Thursday, October 17, 2013

Creative Leftovers: Pulled Pork BBQ on Maple Bacon Biscuits (Plus a Cheesy Quinoa Side)

For pulled pork, I cook a pork section of whatever variety is in my budget and the right size for my crockpot in enough water to cover it in a crockpot on low for 8 hours.  I usually have a couple TB of butter in the mix as well.  I cook ribs like this too and make rib pulled pork, it is awesomely delicious.

For the biscuits, I mixed the following ingredients and baked at 400 for 18 minutes (I suggest on parchment paper):
-2 1/3 C AP flour, 1/3 C more if you want them a stiffer dough
-1/2 stick butter, softened
-1 C milk
-1/4 C maple syrup (the real kind, dark amber)
-1 TB baking powder
-Dash of salt
-1/3 to 1/2 C freshly cooked and crumbled bacon pieces

I drizzled mine with a TB or so of maple syrup mixed with a little powdered sugar.

I also had some leftover quinoa and wild rice blended, both of which I made according to directions with some butter in the mix (I basically put a pat of butter in every pot of boiling water).

Now, to turn all of these yummy leftovers into my crazy good meal I did the following:

First, get a pot heating up and add your quinoa blend.  Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cubes of Colby jack depending on your desired level of cheesiness.  I would say mine was about 1/3 C.  Add in just shy of 1/4 C milk, and hit it with salt.  Let it heat on medium or low medium, stirring occasionally.

In a skillet on medium heat, add the pulled pork pieces and some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.  Let that heat up and stir it around as needed. 

When your cheese is all melted in your quinoa and your pork and BBQ is sufficiently coated and heated, slice a maple bacon biscuit.  Top it with the BBQ and serve it up with your delicious cheesy quinoa.

That's right.  Pork on pork. It was so delicious I nearly fell off my stool (I have a pub set in the apartment).  If you were to retool this slightly and add an egg to make it a breakfast meal, I mean really you would probably never go out for breakfast again.  You would want to eat this every single day.

You would type your blog and realize there is nothing stopping you from doing it in the morning...decisions, decisions...

Decision made.

The bad part about this meal is that I really enjoyed the cheesy quinoa just a little too much.  I am not sure I can go back to eating regular quinoa now...I am not a big fan of things like mac-n-cheese typically, so I just assumed I would not be overly impressed with cheesy quinoa.

Wrong.

If you have picky eaters, I think that would be a great way to sneak it in from time to time.  You are really just a little salsa and some ground beef away from a "mexi rice" that at least hides in some protein.

Hey, that's a great idea that might just make it on to my meal plan for next week!

Leftovers are great if you find interesting ways to reuse them so you don't have to eat the exact same meal four times in one week.  Pork is often really cheap and there is nothing friendlier than a crockpot for some easy pulled pork.  You can also slather it with BBQ sauce and put it under the broiler for a few once it is done from the crockpot if you want more of a crispy carmelized taste.

Happy crafting! Pin It Now!

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