Deal of the Day: Tony's Pizza

Admittedly, I remember this pizza as being just terrible. But, somewhere along the line something happened, and now it's not half bad.  It has a chewy-crispy crust that I like much more than the cardboard base of a Jack's or Tombstone, and some kind of gooeyness to the cheese that is just awesome.  Now granted, I wouldn't feed the meat-toppings on a Tony's to a stray cat, but that's okay, because Tony's is so cheap, you can afford to buy one whole pizza for everyone in the house.

Simply buy everyone a cheese pizza, and let each person top it with what they like.  Tonight, it was just the boy and I, and he gobbled cheese while I had broccoli and onion on mine.  If hubby had been home, I would have gotten him some sliced pepperoni (which I just saw at the Dollar Tree, FYI).  I picked up my Tony's  for $1.35 each at Wal-Mart, and I had the broccoli and onions on hand.  Now that's one cheap dinner.

Crock Pot Applesauce!

Aaah...applesauce. A staple of life throughout pregnancy, post-pregnancy, and now the toddler years. I never get tired of it, thankfully, as my son adores the stuff. And remarkably, it's good for you! I've recently stumbled upon some crock pot applesauce recipes, and thought I would share. Here's one from The Humbled Homemaker; I've adapted it only slightly.  Enjoy!

Crockpot Applesauce

• 4-5 lbs. apples (about 12 cups sliced)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon or nutmeg
•  2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Peel, core and thinly slice apples and place in crock-pot.  Add cinnamon or nutmeg.  Pour in water and lemon juice. Cook the usual:  3-4 hours on HIGH or 6-8 hours on LOW.  Stir occasionally.

Applesauce may be a little chunky. Mash with a fork or hit it with the immersion blender if you like smoother applesauce.  Yum!

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork is one of my favorite go-to's on a day that's too hot to cook.  It is hands-down the easiest recipe ever, and great for a budget.  You can use any boneless pork cut, really.  You could use bone-in, too, I suppose, but then you'd have to fish out all those little bits of pork bone, and that's just a pain.  The dish certainly doesn't need the bones for flavor.  It makes for a big bold BBQ pork sandwich everyone will love.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork

4-6 pounds boneless pork (shoulder roasts and country style spare ribs are good)
1 onion (sweet, yellow, red - whatever you have on hand)
1 bottle any BBQ sauce or about 18 oz of homemade sauce
Any seasonings you'd like

THAT'S IT!

1.  Cut up your onion, and toss it in the slow cooker.

2.  Now put the pork in.  No searing required.  Heck, if I'm using country style spare ribs, I don't even bother defrosting them.  They go in frozen solid from the freezer.  I haven't tried it with the roast, but I imagine it would work too.

3.  Dump the whole bottle of BBQ sauce on top.  I used to make mine from scratch, but now I just use Open Pit.  It's so inexpensive (usually about 99 cents here) and no one notices the difference.  Plus, when I worked in one of the fancy restaurants that helped me pay my way through college, the chef there used Open Pit as the base to his famous BBQ sauce.  Who am I to argue with a chef?

4.  Add any seasonings you like to the sauce - I add some Montreal Steak Seasoning, soy sauce OR Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Also, sometimes I add bacon.

5.  Add about 1/2 cup water.

6.  Cook the usual:  On HIGH cook 4-5 hours, or on LOW cook 6-8.  I always cook on low, so I can't vouch for the speed method.  NOTE STEP 8 BELOW.

7.  During the cooking process, break up the meat with a fork.  You can add water or more sauce if needed, but I've never had too.

8.  When the cooking time has about an hour to go, take the meat out of the slow cooker (just the meat, not the sauce), and "pull" it apart with two forks.  If you've never done this before, don't be afraid - it's very easy!  Just take a fork in each hand and use them to separate the meat.

Go over here to Southern Living to watch a video on how to "pull" pork if you want a visual.

9.  Once the meat is pulled, and any large chunks of fat are removed, put the meat back into the slow cooker and cook on LOW for the last hour.

10.  Use a slotted spoon to take the pork-y deliciousness out of the slow cooker when done.  Serve on hearty rolls for sandwiches, or just by itself with rice or mashed potatoes.  YUM!