Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Guinea Pig: Jennifer

THE CLAIM

When you hear the words "pork" and "crock pot," most assume that we're talking about the variety soaked in BBQ sauce.  TidyMom offers this recipe for a more traditional Slow Cooker Pulled Pork.  See link in photo caption for recipe and photo source.  



Click here for recipe and photo source.

THE TEST
Guinea Pig Jennifer made this recipe.  Per the recipe suggestion, she substituted apple juice for hard cider.  The result?  Delicious and moist!  Just the right amount of sweetness and just a hint of "apple."  But there are some things to note:

1. Again, this is not BBQ Pork.  It's shredded pork.  Add sauce of your choice when serving.
2. 4-5 lbs of meat is a lot of meat.  Jennifer made this for two adults and a toddler.  See the picture below.  There were plenty of leftovers for shredded pork nachos. 
3. We'll say it again: 4-5 lbs of meat is a lot of meat.  You'll need more than 4-5 hours on low in a crock pot to shred this.  Aim for 7-8 hours instead.  

CONCLUSION
YUM!  Proof that pork in a crock pot doesn't need to be BBQ.

Photo Courtesy of Guinea Pig Karen

Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake

Guinea Pig: Kelli

THE CLAIM

We know that we recently featured a recipe for Molten Lava Mug Cake.  Too soon to post another?  ABSOLUTELY NOT.  Check out this video on Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake, as featured by Buzzfeed's Tasty Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/buzzfeedtasty).  Video can also be viewed in YouTube by clicking this link.

THE TEST
Guinea Pig Kelli made this recipe happen.  Her reaction? "Wow! Easy! Straight forward and good! It wasn't a true "lava" cake, but more of a pudding cake. The pudding was on the bottom. So cake on top of pudding. And it was delicious straight out of the crock pot. The cooking time was perfect."

The end result would be something similar to an 8" round cake, two inches high, and might feed 8-10 people.  Wondering what to do with the leftovers? (Or laughing at the thought of any of it being left over?)  Kelli said she left hers in the crock pot, and put the crock pot in the fridge until she was ready to serve it again.  Reheating in the crock pot caused some of the edges to burn, but you could cut around that.  Microwave works just as good.  Nothing is as good as straight out of the crock pot, but reheating works just fine.

CONCLUSION
Perfect for the choco-holic in your life!

Photo Courtesy of Guinea Pig Kelli

Photo Courtesy of Guinea Pig Kelli

Root-Beer-Spiked Pulled Pork

Guinea Pig: Kimberley

THE CLAIM

Want to take BBQ pork to the next level?  Community Table offers this crock pot recipe with a surprise ingredient: root beer! Click the link in the photo caption to see recipe and photo source!

Click here for recipe and photo source!

THE TEST
Guinea Pig Kimberley made this one, and she is happy that she did.  She says that the recipe is delicious, and that her family was happy to eat the copious amount of leftovers for the rest of the week!  She is sure she will make the recipe again.

Kimberly says that after 10 hours in the slow cooker, "the meat just fell off the bone and was very easy to shred."

As far as the root beer flavor, Kimberley said she didn't notice a discernible difference between this and traditional BBQ pork (except that this was REALLY GOOD BBQ pork).

CONCLUSION
A worthy rival to traditional crock pot BBQ pork!

Photo Courtesy of Guinea Pig Kimberley