Rootbeer pulled pork sunday!

Success!

Today I made crock pot pulled pork with a rootbeer base, and it was definitely yummy. I got an all around thumbs up from friends at the dinner table, so that made my morning spazout worth it... However, let's turn back to about 10AM and review my garlic issues.

I would like to personally thank the produce guy who told me buying garlic and mincing it myself is "wicked easy, so don't pay more for garlic already minced." Again, I need to learn so I'm thinking, hey "wicked easy" I can totally do. I literally almost tossed the garlic across my kitchen.
Things started off great, I put my can of root beer in the crock pot, measured all my spices (adding a little extra of some and less of others), cut my onion (the wrong way, which my husband so "sweetly" pointed out), added brown sugar, and put my pork in. I wasn't sure what "4 garlic cloves minced" really meant, so I had to google it. Yup! Even watched a video on mincing garlic. However I couldn't get the stupid film off the garlic to even start mincing it, so I used my lifeline and phoned a friend (my Mom, who by the way has her own catering business....Yup, you don't even need to say it...). My mom didn't answer, so I had no other option but to wake up my sleeping husband (who had just fallen asleep after working a night shift). I "accidentally" put the baby gate down which blocks our puppy from the upstairs bedrooms. And look at that, our puppy (8 months old and 65lbs) took a superman leap onto the bed and landed on my husband. Darn. "Awww sorry, well, since your awake, how do I...."
His answer to my garlic question was simply, "Why don't you just use the jar of minced garlic in the fridge."
UGH. What the ____!

After my garlic tantrum everything was fine (it was literally a tantrum), but again this is why I do not enjoy cooking. One stupid ingredient blows the whole process, which is why today it was tough to be a Moosh.

Today's Recipe (pulled from a few Pinterest recipes I found but mainly "The Tasty Fork" site/pin):

• 1 12 oz can rootbeer (I used A&W)
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 heaping tbsps brown sugar (I love the taste so I added a touch more)
• 1 tbsp some type of grill seasoning (used a McCormick maple rub I had in my pantry)
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 garlic cloves minced *UGHH!
• 1 onion sliced (Originally all recipes said to not actually serve them with the pulled pork, but I did and it was a nice touch!)
• 3 lb boneless pork roast

Served on/with:

• BBQ sauce if you want to add some on your bun (We used sweet baby rays brown sugar BBQ)
• Sweet bulkie rolls
• Cheddar cheese (our favorite is Hoffmans cheddar)

Toss all ingredients into a crockpot (minus the BBQ sauce, bulkie rolls, and cheddar cheese... obviously, but not so obvious to me!) and cooked on low for 5-6 hours.Take out the pork and pull it (I recommend bear claws!), then put it back in the crock pot (with all juice/sauce) for another 20-30 minutes and it should be ready to go. 

We served the pork on a toasted sweet bulkie roll with brown sugar BBQ sauce & a slice of melted cheddar cheese. Mmmmm.
My husband made amazing smoked gouda, cheddar, and spicy keilbasa mac and cheese, which I definitely recommend as well. All I did was help pour the cheese into the pan, so I can't take credit for that.

Lessons learned today:

-If I can buy it to save some aggrivation (minced garlic), I'm doing it from now on.
-No more trusting the produce guy... Jerk.
-The rootbeer definitely made the pork fall apart. We have these awesome "bear claw" thingys to pull the pork, which was very helpful. I recommend buying these!

-After my garlic fit my husband decided to make the side dish, so I'm still not doing side dishes for a bit.