Into the Shadows Bourbon Chocolate Milkshakes

So this is a secret baby book. I hate secret baby books. HATE. I hate them so much that my review policies caution people against sending them to me.

Except...I loved this secret baby book.

Into the Shadows, the third book in Carolyn Crane's Undercover Associates series, features undercover Associate Thorne, who isn't really an official part of the group. He's a self-contained unit, tasked with taking down a large criminal syndicate and the highly placed government officials shielding it, from the inside. Vengeance for his sister's murder years before is what drives him and he's spent years getting to a place where he can kill the last guy involved in her death. Heroine Nadia is the daughter of Thorne's former boss, who died two years before. While Thorne was working for Nadia's dad the two of them were an item and unbeknownst to Thorne, Nadia got pregnant shortly before they broke up. Fast forward to the present and their son, Benny, is almost two years old.

The major reason I loved this book is Thorne. Thus far, the Associates books have worked well for me largely because of the heroines. And Nadia is terrific. She's fierce, protective and smart. She has her own goals that have nothing to do with the hero. In fact, she never expected to see him again. She was heartbroken when he left, but she has gone on with her life and I loved her for it. But it's tortured, messed up Thorne who made this book for me. He thinks he's a bad guy, a thug and unworthy of love. He doesn't trust anyone. He can't take a compliment. Both he and Nadia think he'd be a terrible father. The only reason he and Nadia ever got together in the first place is that she told him to fuck off. And while Nadia has some of her own demons to slay, it's Thorne's emotional journey toward being able to accept the love and intimacy Nadia offers that made this story so gripping for me.

Previous stories in this series have been quite epic. In general, the protagonists have been saving the world, or at least a bunch of innocents, from certain destruction. Into the Shadows is a much more personal, intimate, family-oriented plot. Thorne's issues stem largely from his dysfunctional childhood. Nadia's wasn't much better. And the two of them have to band together to save both Nadia's mother and their son. The result is a poignant, closely-written, emotional book. Honestly, I had no idea romantic suspense could be this good.

So if you aren't reading the Associates series, you should start, even if you're not that into romantic suspense. Maybe not with this one since you'll have more background on the secondary characters if you read them in order (and the fourth book just came out this week), but yeah. Start today.

The connection between bourbon chocolate milkshakes and Into the Shadows will probably not be apparent to anyone but me. But there are several key scenes involving whiskey and one right at the very end of the book involving some ice cream.

So I'll just say this: what are milkshakes but ice cream that has been melted strategically?

This recipe couldn't be easier. Just put everything in a blender and blend until smooth. The only bit of advice I have is that actually, the quality of the ice cream seems to be more important than the quality of the bourbon. Though I used pretty good bourbon here because I just don't really buy bad bourbon. This isn't the time to go generic on the ice cream though. You want the creamy richness of premium chocolate ice cream. I've found that if I use the cheap stuff it just takes more of it to get the consistency right because it has more air whipped in. So yeah. Häagen-Dazs or your favorite local artisan brand is the way to go.

Oh, and try not to fall over when you drink this much alcohol and sugar through a straw.

Bourbon Chocolate Milkshakes
Makes: 2 16-oz shakes
Difficulty: Easy

4 ounces bourbon
4 ounces chocolate syrup
3 1/2 cups good quality chocolate ice cream

1. Put all the ingredients in a blender. Blend on low speed for 15-30 seconds. Pour into glasses.

Disclosure: I am friendly with Carolyn Crane on Twitter and often receive ARCs from her, but I purchased Into the Shadows myself.

Roses Have Thorns Lasagna 2015 TBR Challenge

It's TBR Challenge time again! This month's theme was "Kickin' it Old School", which is most definitely not a problem for me as the vast majority of my TBR pile is acquired via used bookstores and thrift stores and it would be a rare book that isn't more than ten years old. So I literally picked a random category off the stack and got to it.

