What is easier than cooking in a crock pot? Putting something already made from the freezer into the crock pot! Great for the Super Bowl on Sunday.
When I had my second baby, I would often go to the “make your own meal” freezer place in St. Louis. Time for Dinner even made my meals for free after I had my baby which was a great time saver. This meal is an adaptation of the freezer method they used for the pulled pork. Yes, it cost a little more than going to buy the ingredients at the grocery store, but it eliminated meal planning time and the countless hours it would have taken to total the calories of the meals. That was when I was losing weight and calorie counting. I went from 200 lbs. to 168 lbs (after the ten pound baby was removed) and now down to 134 lbs. So I think it worked!
Lately, I have been substituting apple butter for butter/oil like banana bread and Morning Glory Muffins. The muffins were awesome. The bread was okay… so I’m not posting it. It was good, but not great. Something fun to try!
Apple Butter BBQ Pork
yield 12 sandwiches
3 lb. pork butt/shoulder (my package said both. You want pork butt for pulled pork)
2 Tbs. of your favorite BBQ seasoning for pork (I used Pampered Chef Smoky Barbecue Rub)
16 oz. of your favorite BBQ sauce (if watching calories, you can use half)
1/2 cup apple butter**
3 Tbs. apple juice or apple cider
1. Take a large piece of foil and spray with cooking spray. Trim your pork butt if you wish. Place pork butt onto the foil and sprinkle your rub to taste. Wrap the foil around the pork to seal. Try to leave the seam on top – you want to be able to easily access the hot pork butt at the end.
To make from frozen: Take your wrapped pork and place in a freezer bag. Try to remove as much air as possible. Place in the freezer.
2. Take the wrapped frozen or fresh pork and place it in the crock pot.
From Frozen: Cook 8-10 hours on HIGH
From Fresh: Cook 8 hours on LOW
3. About a half hour before the end of the cooking time or even at the end depending on time, mix the BBQ sauce, apple butter and apple juice in a medium bowl.
4. Take the lid off of the crock pot and carefully open the foil packet up with a fork. Use two forks to shred the meat. Pour the BBQ mixture into the meat and stir until combined.
5. Let finish cooking (if done early) or warm through (if done after cooking time over) and serve hot.
**I know apple butter is not extremely common. I get my no sugar added apple butter from my produce co-op. You can easily use this same method and add more of your BBQ sauce, add add half BBQ sauce/half beer, or whatever your favorite is.**
[…] Why Freezer Meals? Well, I started making them mainly because having a new baby doesn’t allow you a lot of time to cook. I ordered and made 3 months of meals at Time for Dinner in St. Louis after having baby Juliana and it was absolutely wonderful. Food just needed popped in the oven or crock pot and it was finished. Clean up was a breeze, I didn’t have to meal plan, and I didn’t feel like we needed to go out to eat as much as before. But making my own recipes is more fun and a little more convenient than the 45 minute drive to Time for Dinner. So, I started reading more and making more freezer friendly food – sometimes hit and miss experiments and sometimes using techniques that Time for Dinner used like the Apple Butter BBQ Pork. […]
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[…] Why Freezer Meals? Well, I started making them mainly because having a new baby doesn’t allow you a lot of time to cook. I ordered and made 3 months of meals at Time for Dinner in St. Louis after having baby Juliana and it was absolutely wonderful. Food just needed popped in the oven or crock pot and it was finished. Clean up was a breeze, I didn’t have to meal plan, and I didn’t feel like we needed to go out to eat as much as before. But making my own recipes is more fun and a little more convenient than the 45 minute drive to Time for Dinner. So, I started reading more and making more freezer friendly food – sometimes hit and miss experiments and sometimes using techniques that Time for Dinner used like the Apple Butter BBQ Pork. […]