Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 (4 pound) pork shoulder roast
1 cup barbeque sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar - scant
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 extra large onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
8 hamburger buns, split
2 tablespoons butter, or as needed

Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker; pour in the barbecue sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cover and cook on High until the roast shreds easily with a fork, 5 to 6 hours.
Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices.
Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork into the toasted buns. (We did not toast the buns since I baked fresh buns this morning)

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

4 lb. roasting chicken
1 1/2 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce

Place chicken in crock pot. Coat inside and outside of chicken with sauce. Cover with lid and turn on low for 8-10 hours. Enjoy a tender, tasty and fall off the bone chicken!

Pirate Stew

3/4 cup chopped onion
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup uncooked, long grain rice
3 cups diced raw potatoes
1 cup diced celery or carrots
2 cups canned kidney beans, drained
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 small jar canned tomatoes - optional (I used canned tomatoes as the above recipe seemed to dry and not enough sauce)

Brown onions and ground beef. Drain. Layer ingredients in slow cooker in order given. Cover. Cook on low 6 hours or until potatoes and rice are cooked.

Barbecued Beef

2 pounds beef or venison (cut into 1 inch cubes)
2 large onions

Place in baking dish or crock pot.

1/3 cup water
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon each salt, paprika, chili powder

Mix together and pour over beef and onions. Cover and bake at 325F for 2-3 hours or in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours. Use two forks to shred the meat.

Homemade Crock Pot Yogurt

Here is the much anticipated and ridiculously easy recipe!

Ingredients:
--8 cups (half-gallon) of whole milk--pasteurized and homogenized is fine, but do NOT use ultra-pasteurized. I tried 6 cups milk made from skim milk powder and 2 cups 1% milk and it worked out fine but is thinner than store bought yogurt. The site I found this recipe on suggests adding a package of unflavored gelatin to the yogurt when you add the culture to the milk to thicken it but we're fine with thinner yogurt.

--1/2 cup store-bought natural, live/active culture plain yogurt (you need to have a starter. Once you have made your own, you can use that as a starter. Every few batches start again with store bought yogurt as the culture will weaken with time if you always use homemade yogurt for your starter.)

--frozen/fresh fruit for flavoring

--thick bath towel

Directions:
Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add an entire half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.
Unplug your crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.

When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt. Then dump the bowl contents back into the crockpot. Stir to combine.
Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.

Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours. The longer you let it sit the thicker the yogurt will get but it will also get more tangy as well.

In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened---it's not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.

Chill in a plastic container(s) in the refrigerator. Your fresh yogurt will last 7-10 days. Save 1/2 cup as a starter to make a new batch. My batch filled 3 reused 650g yogurt containers plus two small bowls for the boys breakfast.

Add fruit as desired, I added a little sugar but this may not be needed if you bled the fruit with the yogurt instead of cutting up the fruit. Honey can also be used as a sweetener instead of sugar.

Cost of making homemade yogurt:
$1.42 - skim milk powder,
$0.51 - 1% milk
$0.52 - store bought yogurt
Total cost: $2.45 plus whatever fruit you would use to flavor. Approximately $0.82 per 650g container of plain yogurt!!!
A typical fruit yogurt that I buy in the store costs $3.49 for a 650g container.