Good Eating Monday: Pantry Hodge-Podge Roast Pork

This past Sunday I slow-cooked two boneless pork roasts for BBQ sandwiches. The BBQ sauce was added to the sandwiches individually and wasn't mixed into the pork as a whole. The roasts were slow-cooked with a can of crushed pineapple, 3 Tbsp of coconut sugar, 1 teaspoon of dried mustard, a little ground ginger, salt & pepper.

So it was beautiful shredded pork ready for any use and I had a good amount leftover.
But what to do with it? Time to raid the pantry! 

I had half a bag of extra wide noodles that needed using up. I always have canned tomatoes on hand and carrot matchsticks, bell peppers, onions & garlic in the frig--plus I always keep a box of Velveeta cheese around cuz cheese makes anything good!

Actual photo of my Pantry Hodge-Podge creation!

So I boiled up noodles, sauteed up the veggies & pork, stirred in the tomatoes & cheese, added some seasoning and--voila, a delicious meal!

It's truly a hodge-podge meal,

but if you want to try a facsimile this is the basics:

Ingredients: 
(amounts are approximate, you can increase or decrease. This amount made enough for 2 to 3 people.)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup carrot matchsticks

1 cup bell pepper strips, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup diced or sliced onion

1 15oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 bag extra large noodles (or however much or kind of pasta you want to use.)

About 2 cups shredded, leftover slow-cooked pork roast

3 slices of Velveeta, 1/4 inch thick (or more if you like.)

1 teaspoon dried ground sage

2 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning

About 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch to thicken, if needed

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a suitable pot, add water & salt and bring to boil, then add pasta to cook till it's al dente (or still slightly firm ) while you're cooking everything else

In large frying pan on medium-high heat: add olive oil, then minced garlic. Saute 15 seconds to get garlic into oil. Add matchsticks. Saute 5 minutes.

Add onions & bell peppers and saute till onions are tender.

Add tomatoes, seasoning & shredded pork roast and stir to combine.

You can add the cornstarch to mix if there seems extra fluid from the canned tomatoes (it helps to mix the cornstartch in a bit of cold water first, so it won't lump up.)

As soon as pasta is done, pour into strainer to drain, then add pasta to your mix & stir in.

Turn heat to low: break Velveeta into small chunks to add to mix and stir in. Cover with lid, stirring periodically until cheese is completely melted.

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Keep in mind this is a pantry hodge-podge kind of recipe and all measurements are approximate and comes with no guarantees.
 You can use more or different seasonings or add other vegetables and so on.

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Eat up, me hearties, yo-ho!