What I ended up with was Roses Have Thorns by Karen Leabo, a Silhouette Romance from 1989. I couldn't even find it on Amazon. I bought it in a thrift shop in the Shenandoah Valley. I've mentioned during TBR Challenge posts before that I really like old category romances. They're little 50,000 word snapshot of the progress of women's rights, romance novel history and changing social mores. I find them fascinating. But I've veered wildly between relatively recent Harlequin Blaze books and 1970s Harlequin Presents in the past. This may even have been my first Silhouette and I seem to have found another waypoint in the development of the modern romance novel with the 1989 publication date.

When I read 1970s category romances, I know what to expect. It will be third-person limited perspective in the mind of the heroine. The hero will usually be mysterious, rich and opaque. There will be an interfering old relative who will eventually die and leave the heroine all their (sometimes questionable, sometimes considerable) wealth. There will be limited kissing, but no other sexual contact. This is all good. This is what I expect. But clearly sometime between 1979 and now, the contemporary category romance acquired, well, LOVIN'.

In Roses Have Thorns, Rosalie DiMarco is a pastry chef in a fancy French restaurant when food critic Max Callaghan comes to do a review. When she appears at his table to make crepes suzette, she remembers, but he does not, that she once dropped a plate of lasagna in his lap while working as a server in her uncle's restaurant. She was forced to quit her job and her close-knit Italian family still bears a grudge against the man who "almost ruined" her uncle's business. Her and her family's resentment make up pretty much the entire conflict of the book. And it's a perfectly well-constructed, plausible plot. You might not think so if you're not Italian, but trust me, there isn't a thing that happens in this book that I couldn't see happening on the Italian side of my own family. All in all, though, it's not terribly angsty or remarkable. It's just a plot.

The interesting elements of Roses Have Thorns come from its moment in romance history. First, the book is hopelessly dated through no fault of its own. With references to answering machines, yellow pages, rented beepers and something called a VDT that Max uses in his job (a computer thing? a printer thing? I really don't know.), the out-dated technology actually makes this book seem more dated than some of the 1970s categories I've read, just because those are largely technology-avoidant. Second, the perspective is updated here. We get inside the heads of both hero and heroine, sometimes within a couple paragraphs of each other (hello, head-hopping), but it does end up reading in a more modern way than earlier books, which are always confined to just heroine-perspective.

But the biggest difference, and what surprised me most, was that there wasn't any sex in the book at all. There was some kissing, for sure. And more than in earlier category romances. But one touch of the hero's hand to the heroine's nipple sends them both scurrying for the hills. Even post-engagement, where I might have expected a brief, but sweet fade-to-black scene? Nothing. There are no allusions to sex being had at all except in the hero's attitude, which is that he must be emotionally involved with a woman before engaging in that level of physical intimacy. I don't get the impression that either of them are necessarily virgins, but neither does the book explicitly state one way or the other. The thing is, the whole question of sex feels like a Sword of Damocles hanging over the entire novel for this modern reader. I found myself thinking, "Now? Wait, no. Oh, now then? No. After the engagement party? No. Hm."

This is entirely down to my own expectations and no fault of the author's, I'm sure. I'm almost certainly bumping up against some sharp transition in the way romances were conceived and written, possibly just within Silhouette's line, but also possibly an actual transition time? I don't know. I'm glad I read this for TBR Challenge though, where some real category romance experts may be able to help me out with an answer.

Roses Have Thorns was a perfectly accept sweet romance with a well-plotted story and two characters with interestingly-complex family relationships. I don't know that I'd necessarily say run right out and get it, but if you're interested in a survey marker in the map of modern romance, it's a fine book with nothing problematic or objectionable in it.

But please put my out of my misery! Just what was going on with the sex at Silhouette in 1989?

Practically from the first page of Roses Have Thorns, I knew I'd be making lasagna for this review. I mean, the flashback to Rose accidentally dumping an entire plate of lasagna in Max's lap the first time they met? That's just priceless.

Plus, a couple months ago, I shared my family recipe for homemade tomato sauce and this is agreat way to use a bunch of it. You don't have to use homemade here of course though. A large jar of store-bought will work just fine and that's honestly what I do normally.

