Football Food Friday! Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Mustard Vinaigrette Coleslaw

Since most of my other Football Foods are either dips or appetizer-ish, I wanted to do something a little more main dish-ish for those days when you want more of a meal than snacks for the big game. And the best things about this recipe though it that it takes very little effort and active cooking time and is probably easier than some of the other football food recipes!

This sandwich is so delicious and I think you'll really love it! It is the perfect combination of flavor and texture. The pork is juicy and tender, the coleslaw is tangy and crunchy, and the avocado adds a creamy texture and mild flavor. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients
3-4 lb. pork loin
Salt
Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled
32 oz. beef broth
2-2 1/2 cups of water (enough to cover the pork with liquid)
About 2 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce
Hamburger buns

Toppings:
Extra BBQ
Coleslaw (see below for recipe)
Avocado
Pepper Jack cheese

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Lightly season all sides of the pork loin with salt and pepper. Brown each side of the pork loin in the oil, about 2-3 minutes per side.

In a slow cooker, create a bed of onions with three quarters of the onions. Place pork on top of onions and place remaining onions on top of and around pork. Place garlic in the slow cooker and pour in broth and water to cover the meat. Cover, turn heat to high and cook for five hours.

Remove the pork and onions from the slower cooker to a plate and discard the cooking liquid. With a tongs and a fork, shred the pork. After the pork is shredded, return the pork and onions back to the slow cooker. Pour in BBQ sauce and toss to combine. Heat another 30 minutes to an hour on high.

Mustard Vinaigrette Coleslaw
10 oz. bag of cabbage
1/4 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup olive oil

While pork is heating in slow cooker with the sauce, make the vinaigrette. Whisk the vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. While continuously whisking with one hand, very very slowly drizzle the olive oil into the bowl. It is important to continue whisking and drizzle as slowly as possible so that the dressing will emulsify and not separate on you. If it easier for you, you can easily do this in the blender, drizzling the olive oil slowly through the top opening or pour all ingredients into a dressing shaker or tupperware and shake, shake, shake! Chill the vinaigrette until you are ready to assemble the sandwiches.

Toast buns, if desired and top with pork and coleslaw and any other toppings desired.

Enjoy!

California Chicken Sandwiches

Not that this should be a surprise to anyone to knows me, but for most of my life I wouldn't have anything to do with avocados unless they were smashed up in guacamole. Bizarre, I know. But really, that's how a lot of my pickiness goes...its selective and avocados were no exception. Until recently.

Somehow I must have missed those big green chucks floating in my tortilla soup, but one spoonful of soup (avocado in tow) and I was hooked! What have I been missing all these years? Lots of things I presume.

Anyways, now, I love putting plain avocados on anything and everything. But I have to admit that a favorite combo of mine has to be avocado and bacon! YUM! Not the lowest fat combo, I know, but at least avocados have the good kind of fat. Wink, wink.

So, with that in mind, I was thinking of something to make for dinner last week and I whipped up with this little gem. I hope you like it!

Ingredients:
1 package of dry Ranch dip mix
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt
Pepper
4 buns of your choice
4 slices thick cooked bacon (or more, if you want)
1 ripe avocado
1/2 sweet yellow onion, very thinly sliced
About 2 teaspoons flour

Sprinkle both sides of chicken with ranch packet seasoning as well as season with salt and pepper. Heat grill to medium high heat.

While grill is heating, cook the bacon until brown and crisp and remove from pan. Drain off all except for about 1 tablespoon or so of the bacon fat and add onions to the pan and saute. Continue to saute the onions until they are fairly brown and then sprinkle the onions with the flour and continue to cook until they are crispy then remove from heat.

Grill chicken for 5-7 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Toast buns, if desired.

Allow chicken to rest a few minutes and the slice it diagonally. Assemble sandwich with chicken on the bottom and then pile on the bacon, avocado and crispy onions.

Since this is a big and rich sandwich, I recommend serving it with a small salad or fruit salad as I did.

Enjoy!

As always, let me know what you think or if you have questions!

