef Stroganoff.

Come Friday, you’ll be ready to kick off the weekend with Family Nights and have a Kid Food Night Friday. There’s a fun new twist on pizza with BBQ Sloppy Chicken Pan Pizza, have a taco bar with Turkey Tacos and a board game night and serve up Tuna with Everything-but-the-Kitchen-sink.

Grilling doesn’t have to be just in the summer. Relax, kick back and enjoy your weekend with Saturday Grill Night. Serving up dishes like Chili Dog Bacon Cheeseburgers, Brats and Peppers, Spiced Grilled Chicken and Veggie Pockets and Rosemary Garlic Grilled Pork Chops.

Of course we’ll make room for those leftover nights where we eat from the pantry (your pantry, fridge and freezer). The recipes are flexible and nearly foolproof, so you never have to worry about making everything perfect.

Hopefully the recipes I share with you’ll find yourselves remembering old family traditions of good food and family togetherness. And perhaps it will inspire your family to create new family traditions of your own.

This weekend, we were getting into the festive spirit with some last minute Christmas shopping, the annual toy run, decorating the tree and I spent a majority of my time with the kids in the kitchen baking different types of cookies, making fudge, peanut butter balls and trying a new recipe for Peppermint Bark.

This week is a great time to start baking and making those food gifts if you haven’t started already. Food gifts are great because they are simple, fun to make and can be done inexpensively.

Last week,  Noel’s Family Meals Members started a majority of our batch and freezer cooking in preparation for a less hectic second part of this month when our focus will be on Christmas. For this week’s menu plan, we still want to keep it simple as we move closer to the holiday. This avoids the feeling of being burnt out later in the month when we want to enjoy our time with family and friends. Remember, we are incorporating all of those useful meal planning tools.

Our December Plan Continues….

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