BBQ Pulled Pork

Today, I did something I haven't done in a long time.

I swam laps.

It seems like a lifetime ago, but in high school, I joined the swim team for a season. I wasn't awful, either. I was in the upper crust of the newbies. I would have done even better if I had actually applied myself. But if you were to talk to my mother, she'd same could be said for my school work.

I wanted to come back to the team the following season, but schoolwork won out. We practiced until 10:30 p.m. on some nights and when school started at 7:30, it was hard enough to get the sleep I needed let alone time to do homework. I knew swimming wasn't going to get me into college — my grades were. So as much as I liked it, I had bow out after just one season.

I still love to swim. I did about roughly an hour total with a minute or two of rest every 15 minutes. The old guy next to me asked me how far I was going.. and honestly, I didn't know. I was just swimming back and forth for the fun of it.

Then I came home to a dinner that had been bubbling away in the crockpot while I was at the gym - BBQ pulled pork. We had this recipe for my mom's birthday and I knew I had to make it for myself. I still had a giant pack of western style ribs leftover from the ribs I made a few months ago, so I decided to throw it all in the slow cooker so I could freeze the leftovers for a night I don't want to cook.

The recipe doesn't call for it, but I added a medium onion, a few garlic cloves and a dash or two of red pepper flakes to the crockpot and then shredded and added the bbq sauce like the recipe calls for. I also used chicken broth because I never have beef broth on hand and I forgot to pick some up at the store.

It's maybe not the leanest thing in the world. You could certainly try using a leaner pork. My mom used a pork loin, which I believe is much leaner than the western style ribs. It calls for boneless, but mine had bones and I just picked them out. No big deal.

Use your favorite BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays) or take the time to make your own. Either way, these are really simple and really fantastic.