Sunday Best {A Dinner Story}

i have a dream of having a bunch of kids and always having a house full of people, particularly on a sunday afternoon, around the dinner table (that's sunday lunch here in the south). so, to bring this dream to life, i am here and now inaugurating a sunday dinner feature story. this consists mainly of me taking photos of the delicious food we will hopefully be eating every sunday from now till the end of time (totally reasonable, right?).

this sunday we had guests over for memphis-style (so i'm told) pulled pork tacos with a zesty slaw, mexican rice and black beans. normally i'm not a huge fan of pork, but when we had these at our friends' house last week, i knew they were destined to be part of our sunday dinner menu. they are so, so good. and i say that as someone who has taken a while to come around to the southernization of all my favorite tex-mexican foods.



a recipe, if you so desire to recreate this sunday dinner for yourself:

Pulled Pork Tacos
adapted from Real Simple Magazine

7-9 lb. pork shoulder (bone-in is fine)
8 tsp. salt
3 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
8 tsp. cumin
1 jar apricot preserves
1 red onion, roughly chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and cut into rings

Mix together salt, pepper and cumin. Place pork in crockpot and rub all over with the dry mix and the preserves until well coated. Scatter jalapenos and onion around the pork. Cover and turn to low for 7-11 hours (I cooked an 8.5lb. pork for 9 hrs). When it's done, remove the pork to a serving dish and shred with two forks (discarding bone). Poor juices, jalapenos, and onions back over the pork and toss.

Serve with tortillas, zesty slaw, cilantro, lime, cheese, avocado, tomato, rice and beans. Or whatever toppings your little heart desires!

Zesty Slaw
adapted from Food Network

4 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 head purple cabbage, shredded
1/4 c. cilantro leaves
4 Tbsp. sliced green onion
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Whisk the vinegar, lime, oil and sugar together. Combine cabbage, cilantro, green onion and carrot. Drizzle dressing over it and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper.