Spicy Barbecue sauce

So the 30 day challenge went slightly by the wayside at the weekend when a freak bread craving, resulted in an unfortunate Turkish pizza incident! Back on track now. Part of the problem arises when I don't plan out meals in advance, then I get hungry and my willpower deserts me over convenience! My goal this week was to have meals planned out (at least in my head, the night before!) I recently ordered a copy of 'Well Fed' by Melissa Joulwan. In it she describes how she plans and preps, a weeks meals in just one hour every Sunday. This appeals to me and so I'm hoping to try this at the weekend. At the very least I need to empty the freezer so even if I plan what we're having with what we've got on hand, that'll be a good start.

Today's offering is for Barbecue Sauce as I'm making pulled pork in the crock pot today. If you read the ingredients on bottles of barbecue sauce you'll see it's full of sugar and HFCS along with food additives I can't even pronounce. I turned to the website Chowstalker for inspiration. Chowstalker is chock full of recipes that adhere to the  Primal / Paleo / Whole 30 / low carb way of eating. Updated daily it is a great resource and features recipes gathered from all the major websites that offer this way of eating. I found a few recipes and using them as inspiration, cobbled together a recipe for a spicy barbecue sauce that is simple to make and will be used later for my pulled pork. There are a couple of tablespoons of Maple syrup in this recipe, if you wish you can substitute with half a fresh pineapple if you don't use honey or maple syrup as an occasional sweetener.

Ingredients (Makes Approx 500ml sauce)
4 diced tomatoes, use those wrinkly ones in the bottom of the salad drawer in the fridge!
1 large onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup beef stock
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup natural, (no added sugar) apple juice (Naturtrub)
2 tablespoon maple syrup or honey (you can substitute this with 1/2 pineapple peeled and cut into chunks)
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Put all ingredients together in a pan and cook over medium heat until it starts to bubble. 

Turn the heat down to low, cover with a lid and cook for a further 45 minutes.

Allow to cool a little, then blend it until smooth (but don't overfill the blender jug as I did....oops!) 

Store in the refrigerator until needed.