And speaking of my family, this recipe is pretty funny because even though I'm a quarter Italian, this isn't a family recipe. Somehow I acquired this recipe from my college roommate, who is Canadian and a second-generation immigrant from Southern China. Her mother is the best cook ever, but she only cooks Chinese food. So I texted my roommate to find out where she got this recipe and it turns out that it came from her Baltimore Jew college ex-boyfriend who grew up in Baltimore's Little Italy. How the world turns.

I've put my own spin on it over the years though. The homemade sauce isn't anything we ever did in school, nor is the fresh mozzarella. And at the time, neither one of us cared for ricotta cheese so we usually used cottage cheese. That seems strange now as we both developed a taste for really good cheese of all types while living in DC during college via a little French bistro we liked to visit. And we frequently made a veggie version that substituted drained frozen spinach and sliced zucchini for the ground beef. I still do that sometimes at the height of summer. And if you want to do the cottage cheese substitution for more protein and less fat, you can use the same amount, just drain it well first.

And try really, really hard not to dump it in anyone's lap.

Lasagna
Makes: 12 servings
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 1 hour

12 lasagna noodles
cooking spray
generous pinch salt
1 pound ground beef
32 ounces tomato sauce (either homemade or store-bought from a jar)
1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
15 ounces ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
additional tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of water and the salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the lasagna noodles and cook according to package directions. If there is a range of times (i.e. 9-11 minutes), use the shorter time. When cooked, drain noodles in a colander and leave until cool enough to handle.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.

3. Over medium-heat heat, brown the ground beef (until no pink remains), about 6 minutes, draining off any fat that accumulates. Turn off heat. Add the tomato sauce and stir to combine.

4. In the prepared pan, put down a super thin layer of tomato sauce, just a 1/4 cup or so. Add the first layer of 4 noodles, overlapping the edges slightly. Cover with half the ricotta, then a third of the sauce, then a third of the mozzarella. Add the next layer of noodles, remaining ricotta, another third of the sauce and third of the mozzarella. Add the final layer of noodles, the remaining sauce, the remaining mozzarella and the grated Parmesan.

5. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is all melted and the sides are bubbling. Allow to rest of 10 minutes before slicing and serving, topping with additional tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Blogiversary Week Review: FIT Homemade Granola

If you still haven't entered to win the Cooking Up Romance Blogiversary Week $50 Amazon gift card, you have just a couple more days!

From a narrative perspective, I've always thought that a personal trainer would make an excellent romance dominant. I mean, you have this person whose job it is to push physical and mental limits while still knowing when to back off so no one gets hurt. The best ones have a certain style: part encouragement, part toughness and applying both appropriately. And if there's the potential for physical attraction, often just a little bit of innocuous flirting. Unfortunately, a lot of BDSM romance seems to regard the role of the dominant as being an asshole who is maybe even vaguely threatening. Not that there isn't a place for that kind of story, but it's a little frustrating to see the same basic character repeated in every book. Rebekah Weatherspoon's FIT trilogy takes a different approach, making for a fresh sort of read.

In FIT, the first of a linked trilogy that saw its last book released this week, personal trainer Grant Gibson takes on Violet Ryan as a client after Violet has a horrible experience in a group fitness class that reduces her to tears. Violet is a producer on a foodie reality show and between her job and her friend Faye encouraging her to make bad lifestyle decisions, she's put on a bit more weight than she's comfortable with. But the fitness instructor recommends Grant as a personal trainer, wisely thinking that he might have an approach that will suit her.

There are a lot of things to love about this book. First, Grant isn't your typical romance dominant. Sure, he's in charge in the bedroom, but he's got the kind of self-assurance that is actually sexy versus the overbearing bossiness that seems more common in these types of books. He's less about barking orders than he is about rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior in a way that's both welcome to Violet and believable to the reader. And the way he uses sexual rewards to motivate Violet is super fun to read.

Another thing I loved about this book is that it displays some self-awareness that this is actually an ethically questionable scenario. It's not one that I personally have a lot of resistance to, but it was nice to see the issue addressed of whether the games they're playing together are appropriate in light of their professional relationship. And that tension resolves in an interesting way too.

Finally, FIT doesn't shy away from the difficulties inherent in portraying a woman who wants to lose weight. I thought there was a really good balance between her reality and her desires--it's a story that can come off as fat-shaming, but the way it was handled really worked for me.

