BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with Cilantro Sesame Slaw

This weekend was incredible, exhausting, tearful, yet wonderful!  

We celebrated my Grandpa’s life, surrounded by family and friends.  Several of the funeral home directors and employees, stopped me to say that they love our kind of family. The ones that really enjoy each other, the ones that can laugh and hug, and have a great time in spite of the grief, celebrating a life well lived. From a man who deals with death all the time, I thought that was a real compliment.  Grandpa’s viewing was noisy, it was tearful at times as we said our good byes, yet it was full of laughter, as we recounted stories of Grandpa in the good ol’ days, and hugged necks of second cousins we hadn’t seen in years! 

  I am more tired than I have ever been in my life, both emotionally and physically.  Even my feet hurt!  I am hearing my Mom, Aunts and Uncles, and Grandma say the same!  Most nights I saw anywhere from 1-3 am before crawling to bed and sometimes we were having “second supper” around my Aunt’s table at 11 pm, laughing with the cousins.  There is lots to do when planning a funeral, memory table, photo slideshow, or what have you.  I just had no idea how much went into the planning of such an event, and am thankful to have gotten to have a small part in it.  

  I took nearly 400 photos of our time together, and I am just too tired to deal with it now.  My emotions are spent and I am not ready to dig into the pictures capturing that beautiful, yet emotional day.  But, if and when I do, I will surely consider sharing here.  

  Thank you all for your loving support as we went through this weekend!  I am so blessed to have you all in our lives.

  On to the food: 

  Sweet BBQ meets Savory, in an amazing fresh tasting cilantro-sesame slaw topped sandwich…

  This recipe is adapted from the April-May 2013 Taste of Home magazine.  What drew me to this recipe was the brine you soak the chicken in over night.  I decided to couple it with our FAVORITE Cilantro Sesame Slaw and buttered toasted buns. Amazing!

{click title for recipe}

Ingredients

• BRINE:
• 1-½ quart Water
• ¼ cups Brown Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Coarse Kosher Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Liquid Smoke
• 2 cloves Garlic, Pressed
• ½ teaspoons Dried Thyme
• FOR BBQ CHICKEN:
• 3 pounds Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• ⅓ cups Liquid Smoke
• 1-½ cup High Quality BBQ Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch With A Splash Of Cold Water, For Thickening
• CILANTRO-SESAME SLAW:
• 3 cups Coleslaw Cabbage Mix
• ½ cups Green Pepper, Finely Chopped
• ¼ cups Cilantro, Snipped
• 3 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 2 Tablespoons White Vinegar
• 2 cloves Garlic, Pressed
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Pepper

Preparation Instructions

In a large bowl, mix brine ingredients, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reserve 1 cup of brine out for the next morning. Place chicken in a large zip lock bag or Tupperware and soak for 24 hours, turning often.
The next day, remove chicken from brine and place chicken in your crock pot on low with reserved 1 cup brine. Cook on low for 4-5 hours until chicken is tender.
Remove chicken to a bowl to shred and drain juices into a small pot. Whisk together 1 T. corn starch with a splash of cold water and add to pot, boil until nice and thick, pour back over shredded chicken, adding liquid smoke and 1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce. Keep warm until serving time.

Make Sesame Coleslaw earlier in the day, by combining in a medium bowl, coleslaw cabbage mix, finely chopped green pepper, snipped cilantro, sesame oil, white vinegar, pressed garlic and salt and pepper. Refrigerate until meat is ready to allow flavors to blend.

At serving time, butter toast buns under a broiler for a minute, then drizzle with BBQ sauce, a large scoop of meat and slaw.

Roll those sleeves up and dig in!

You can thank me later……

Hugs, T

Slow Cooker Korean Beef Tacos with Sesame Slaw

I told you I was tired!  Did you all see this recipe got posted YESTERDAY morning?! Opps.  Guess you can consider that a sneak peek for today, the day I planned for this to be shared.  Sorry about that!

  So, it’s been a while since a “Keeper recipe” has had me SOO excited to share with you!  The flavors in these tacos are OUTTA THIS WORLD!  Add the Sesame Slaw to the top and…….

