Place pork shoulder in slower cooker and salt and pepper to taste. Drain pineapple slices, reserving juice. Combine one bottle Hawaiian barbecue sauce with reserved pineapple juice and pour over pork. Cook on low 8-10 hours. In last hour, shred pork and drain off most of cooking liquid, then return pork to slow cooker with additional barbecue sauce if desired and finish cooking.
Serve on Hawaiian buns with pineapple slices, pepper jack cheese, additional barbecue sauce if desired, and a generous portion of jalapeño-cilantro slaw.
Last week, when I was trying to plan the week’s menu and write my grocery list, I threatened that if I didn’t find some inspiration quickly, I was going to serve sandwiches all week. That in itself was all the inspiration I needed, and “Sandwich Week” was born. Now, I was actually threatening to serve cold sandwiches, but no one can run with a theme like I can, so I came up with seven sandwich-based dinners, and seven sandwich-themed desserts, as well!
We started with fish fillet sandwiches for dinner and classic ice cream sandwiches for dessert on Monday:
Night two was the classic American sandwich, the cheeseburger, plus fancy French macarons (a sandwich cookie), made by Ladybug for dessert:
We did have cold sandwiches one night, but I went with a whole sandwich bar theme, with lots of lunchmeat and cheeses, plus breads and spreads, and everyone built their own. I had turkey and gouda on potato bread with hot pepper jelly. And for dessert…well, have you ever noticed how many desserts claim to be pies but are actually sandwiches, like these oatmeal creme pies? Total soft sandwich cookie!
I love breakfast-for dinner, so of course we had breakfast sandwiches. Instead of making scrambled eggs, (which are notorious for escaping the sandwich), like I usually do, I made two six-egg omelettes, and cut each in thirds, making sandwich squares which worked out perfectly…I’ll definitely be using that trick in the future! Chickadee and I also made brownie ice cream sandwiches from The My Little Pony Baking Book for dessert:
You can’t have “Sandwich Week” without BLTs! I added more of my favorite hot pepper jelly to mine…it’s such a good addition to so many things! For dessert, we had the classic sandwich cookie, the Oreo, with a Halloween twist:
On Saturday, I decided that we also needed a special sandwich for lunch, so I made egg salad. We also had some leftover bacon in the fridge, and what goes better with eggs than bacon?
For our penultimate “Sandwich Week” dinner, we had our favorite chicken patties, and for dessert, I made another sandwich masquerading as a pie, pumpkin whoppie pies:
The last day of “Sandwich Week” featured what might be our family’s favorite sandwich, which we have come to call “Stitch’s Sandwiches”…pork tenderloin with Hawaiian BBQ sauce served on Hawaiian buns with bacon, sliced pepper jack, pineapple rings, and a spicy slaw. For dessert, I made my favorite German sandwich cookies, Spitzbuben, filled with strawberry jam:
This was a really fun theme that helped me plan out a week’s worth of dinners, but I’m not going to lie, in the end, it was quite a bit of work! I’ll have to remember that the next time I start making threats when I’m meal planning!
Ladybug has been wanting to prepare a meal (or two!) using recipes from The Ultimate Final Fantasy XIV Online Cookbook, and we decided that spring break was the perfect opportunity. So last Wednesday, we had a day of Final Fantasy XIV-themed foods, starting with a “Sandwich Basket” for lunch. It included egg salad, roast beef with horseradish sauce, and lettuce, tomato, and avocado varieties:
For dinner, she choose “Deep-Fried Okeanis,” which was pretty much a schnitzel that would also work well for pork katsu sandwiches. It was served with some herb roasted potatoes that were really good.
Every good themed meal needs a special drink, so we made “The Black Shroud Lemonade,” which had a simple syrup made of honey and sugar…that gave it a unique flavor that I really enjoyed!
And for dessert, we made a “Rolanberry Cheesecake,” which had a combination of cherries, strawberries, and raspberries in the sauce. It was really delicious, and it didn’t crack at all!
I’m not really familiar with the game itself, but it certainly did provide us with a lot of good food!
This is a Pioneer Woman recipe that I tweaked a bit to suit our family. Both the meat and the slaw are quite spicy. The slaw is very pretty and summery with the bright green and purple colors!
Spicy Chipotle Pork (serve on Kaiser rolls):
2 Whole Onions, Peeled And Quartered
Pork Shoulder Picnic Roast (about 6 lbs.–I used two smaller roasts)
Salt And Pepper
1 can (12 Ounce) Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce
24 oz. Dr. Pepper
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
Generously salt and pepper the pork roast, then set it on top of the onions in the crock-pot.
Pour the can of chipotle peppers and sauce into a medium bowl. Pour in the Dr. Pepper. Add brown sugar to the juice and stir in. Pour over pork.
Cook on low for 10-12 hours, turning the roast every few hours. Check meat after 10 hours; it should be absolutely falling apart (use two forks to test.) If it’s not falling apart, leave in the crock-pot for another 1-2 hours.
Remove meat from crock-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. Before returning the meat to the cooking liquid, strain out the onions and whole peppers. 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.)
It’s quite spicy–you’ve been warned! The pork can make a repeat performance as quesadilla filling later in the week, if you’re looking for a quick leftovers meal.
Jalapeño-Cilantro Slaw
1/2 head Cabbage, Sliced Thin
1/2 head Purple Cabbage, Sliced Thin
1 whole Jalapeño, Halved Lengthwise, Seeds Removed, And Thinly Sliced
1/2 cup Whole Milk
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 teaspoon White Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
2 cups Cilantro Leaves, Barely Chopped
Combine shredded cabbage and sliced jalapeño in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix milk, mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt, and cayenne. Pour over cabbage. Toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate two hours.
Before serving, toss in cilantro leaves. Serve over meat in kaiser rolls.
The slaw is also spicy, so you may want to leave out either the jalapeño or the cayenne pepper to tone down the heat. It can be served on other sandwiches as well, and for the courageous, who either really like spicy food, or coleslaw, or both, can be eaten on the side.