FIT is a good, short read. Save it for the treadmill at the gym! Just...don't get too distracted and hurt yourself. Cuz parts of it are pretty...um...distracting. Hot stuff! I recommend it.

A few weeks ago, I did something I'd never really done before. I had this recipe I wanted to share and so I started asking around in Twitter for hippie romances, having grown up as a Bay Area kid who pretty much subsisted on fruit leather and granola. Not fruit roll-ups, those corn syrup filled parodies of food or chocolate-dipped chewy granola bars. Nope. The no-sugar-added stuff we could only buy at our health food co-op. But hippie romances are kinda few and far between. So I was super pleased when I tripped over a granola mention in FIT not too long after.

Homemade granola is a little bit time consuming because it has to cook for an hour and 15 minutes and you have to stir it every quarter hour, but it makes a pretty big batch and keeps for up to a month in a sealed container on the counter. And other than the time factor, it's super easy.

This may be only a "me" problem, but all the baking I do frequently leaves me with random ends of bags of nuts and dried fruit. Not enough to do anything substantial with, but it's not like they're roasted and salted so they're not super delicious on their own. I basically throw whatever tree nuts and dried fruit I have on hand into this granola. So it's super flexible. Basically whatever you like will probably work, though I'd chop up stuff like dried apricots, dates or figs.

And in a couple months, I'll show you something else you can do with this granola. But I'm gonna be super sneaky and cagey and not tell you what this is yet. Cuz it's a sekrit. Shhhhh.

Homemade Granola
Adapted from Alton Brown's Granola Recipe

3 cups rolled oats
2 cups whatever tree nuts happen to be on hand or on sale (slivered almonds, chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, hazelnuts or a combination)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried fruit (raisins, blueberries, cranberries or a combination) OPTIONAL


1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts and brown sugar. Stir well, making sure brown sugar is well incorporated.

3. Next add oil, maple syrup and salt. Pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color. At the 15 minute ark, add the dried fruit (if using).

4. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Let cool and then cover tightly. Keeps up to one month tightly sealed.

Disclosure: Rebekah Weatherspoon and I follow each other on Twitter, but I bought FIT for myself.

Blogiversary Week Review: Taken Honey-Pepper Salmon

Don't forget to enter the Cooking Up Romance Blogiversary Week Giveaway for a $50 Amazon Giftcard!

Pretty much any romance involving a kinky bookseller is always going to get my vote. And if it's by Charlotte Stein? Double vote! Can we vote twice? Whatever, I just did.

Taken, a recent offering by Stein, features Rosie Callahan, a young woman still in college, and Johann William Weir, a rare book dealer. In a prank-gone-wrong, Rosie is captured by the bookstore owner and chained up in his basement, a setup that sounds completely sinister and is actually totally comedic.

There's a lovely counterpoint in this book between the devilish elements of dark romance and the vulnerability, insecurity and humor both hero and heroine display over the course of the book. Both of these characters are more capable and better wrapped than they think they are, especially when it comes to each other. It takes this absurd situation to allow them both to unlock desires they either didn't know they had or weren't comfortable indulging. Plus there's an age gap here, which is my favorite thing in romance.

But the best part of Taken is just how slyly it references those 80s and 90s historicals that feature the kidnapping of the heroine by the hero. In those books, the heroine is often an innocent, but feisty young virgin and the hero an experienced, powerful Highlander or pirate or whatever. I loved the heck out of those books in high school and often find myself, to some degree, chasing that high when I dip into older historicals. But what worked for me at 17 isn't the same as what works for me at 36. Now the consent issues in those books bother me, keeping me from being as fully immersed in the story and the romance as I'd wish.

Taken captures all of that dark, powerful older man magic, but gives him to a heroine who is equally experienced and comfortable with her sexuality, if not everything about her looks. And while she is in theory chained up against her will, it's crystal clear from very early on in the story that she is way on board with every element of their quirky, unspoken and un-analyzed role-playing. It's the hero who is ambivalent about the things he wants, needing the heroine's push to indulge his darkest fantasies. It's the first time I've experienced a modern writer evoking the same feel of those barbarian encounters, never mind in a contemporary, without turning the heroine into a push-over or the hero into an ass. And doing it in a way that didn't conflict at all with my desire for the heroine's enthusiastic consent.