KAPOW! Party in your mouth!

adapted from Becca at Crumbs & Chaos

FOR THE KOREAN BEEF:

• 4 pounds Beef Roast
• ½ cups Brown Sugar
• ⅓ cups Soy Sauce
• 10 whole Cloves Of Garlic (yes, I Said 10, Its Good And Healthy For You!)
• ½ cups Onion, Chopped
• 1 piece Of Fresh Ginger, Peeled And Grated, About 1 Inch In Size
• 2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Seeded And Carefully Chopped

FOR THE SESAME SLAW:

• 3 cups Coleslaw Mix (The Kind With Carrots In It)
• ½ cups Green Pepper, Finely Chopped
• ¼ cups Snipped Cilantro
• 3 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 2 Tablespoons White Vinegar
• 2 cloves Garlic, Pressed
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Pepper
• 12 Whole-wheat Tortillas

Place the first 9 ingredients in your slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 9 hours. Shred and allow to sit in juices for the last 1-2 hours, leave lid off of slow cooker.
Before meat is done, combine in a medium bowl,coleslaw mix, chopped green pepper, cilantro, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic and seasonings. Allow to refrigerate for several hours before serving.
Serve shredded meat and slaw in a folded tortilla.

Dig in!  Y-U-M

~T

Smoked Pork Sandwiches with Sesame Slaw

This recipe was created Saturday, when I decided to feed my father-in-law, as a thank you to him for chopping wood with Dale all morning. (we have a fireplace and use it as our primary source of heat in the winter)  Anyhow, I knew the Peanut butter and Jelly wheat tortillas the children were eating just weren’t going to cut it for my two hungry lumberjacks, so once the kiddos were down to naps, I used two different recipes and some leftover smoked pork, and came up with these……

SMOKED PORK SANDWICHES WITH SESAME SLAW

(Click on title to print on TK’s website)

1- 5 lb. bone-in pork roast, smoked or slow cooked to your liking (Dale smoked ours)

Your favorite dry rub.

1 cup water or beef broth

Salt and pepper to taste.

1 package Whole wheat hotdog buns

For the Sesame Slaw

Combine:

3 cups coleslaw cabbage mix

1/2 c. green pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup snipped cilantro

3 T. Sesame Oil

2 T. White vinegar

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Tangy BBQ Pepper Sauce

Combine:

1 cup ketchup

4 T. Soy sauce

2 T. Honey BBQ sauce

2 T. Brown Sugar

1 T. Apple Cider vinegar

2 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. Oregano

2 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

Thaw pork shoulder and rub with your favorite dry rub.  Send your hubby out to the smoker to babysit it all day.  (Bye-bye honey.  See you in 8 hours!) 

  OR, place dry rubbed pork shoulder in a crock pot with 1 cup beef broth or water, salt and pepper.  Cover with lid and cook on high for 4 hours, or until pork is very tender. 

  Make Sesame Coleslaw by combining in a medium bowl, coleslaw cabbage mix, finely chopped green pepper, snipped cilantro, sesame oil, white vinegar, pressed garlic and salt and pepper. Set aside,or refrigerate until meat is ready.

  To make your Tangy BBQ Pepper sauce.  Combine: ketchup, Soy sauce, Honey BBQ sauce, Brown Sugar, Apple Cider vinegar, pepper, Oregano, dry mustard and kosher salt.  (Thanks to Sweet Pea Chef for this great sauce recipe! She uses it with her rib recipe, which is FANTASTIC!)

  When your meat is done, shred pork, removing any visible fat and gristle.  Place in large bowl, leaving excess liquid behind, and toss with Tangy BBQ Pepper sauce. 

  Butter toast buns, add BBQ coated, shredded pork and top with 1/2 cup Sesame Slaw. 

  Makes 6-8 sandwiches, depending on if you, or your hubby, get to pick how much meat each sandwich gets.  🙂

  The mixture of the smoky meat, with the kick of peppery BBQ sauce, added to the unique flavor brought in by the sesame slaw, makes this SO amazing!  And just when you think it might be too rich, the cilantro comes in a freshens things up.  Such DELICIOUS and unique flavors in this amazing sandwich!

Happy Cooking!

~T

Linked to Angie’s Big Love of Food