Coffee Rubbed Pork Roast, Garlic Kale, and Sesame Parmesan Zucchini

Will prepared an amazing dinner for us tonight and allowed me to assist on a tiny portion of the preparation. This morning, he got Boston Butt pork and put it in the slow cooker all day with a coffee/paprika/cayenne/brown sugar rub. By the time I got home, he was keeping the pork warm while creating a gravy from the leftover juice, as well as roasting squash and zucchini in the oven. He invited me into the kitchen to take over the task of the garlic kale. All I had to do was tear kale leaves and mince garlic-easy, right? Well, after being indecisive about how much kale to tear off (Will kept insisting it was going to shrink SO much), I got a lesson in mincing garlic. While my method of slow chopping was fine, Will recommended that instead of cutting the garlic like normal (for me, vertically) and then cutting those tiny pieces in half, that instead I cut the garlic in half horizontally (the longer length), cut those halves in half, then get the slices flush with a knife before continuing to cut those four sections at the same time vertically. I'm happy to report I didn't cut a fingertip off while working with such a tiny medium.

Needless to say, dinner was delicious. Here are the links for what we made (the zucchini did not include the parmesan tonight) and pictures of the final product!

Coffee Rubbed Pork Roast (adapted from Budget Bytes; serves 4-6)
3.5 lbs Boston Butt or Pork Shoulder
1 oz. coffee beans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tbsp salt
15-20 cranks of cracked black pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Grind the coffee beans into a powder. Combine the coffee grounds, brown sugar, cayenne, salt, black pepper, garlic, and smoked paprika in a bowl. Pat the mixed dry rub on all sides of the pork roast (it's okay if some falls off). Place the pork roast in a slow cooker. Scoop up any of the rub that fell off and toss it in the slow cooker as well. Secure the lid, turn the heat on low, and let cook for 8 hours.

After 8 hours, the pork should be tender and should shred easily with a fork. Carefully life the roast out of the slow cooker and transfer to a serving platter to be enjoyed!

Recip: Budget Bytes: Coffee Rubbed Pork Roast

Garlic Kale (adapted from All Recipes; serves 2)

1 bunch kale

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Tear the kale leaves into bite size pieces, removing stems and rinsing. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the garlic in the pot until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the kale and continue cooking and stirring until kale is bright green and wilted, about 5 minutes.

Recipe: All Recipes: Garlic Kale

My contribution of Kale and garlic (and yes, it did shrink a lot like Will said it would)

Sesame Parmesan Zucchini (from All Recipes)

1 medium zucchini, quartered and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss the zucchini with olive oil, sesame oil, sesame seeds, parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper, and garlic salt. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes in a preheated oven until lightly browned.

Recipe: All Recipes: Sesame Parmesan Zucchini