Saucy in the Kitchen

Is there any better moment than when your significant other asks if he can cook for you?  Seriously, it could be a grilled cheese sandwich, a salad out of a bag,  heck he could pour me a bowl of cereal and I would be grateful!  I don’t know about your house, but in my home I am typically the cook and my husband tends to help with the other chores like taking out the garbage, cleaning out the attic/garage, and the best chore of picking up the yard after Tebow does his business!  These are all things that I happily rely on him to complete.  He even helps with the laundry and vacuuming without me asking, which I totally appreciate as well.

  

“Thanks for your help dad!” – Tebow (Side note, look how big he is getting?!)

So as you can see, I’ve got it pretty easy.  I absolutely love to cook and I use that time to be creative, experiment, and to be alone with my own thoughts.  Being the cook of the family is not a chore to me, but a privilege.  Sure it comes along with dish duty (boo!), but if that’s the worst part of it, I would say I am floating on cloud 9.

However, when my husband volunteers to make dinner, this is something I am not going to turn down!  I will share my space in the kitchen if it means Tim wants to romance me with a homemade meal.

  My hubby, the bbq master 🙂

He has been wanting to make pulled pork for a while, so yesterday while we were at the grocery, he purchased a 3 lb., bone-in pork tenderloin along with a variety of spices and sauces.

Last night he patted a dry rub all over the pork, and this morning placed the tenderloin in the slow cooker along with a variety of liquids.  He used bottles of IBC Root Beer, Tabasco, and Sticky Finger’s Carolina Classic BBQ Sauce.  (We went to the Sticky Finger’s restaurant in Myrtle Beach a few years ago and fell in love!  The best barbecue from a chain restaurant I have ever had.  The corn bread muffins taste like funfetti cupcakes, I swear!!)  We set the slow cooker on low for 6 hours 30 minutes, and after that time, the heat setting would automatically change over to warming.

I love my slow cooker!  It is a gift I received for my bridal shower from one of  Tim’s aunts and a cousin.  It is stainless and a touch screen!  It is pretty high-tech for a slow cooker, but the saying is, "Go big, or Go home," right?! I don’t use it as often as I would like, but when I do, I am so ecstatic to get home from work to a fully cooked meal, which is exactly how I felt tonight!

Tim took care of the main course, but when it came to the side dish,I volunteered to add a little greenery to the meal.  My barbecue loving husband said, "Don’t worry about it honey," which I think translated to, "Seriously, I don’t want to eat another green leaf.  Can’t I have one meal without a heavy dose of fiber?!"  No can do hubby! 🙂

Over the weekend I bought kale for the first time ever!  Not wanting to totally turn Tim off, I tried to find a recipe I thought might be appealing to both of us.  Kale chips was the first thing that came to mind, so I thought I would use this recipe as my base, and add a taste of the south to the greens.

 

BBQ Kale Chips

Ingredients

1/2 bunch of kale

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon McCormick Grill Mates Pork Rub

This is the same dry rub Tim used on the pork.  I thought it would be a nice way to tie in the kale to the meal.

Ingredients Continued

1 – 2 tablespoons grated extra sharp cheddar

 

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Wash and dry Kale, then pull of leaves from stem.  Place on cookie sheets.

Drizzle leaves with olive oil.  Sprinkle salt, pork rub, and cheddar evenly around leaves.

Being the sous chef and making the side dish!  Grating the cheddar.

Place in oven and bake 10-12 minutes until crispy and lightly browned.

I also decided to make him a couple of red potatoes as well in case he absolutely could not handle the bitter green that is kale.  Surprisingly enough though, he loved them!  He went as far to say that he wouldn’t mind having them once a week!  I am so excited that I might just take him up on that offer.. 😉

I filled up my little plate with a serving of pork and a large helping of kale chips.  This is what I call healthy living, meets bbq!  Everything in moderation.

Dinner was delicious, filling and nutritious!  As much as I do love to be in the kitchen, it was nice to have a break for the night.  Anytime Tim wants to cook for me again, I am all for it.. 🙂

 

Questions for the Readers

What is your favorite recipe to have someone else cook for you?

As delicious as this dish was, Tim is amazing at the grill!  I, on the other hand, won’t go anywhere near the grill so I always request grilled chicken and veggie kabobs in the summer. Yum!

Date night:  Would you rather someone make you dinner, or take you out to dinner?

I like both, and it really depends how I am feeling!  Some days I love getting dressed up and getting ready for a night on the town.  Other times I would rather stay in and spend quality time just me and my husband.