Grilled Portabella Paninis with Goat Cheese and Carmelized Onions

Ingredients:
4 portabella mushroom caps
8 slices of gourmet bread of your choice (foccacia, sour dough, ciabatta, whole wheat, etc.)
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Balsamic vinegar, for drizzling
1 small to medium sized onion
1 small goat cheese log or 1 tub of herbed goat cheese spread, whichever you prefer
Salt
Pepper

Method:
Prepare by heating grill and panini grill to medium heat. Remove goat cheese from refrigerator to allow it to come to room temperature.

While grill is heating up, heat one tablespoon olive oil in skillet on the stove. Thinly slice onions and add to the pan to caramelize. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Caramelizing takes awhile (about 20-25 minutes), so be patient and allow the onions to cook down to a deep golden-brown color, stirring occasionally.

Clean the mushroom caps with a slightly damp paper towel and trim the stem off. With a knife, score the top of the cap and the stem in a diamond pattern. Lightly drizzle both sides of the mushrooms with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place mushrooms gill side down on grill and grill for five minutes. Flip mushrooms and grill for an additional five minutes on cap side.

While the mushrooms are grilling, check on the onions. Once they have started to brown, pour a small splash (about one tablespoon) of balsamic vinegar into the pan to deglaze the bottom, scraping up the brown bits and continuously stirring the onions. Then season lightly with salt and pepper.

To assemble sandwich, spread about one tablespoon of goat cheese or herbed goat cheese spread on one side of bread. You may use whichever type of goat cheese you like better. I have done both. It just depends on whichever you think you will use for other purposes. Slice portabella thinly and arrange on another slice of bread, pile high with the carmelized onions and top with other side of bread.

Place sandwich in panini grill and press for several minutes until golden brown.

I hope you enjoy this panini! As always, leave a comment if you have a question!

Tilapia Sandwiches with Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream Sauce

Well, I was planning to wait until I got my new cute blog design up, but since I am being so slow about it and my sister gave me a shout out on her blog, I guess I better get started!

So, this is a super easy recipe and definitely a favorite of ours and since I made it last night and Annie mentioned it on her blog, I thought it was a good one to start with!

Keep in mind, I am not a big "recipe user" therefore I am probably not the best recipe writer so if you have questions or need me to elaborate on any of the ingredients or steps, let me know!

Ingredients:
-1 tablespoon of olive oil
-1 tilapia filet per person (unless they are really small, buy 3 and split for two people, etc.)
-Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning for sprinkling
-Hambuerger buns, 1 per person (I always buy the Cobblestone Mill brand--they are delicious!!)

Sauce:
-About 2-3 tablespoons of sour cream (light or non fat is fine)
-2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
-zest of 1/2 of small lime
-1/2 teaspoon of lime juice

Serves 2--Remember that's how many I cook for, but you can certainly double, triple, half, etc. if that's how many you're cooking for!

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet on medium high heat. Sprinkle tilapia filets on both sides with cajun seasoning. Put tilapia in the pan and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes. The fish should firm up a bit and turn white. To test the doneness of meat and fish it is always a good tip to test it with your finger (careful not to burn yourself!). If the fish/meat gives a lot then it is probably not done, if it has some firmness but you can push it a little then it is probably close to perfect! Too firm is not good! :)

While the fish is cooking. Prepare the sauce in a small bowl by combining the sour cream, zest, juice and cilantro. Sprinkle a tiny bit of the cajun seasoning. Taste a bit of the sauce to see if it needs to be adjusted. It should taste light and fresh with a touch of lime. If it is too much cilantro, add some lime and vice versa if it is too limey.

Toast buns in the broiler until lightly golden brown. Make sure to watch them though because things burn fast in the broiler! To plate, spread about one heaping tablespoon of sauce on each bun and place tilapia filet on top!

This dinner is great with any side dish, but I usually do baked sweet potato fries (the frozen kind) because my husband loves them. I have done homemade ones before, but that's a story for another day!

I hope you enjoy this delicious and easy dinner! If you have any questions just leave me a comment and I will be happy to help!