Memorial Day BBQ Ideas

Thinking out of the box is a way of life for me. I love surprising guests with little unexpected touches of fun. Lately my thing is Mason Jars! I've used them for salads, drinks, table decorations, flower arrangements and yes, even cupcakes in a jar. When I came across this next idea I immediately pictured my brothers and uncles sitting around telling old family stories (the hunting stories are my fave) while eating BBQ from a jar. Perfection!

Gorgeous AmberLee posted this idea on her blog Givers Log http://www.giverslog.com/?p=8245.

Items needed:

Jars (I prefer wide mouth jars, especially when serving men!)
Buzz's beans (recipe below)
Coleslaw
Pulled pork (recipe below)
Pickle spears
Forks (I love going to DI to pick up random styles of silverware, it works well with the mason jar theme.)
Napkins (of course, again especially when serving men ;))

Wash jars thoroughly.
Start layering ingredients in jars. Place beans in the bottom, next add the slaw (since beans and pork are similar in color I like to layer the slaw in the middle). Then top it off with the pork. Then gently push pickle into pork. (you can be creative here by adding a fancy toothpick, little tags, small American flags, etc)

That's it! This is SO Dough-style it's almost ridic.


Pulled Pork

Homestyle boneless pork ribs
Sliced onion
Coke, Pepsi, root beer, or Dr. Pepper
Your favorite BBQ sauce

Place ribs, soda, and onion in slow cooker. (liquid should be just a little lower than completely covering meat) Cook on high for 4 hours, reduce to low heat and cook 1 or 2 more hours.

Remove ribs from cooker and dump all liquid. Place ribs back into cooker, add BBQ sauce and using two forks gently shred the pork. Remove pieces of fat that you can see. Cook on low for 30 min then reduce heat to warm until ready to serve.

Buzz's Beans

Caned pork and beans
Salsa

Place beans and salsa in pan and heat, stirring frequently.

The amount of salsa really depends on what you prefer. Typically I will use medium salsa and add approx. 3/4 cup per large family size can of beans.

I LOVE SLOW COOKERS!