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You guys, I’m such a sucker for a good grilled cheese.
Lately, I’ve been buying French bread and slicing it up into sandwich slices. Then I top it with loads (and I mean LOADS) of freshly grated gruyere, smear the outsides with butter and grill it up. It’s the most simple, most delightful sandwich. Sometimes the simplest things really are the best.
And then sometimes I say forget simple and I trash up my grilled cheese. Take this buffalo chicken grilled cheese or this jalapeno popper grilled cheese. Heaven on Earth.
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And then other times I’m like, look, I have all of these leftovers and if we eat them one more night I will die, but I also don’t want to waste food so it’s time to get creative. That’s what happened with today’s grilled cheese and holy cow pig, I’m so glad that it did.
I’m working with Smithfield this year to bring you lots of recipes using their fresh marinated pork. They recently launched this Sweet and Smoky Pork Roast that I knew I had to try. It’s full of the sweet and smoky barbecue flavor we all love and it’s just perfect for tossing in the slow cooker. What could be simpler, since it’s already seasoned for you?
The pork goes from package to slow cooker in minutes. From there, you’ll let it cook all day long, low and slow, knowing that what comes out is going to be perfectly juicy pork, ready for shredding. We ate this on buns with my dill pickle slaw for a few meals and then I decided to get creative and bring you these sandwiches.
I whipped up a batch of my homemade macaroni and cheese, but this time I used macaroni noodles instead of penne. This macaroni and cheese recipe is so creamy and perfect that we eat it all the time. It was great on this sandwich too!
I used regular white bread here, topped it off with some pulled pork, and a bit of mac and cheese. I added slices of cheddar between each layer for good measure and grilled it all up.
You seriously can not go wrong with this sandwich. It’s fun to make, fun to look at, and super fun to eat. My kids were in heaven!
Barbecue Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 package Smithfield Sweet and Savory Pork Roast about 32 ounces
- 1/2 cup bottled barbecue sauce
- 1 recipe creamy baked macaroni and cheese
- 8 slices bread
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 8 slices cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Add the pork roast to a slow cooker over low heat and cook for 7 hours. Remove lid and shred the meat with two forks. Add the barbecue sauce to the slow cooker and stir to coat. Return lid and cook for 1 more hour.
- Butter one side of each slice of bread with butter.
- Place a piece of cheddar on a slice of bread, top with pulled pork, another slice of cheese, a scoop of macaroni and cheese, and a third slice of cheddar. Top with remaining piece of bread, butter side facing out. Repeat with remaining sandwiches.
- Grill the sandwiches in a non-stick skillet over medium low heat until cheese has melted and bread is golden brown, flipping halfway through to grill both sides of the sandwich.
- Let sit 3 minutes before slicing and serving.
Jessica Gavin says
I just died and went to mac ‘n cheese heaven! I’m not going to lie, I love those cheesy noodles more than my toddler and now that you’ve added it with smoky pork in a grilled cheese sandwich…WOW!
Sarah says
Ohmygosh this looks incredible! Good bye, new years resolution 😀