Pulled Pork and Roasted Broccoli

I realize that in one of my previous posts that I said that I would let the readers choose a recipe from my huge folder and I would make it. Well you guys did an awesome job at that, you picked the ricotta gnocchi with spinach bake. I did make it, unfortunately, somewhere between making the recipe and coming here to sit down and blog about it, I lost it! So we’re going to start this again and I will make a separate post for that.

Anyways, not everything I make is homemade. Take last night for instance, we had pulled pork sandwiches. One of the best inventions EVER is the McCormick Slow Cooker Pulled Pork packet. You buy this little packet of goodness at the grocery store (It’s in the aisle with the taco seasoning, chilli seasoning, swedish meatball seasoning etc), you pick up a pork loin, mix the seasoning packet with I think it was brown sugar, ketchup, and vinegar and dump it all into your crock pot and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8. When it’s done, all you do is take two forks and pull the pork. I can’t give a detailed description on how to do that but just pull it. This recipe can feed the entire brood on the cheap which in the current climate is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Now what I’m really super excited about is the veggie I made last night. I was reading the latest food network magazine and I came across this blurb about how roasted broccoli is the new black. I thought that sounded really good so on my weekly trip to Costco, I went and bought a huge bag of fresh broccoli.

I will admit that last night was not the first night that I did this. I made it a few days ago as well and um forgot to take a picture, what good is my blogging about food if I don’t attach a picture? So what I did was, I brought a large pot of water to a boil and once it boiled I dumped in two huge spoonfuls of minced garlic (It keeps your fingers from smelling like garlic and its easier to measure) into the water and then 4 cups of broccoli and I left it in the water for a minute. I drained my broccoli and transferred it to a big bowl where I tossed it with 4 teaspoons of olive oil and some Parmesan cheese. I transferred the broccoli mixture to a baking sheet and put it in the oven set to 450 for 15-20 minutes shaking the pan a few times so I got some even browning.

Let me tell you, roasting broccoli is the best way to cook it. It doesn’t smell like death like when you boil it or steam it, it keeps its beautiful green color, and best of all it’s tender and not mushy. It’s so tender in fact, that my husband, who only eats the tops, will actually eat the stems as well.

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Roasted Broccoli

4 cups fresh broccoli
2 tsp minced garlic (or more if you are a garlic fiend like myself)
4 tsp olive oil
Parmesan cheese to taste

Preheat your oven to 450. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling dump in the garlic and cook the broccoli for one minute and drain. Transfer broccoli to a large and toss with olive oil and sprinkle with cheese. Transfer to baking sheet and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

roasted broccoli

Pulled Pork Sammich for the hell of it!