This was such a comfort meal for me, as I’ve just been feeling crappy and distant all week, not like myself at all. Just feeling burnt out and needed something that would just warm me up inside. I decided to make Mac n cheese for the kiss but I couldn’t eat it since it used cheddar cheese. Soni made some homemade Mac n cheese with some pulled pork for myself and it was so good. I wasn’t in the mood to make pulled pork, so I used a ready to go meal from Aldi, and put that on top of the Mac n cheese. So freaking good. You can add this onto box Mac n cheese and it’s still just as good, I’ve done that with the Aldi brand, black pepper Mac n cheese, the only one that doesn’t upset my stomach.
Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 3 pound pork butt, or pork shoulder
- 3 tablespoons garlic salt
- ¼ cup chili powder
- 2 liter coke, or any dark soda
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke, optional, for a light smoky flavor
- 1 to 1 ½ cups BBQ sauce, I recommend Sweet Baby Ray’s Origina.
Directions
Place pork into a 7 quart crockpot (line crockpot with a liner for even easier cleanup!) and season with garlic salt and chili powder.
Pour the coke in around the edge of the crockpot, adding just enough coke to almost cover pork. You do not need to cover the pork completely. Add the liquid smoke to the coke, if using.
Cook on low for 8 hours. It can cook longer, no worries if it has to sit a little longer. (You can try cooking the pork on high for 4 to 6 hours, but it may still be a little tough.
The lower and slower cooking time leads to the most tender meat.)
Remove pork from crockpot and discard 95% of the coke mixture…leaving just a little behind to help moisten the pork.
Place the pork back into the crockpot (or in a large bowl) and then use two large forks to shred the meat.
Add BBQ sauce and combine. (Above it says 1 to 1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce, which just means add as much, or as little, bbq sauce as you like.
Leave slow cooker on low, or warm, to keep things hot until you are ready to serve.
INSTANT POT: Cook on manual, high pressure, for 75 minutes. Do a natural pressure release. Then follow directions from #4 down.
Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1lb elbow macaroni, or favorite pasta
- 4c chicken broth
- 3Tbsp unsalted butter
- 12oz shredded cheddar cheese-3c tightly packed
- 1/2c shredded parmesan Cheese
- 1/2c sour cream
- 1 1/2tsp mustard
- 1/8 tsp cayanne pepper
Directions
1.Add macaroni, butter and broth to the instant pot. You need just enough broth to barely cover the noodles. Too much and the noodles will break, and too little the noodles won’t cook.
2.seal the lid and set the pot to pressure cook, 6minutes, at high pressure. While that is cooking, go ahead and gather the rest of your ingredients to quickly add to the pasta when done.
3. Release the pressure and open the lid. Add in the sourcream, cheese, pepper and mustard. GIve that a good stir then taste the pasta to see if you need to add more of one increment to meet your taste.
4. Let sit for 5min to thicken.
Notes
You can transfer pasta to a glass dish and place under the broiler in the oven, and add bread crumbs of your choice for a crispy topping.
Now you can top your macaroni with the pulled pork an enjoy, store anybleftover in an air tight glass container.