So the bottom line is that I adored Taken. It's a story with a new plot and an old feel, told in the inimitable style of one of contemporary romance's most interesting writers. It's even way more romantic than it had any right to be, what with the bubble baths and wine the and hacksaws and handcuffs. A thoroughly engaging, surprising and, of course, sexy read.

This recipe has absolutely nothing to do with the book. The couple do actually eat, um, something, I think? But when I discovered that hero was loosely based on the character Monroe from the television show Grimm (an homage more than a literal representation since Monroe is, like, a vegan werewolf and Johann...isn't), I absolutely had to share my very favorite ever salmon recipe, one I've been making for years.

One of the very memorable early scenes involving the Grimm character has him insisting on getting the recipe for "honey-pepper cedar plank vegan salmon" from the main character's girlfriend as a terribly ineffective diversionary tactic. It's a very awkward scene and reminded me a lot of how Johann acts in Taken. And seriously, if you haven't seen the show, he makes the whole thing.

Monroe, like Johann is such a delicious combination of competence, knowledge, experience and utter fumbling awkwardness that's it's impossible for me to completely separate the two. Knowing the inspiration for the character and Grimm being my one of my favorite television shows made this book all the more fun for me.

As for the recipe, it's crazy easy. Just a simple pan-fried salmon and a honey-cayenne pepper sauce that goes well with pretty much any kind of fish, veggies and (my favorite) as a dipping sauce for sweet potato fries. So if you have any left over or just want to make salmon for two, you might consider making the full sauce amount. I keep in it in the fridge in a squeeze bottle and put it on everything.

Oh, and this is a pretty intensely spicy sauce so if you're a person who likes things a little less hot, cut the cayenne pepper in half. You've been warned!

Honey-Pepper Salmon
adapted from InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook
Makes: 4 servings
Difficulty: Easy

4 6-ounce salmon filets
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (for a less spicy sauce, use 1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 cup lemon juice

1. Salt and pepper the salmon filets. In a medium-sized skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering and fragrant. Starting naked side up if your salmon filets have skin, cook salmon for about 5-6 minutes each side for 1-inch thick filets. If yours are thicker or thinner, they may require more or less time.

2. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add honey, mustard, cayenne pepper and coriander, whisking to combine. Remove from heat and whisk in and lemon juice. When salmon is done, drizzle a tablespoon or two over each filet and serve.

Disclosure: Charlotte Stein and I follow each other on Twitter, though I bought Taken for myself.

The Big Heat Coca-Cola Slow Cooker Pork BBQ Sandwiches

I was looking for a comfort read the other day and for some inexplicable reason, this old category romance came to mind. I read it over and over for a few months, but I got over it and eventually got rid of it with the rest of my books from what I now refer to as The Great Blaze Binge of 2008. I didn't even remember the title or the author, just that it featured a bounty hunter in a black t-shirt and a hot kiss where the hero backs the heroine into a closet door. Luckily that was sufficiently specific that I was able to turn up The Big Heat by Jennifer LaBreque.

Heroine Sunny Templeton is running for Memphis city council when the guy she's running against pulls a photo of her in a bikini off an internet dating site and uses it to brand her a party girl. She loses the election and her reputation is damaged, but it's not until he waves to her sarcastically from his brand new Cadillac that he really gets under his skin. And she rams him with her car. Sunny is smart, sexy and the owner of her own web design business. If she has any flaws, they're endearing. Normally this would drive me up a wall, but she's just so darn likeable.

Hero Cade Stone works in the family business, which just happens to be bail bonds. When his younger brother backs a skeezy poltician in the Memphis city council race to get them some publicity, and said skeezy politician undertakes some dirty tactics to win the race, Cade feels guilty. So when Sunny's sister stops in to post bail to get Sunny out of jail, but can't stay to finish the deed, Cade agrees to go across the street and pick her up. But his protective instincts are riled and circumstances conspire to send Sunny home with him to his house.

