Some useful information, some anecdotes, some rantings, and some inspiration
from my quest to make my family and perhaps the world around me A Little Greener Every Day

Don’t forget about the book giveaway I’m hosting right now for Tar Sands. The book is about the dirty oil that is being shipped from Canada to the U.S.

All this for under $10 for a family of four.

Now on to the post. It’s been a couple of months since I’ve participated in one of Thursday Night Smackdown‘s monthly challenges. So for those who are unfamiliar with it, I’ll fill you in. Thursday Night Smackdown is a fabulous blog by food blogger Michelle. Michelle used to a host a monthly event where she would give a category and you had to cook a recipe from one of your cookbooks that  you’ve never made before in that category. But then economy tanked and she decided to host a new event which she calls Cheap-Ass Tuesdays or for those who wish to not offend their mothers, Hobo Tuesdays. The first Tuesday of every month, readers are challenged to make a dish that costs less than $5 for 2 people or $10 for 4 people.

The last time I participated I made a stir fry that used up the veggies I had in the fridge and some stir fry meat. This week I made southern pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw, corn on the cob, and carrots.

Here’s the break down:

1 1/2 pound pork loin on sale – $2.73
4 kaiser rolls – $1.40
1/2 onion – $.30
garlic – $.10
4 ears corn on cob – $2.00
Cole slaw mix – $1.00
mini carrots – $.40
mayo, vinegar, s&p for cole slaw  & cajun seasoning, butter and liquid smoke for pork – pantry staples (but if you the little bit of each I used all up – it wouldn’t add up to the just over $2 I still have left in the challenge!)

Total: $7.93 for a dinner my family loved

Here’s the recipe if you’d like to give it a try:

Slow Cooker Southern Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 – 2 pound pork roast
• 1 tbsp cajun seasoning
• 1 med chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 c water
• 1 tbsp liquid smoke

Directions

1. Cut roast into large chunks. Season generously (go wild) with cajun seasoning.
2. Melt butter in large skillet  brown pork on all sides. Remove and place in slow cooker.
3. Add onion & garlic to the skillet, cook until tender. Stir water into the skillet, scraping up all the bits from the bottom. Pour into slow cooker. Add liquid smoke.
4. Cook on high four 6 hours or until meat begins to fall apart. Remove meat. Shred with two forks and return to liquid in slow cooker. Keep warm.

Cole Slaw (this cole slaw doesn’t use much mayo – you want to  use a recipe like this and not a traditional slaw recipe for these sandwiches)

Ingredients

• 2 c shredded cabbage
• 2 tbsp minced onion
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic – minced
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients a few hours before serving and let marinate together in the fridge.

To make the sandwich – slice open your favorite hearty roll, pour a tiny bit of juice on both sides of the roll, add pulled pork and top with slaw. Enjoy!

You may be wondering what this has to do with being greener? Not much. It’s just a fun challenge that I like to participate in each month. The corn on the cob was local, though. And the pork was from the “buy it now or we throw it away” section of the meat department which is why it was so cheap. Although I usually like to buy locally raised or organic meats, I will buy from this section because I think it’s a terrible waste for that meat to go in the landfill.

One last thing – just realized I messed up royally – there was a category with this month’s Hobo Tuesday – fruit. I didn’t read Michelle’s specific instructions for this month so I didn’t know I needed fruit. Yikes.