Nourishing Picnic at Moose Creek, Montana

Scratch pulled pork on Homemade Buns, 

Coleslaw and Potato Salad

A nourishing meal for my legion of men!

 

We have had the awful luck as of late to be in a terrible heat wave, as has much of America. It is very odd in Montana, even in our little valley at an elevation of 4000 feet, to be so hot and so dry. We recently discovered, with thanks to an old acquaintance of mine from high school, a cool oasis to the west of our little valley, up in the mountains before the continental divide, called Moose Creek. 

We've been there three times in the past two weeks, swimming in the creek and wandering about, and tonight we decided to pack a heck of a picnic and take along dinner for kings.

My first goal when we decided to picnic and to invite my brother in law with was to make something yummy without grocery shopping. This is an off week for us where we made the goal not to hit the store. I went through our freezer, cupboards, and fridge, and decided upon pulled pork sandwiches (we had frozen pork shoulder) cooked in a scratch BBQ sauce (I didn't have any premade), homemade buns (I didn't have any premade), potato salad with homemade mayonnaise and coleslaw with my overabundance of cabbage.

Here's How I did it with a notice of about a day:

Step 1) Buns

I didn't have any. I had to make some. With it being so hot and my house having no air conditioning, I baked them the night before, and here is the recipe I used, except with whole wheat flour, and I halved the recipe to make eight hot dog like buns.

Hot Dog Buns recipe 

Step 2) Mayonnaise

Surprise! I didn't have any of this either, but I do keep eggs and oil and made my own to use in potato salad, coleslaw, and other things! Here is the recipe I used for mayonnaise, but I quadrupled it:

Homemade Mayonnaise

   

Step 3) Potato Salad

I have never eaten this before, so I surveyed to friends and recipes and I came up with this:

Ingredients: * means its local

4 cups of baby red potatoes, cut into half inch pieces and boiled until soft, but not falling apart, then chilled*

1/2 cup homemade mayonnaise *

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 

pinch pepper

8 basil leaves, minced *

8 mint leaves, minced *

Mix these pretty things together in a bowl you can pack covered in a cooler.

Step 4) Coleslaw

Again, have never eaten it before, but tried something and it was not bad!

Ingredients: * means it local

2 cups shredded cabbage *

1/4 cup homemade mayonnaise *

1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard

1 teaspoon honey

Mix it together, seal it up!

Step 5) Scratch Pulled Pork

I did not have BBQ sauce, I did have the things to make it. 

Ingredients: * means its local

1 pork shoulder roast *

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup molasses

1 onion, cuts into rings *

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Put all things in the crock pot, turn on low and let sit for ten hours. Then drain off the liquid, pull the pork. I carried my pork to our picnic in the ceramic container and a warming cover that came with the crock pot.

We served our pork alongside coleslaw in the buns!