raw

I've been scared of raw meat my whole life.

Mostly likely this fear stems from my guilt of slaughtering and eating helpless animals.

Preparing raw meat is one thing. Ordering cooked meat is another. It's not so real when its fried and dipped in ranch.

#1 fear - raw meat. I'd rather change four diapers then handle 1 hunk of meat. Hopefully, that ratio paints a picture for you.

#2 fear - the dark. I've pin pointed where my fear of dark comes from (a prank my parents played on me in elementary school). I'll save that for another day.

I've stayed away from raw meat my entire life. Even the step of cutting the meat after it's cooked grossed me out for years. This is why my parents cut my steak/chicken/pork for me until I went to college (then let's be honest, I probably lived off of breadsticks, pizza, and beer the next four years). Feel free to judge.

But in my defense, I was a good kid. The least my parents could do is (provide me with a roof over my head, love me, care for me) serve me steak in perfect - no fat - high maintenance- bites, right?

10 years later I'm cutting my own meat. (Baby steps.) Yes, cutting meat is not a problem any longer. And somehow, I have only had to touch raw meat about 5 times in the last 4 years. I'm really not sure how I have managed this impeccable statistic.

Even better, I have found myself in a very delightful position of having dinner cooked for me 6 nights a week. Commuting 100 miles a day is pretty awful, but it sure is nice coming home to a hot meal!

Ian and I plan our meals for the week on Saturday or Sunday, and then go to the grocery together to pick up the ingredients. Ian cooks 4 nights a week, we go out 1 night a week, we both cook dinner together 1 night a week (I would do it myself, but it is "his" kitchen after all, and he has a hard time letting me takeover :), and depending on if we are in Indy or Defiance, a set of parents cook for us one night a week.

Here is our weekly menu board we update.

That week doesn't look particularly healthy to the naked eye, but I have elaborated below:

Tilapia & Steamed Broccoli.
Grilled Chicken Salad
Burgers (no bun & mine was turkey burger) with vinegar based Coleslaw (not mayo)
Pizza (this was out "night out". Piper had surgery so we wanted to stay home with her.)
Tacos & Beer  (Ok, this night was a little unhealthy. This was actually pulled pork tacos which I made!)

I have been obsessed with pulled pork since I have moved to Defiance. A new discovery in this town full of surprises. Now get this, I can get a pulled pork burrito at an Italian restaurant on their Mexican night (got that?). It's delicious. I also get a pulled pork wrap with Cashman's Barbecue sauce at a restaurant called Scotties that used to be called Cashmans. (got that?)

This brings me to when I touched raw meat this year.
I touched raw meat on Good Friday. (I'm not Catholic! So it's OK.)

I had the day off from work, so I planned ahead to make pulled pork (& take care of Piper post surgery). Earlier in the week we picked up a crock pot at Kohl's for less than $20 (with a coupon & on sale). I sang at church in the morning, and then headed home to prepare the big meal...on my own...for the first time in a really long time.

I started by looking in one of the cookbooks I got for my wedding. I got REALLY impatient (surprised?), and decided to google "pulled pork". I went with the first pulled pork recipe that didn't require me to use any pan other than my crockpot. This way, I only had to touch the big hunk of meat once.

(cookbook: 0, computer: 1)

I used a 4 pound pork shoulder (butt) and followed this recipe here, Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork, except for the Worcestershire sauce because we didn't have any. The transfer of the pork from the package to the crockpot was a bit traumatic, but I survived.

I used a local barbecue sauce (same as the used at the restaurant I talked about above).

I cooked it from noon to 5pm, and after stirring it (and picking out the fat) randomly for the last hour, it shredded itself into the perfect consistency.

I also didn't use the bun the recipe calls for. It was taco night!

And what's taco night without these ingredients?

All and all, my taco night was a success, and we had a ton of pork leftover that we froze for another meal or two. I survived raw meat, and I'm looking forward to touching it again next year.

cheers! xo