There are some hilariously goofy things about this book that could never happen anywhere but Harlequinland. It's all coincidence, temper tantrums, unlikely family dynamics and alphamale shenanigans. But it's hard to care. Because what these characters lack in depth, they make up for in charm. And if the conflict is a little too readily resolved and the courtship a little speedy (first kiss to marriage proposal in 2.5 weeks), it has enough redeeming moments that none of that bothered me.

Cade is exactly the kind of alpha hero I can get behind. He's loyal, caring and protective of both his family and his heroine. He restores muscle cars, drives a yellow Corvette, dresses all in black, catches baddies and buys crotchless lingerie (for her). He's strong and a little bossy, but not overbearing. Just enough to make for some hot alphasex scenes, complete with caveman carry, but not so much that he runs roughshod over Sunny. Sunny is smart, funny and resourceful. She may go home with Cade when her lawn is overrun with reporters, but she has her own car towed, calls her lawyer, changes her phone number and gets her work done all on her own. There's also a spiritual overtone to the entire book--with animal totems and hints at clairvoyance--not precisely paranormal, but a little mystical. I rather enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it enough that I'm inspired to go back to some more of the Blaze books I remember loving--Lori Wilde was a particular favorite as I recall and I bought the first of these Big, Bad Bounty Hunters by Rhonda Nelson as well. I'll see if any of the rest of them hold up. Maybe not every book has to be so deep and serious all the time, yeah?

Speaking of everything not having to be so deep and serious, I was tempted to scrap this recipe when it didn't completely knock my socks off. The thing is though, my friends liked it just fine and everyone had at least seconds, if not thirds. Five people (mostly guys, but still) ate three and a half pounds of pork. Sometimes the great is the enemy of the good. That said, I made it again, doubling the spices until it met my standards.

With the BBQ sauce I made for my review of Alexis Hall's Liberty and Other Stories (stashed in the freezer for a couple months) and a simple sandwich-style coleslaw, the full effect is appealing. This isn't contest-winning pork barbeque, but made in a crockpot, served with a five-minute vinegar-based coleslaw and letting the sauce be the star? It worked.

If you're wondering what the connection is, The Big Heat is set in Memphis, home of serious tomato-based BBQ sauce, and the hero and heroine stop for BBQ takeout when he rescues her from jail. By the way, how much do I love that the heroine gets thrown in jail? So much. Why can't more romance heroines be temporarily incarcerated? It's certainly a new angle on the damsel in distress.

Finally, this isn't really a coleslaw designed to be eaten on its own. It's a condiment, not a side dish. Which is good because I don't even like coleslaw. At least not creamy, American-style coleslaw. I'd be open to suggestions though. Who has a favorite coleslaw recipe?

Coca-Cola Slow Cooker Pork BBQ and Five-Minute Sandwich Slaw
Makes: About 12 sandwiches
Difficulty: Easy

2.5-3.5 pound bone-in pork half shoulder
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 12-ounce cans  Coca-Cola
12 soft white or wheat hamburger buns
1/2 cup tomato-based BBQ sauce

8 ounces pre-shredded, bagged coleslaw mix
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

1. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, smoked paprika, dry mustard, cumin crushed red pepper, turmeric, garlic salt and black pepper. Coat pork shoulder with spice mixture, patting to adhere.

2. Heat oil over medium heat until hot, but not smoking. Sear pork on each side, 1-2 minutes. Reove pork to crock pot and drain off the fat, leaving any browned bits. Deglaze the pan with the Coca-Cola and pour the mixture into the crock pot with the pork. Set slow cooker to low and cook for 8-10 hours.

3. At some point before the pork is done, combine coleslaw mix, celery see, red wine vinegar, salt and sugar in a medium bowl and mix to combine, refrigerating until ready to use.

4. When the pork is done, shred it using tongs or two forks and remove to a bowl. Serve each sandwich with a heaping helping of pork, a spoonful of coleslaw and a tablespoon of your favorite BBQ sauce.


Disclosure: Unusually, for recent reviews, I don't know Jennifer LaBreque from Adam and I bought this book myself.