My crock-pot and I have a date every Sunday since I brought him home from Germany. He sits in the corner of my tiny counter-spaced kitchen waiting for his next job. Why do I have the weirdest imagination? LOL! I guess I am still a kid at heart!
Anyway, Sunday's are a day where Marty and I pretty much hunker down at home and putter around the house doing different projects, grading papers, reading, staying in our PJ's, communicating through Skype or gmail chat with family and friends, and prepping our meals for the week. It's a restful day for us mind, body and spirt.
So this week my date with the crock-pot was something to do with a beautiful pork roast. You can make this recipe with a beef roast too if you choose. Anyway, remember my fascination with the citrus here? Well, it was time to put the pork and citrus together. My mouth was watering, I could taste the end product already and I hadn't even started or thought what was going to go in the crock-pot!
Sometimes I walk into my kitchen with no clue what I am going to make, and pull a recipe out of my head just by already tasting it in my mind. I scramble through my spice cupboard and veggie selection and lay it out on the table. Well, sometimes I lay it out on the table, usually I am pulling things out as I go along. Starting this blog has really helped me be more thoughtful about getting what I make out in print.
For years, I would make dinner or a new soup recipe and my kids would ask "Mom, what's in here?" I would rattle off the ingredients but rarely wrote it down. My kids encouraged me to get my recipes out on paper and said, "You need to make a cookbook!" (Love them kids!) The hardest thing for me was to create and write at the same time. I would get on a roll and just focus on the food. So for a bit, my youngest daughter was my documenter in the kitchen. Fun memories. I have those scratched notes in my cookbook cupboard and have toted them around with me on my travels. I now have a place where I can actually unwrinkle them, press them out and get them in print! So remember to save those precious little foodie creations you made in the kitchen and wrote on teared up, food smudged, oil dropped, messy writing paper. They are a masterpiece just waiting for their time to shine.
Here is the little ditty that Mr. Crock-pot and I made on Sunday. It is mouthwatering goodness! I saved the leftovers for lunch with a side of cauli-rice. Super Yummy!
Ingredients: Pork roast, chicken stock, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, juice of 1 orange, 1 carrot, 1/2 medium onion, 2 cloves garlic, parsley or coriander (cilantro), cumin, pepper corns, salt, paprika, pepper
1 Tbls each - sea salt, cumin, pepper corns, and paprika
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 onion diced and 2 cloves garlic minced
2 lb pork roast
Remove the string from pork
Cut the pork in 1-1.5 inch slices
Season pork on both sides with salt and pepper
Add 1-2 Tbls coconut oil to fry pan. Add pork slices to brown.
While pork is browning, mix together pepper corns, salt, paprika, cumin, and parsley or coriander. Blend in orange juice of one orange. Set aside.
Flip pork to brown other side.
Add diced onion and minced garlic.
Flip pork over again. Move the onion and garlic around so they are now on the bottom.
While the pork, onion and garlic are still cooking add the liquid orange spice mixture and 2 cups chicken stock to the crock-pot. Add sliced carrots.
Add browned pork to the pot with the liquid covering it.
Scoop out the onion and garlic out of the pan and add to the pot.
Ready for the lid! Cover and turn on high for 1 hour. After 1 hour check the pork and make sure the meat is under the liquid. Turn to low and let it party for 6 hours.
After about 6 hours the meat should just fall apart. Remove pork from pot and place on a plate. Break meat up in chunks or a bit shredded. Scoop out all the onion and carrot goodness and a nice ladle of the juices and pour on top of the pork.
When all meat has been removed pour out juices through a strainer into a container. Save this wonderful juice for broth. Cool broth and store in fridge over night. Take off the layer of fat. Put broth in freezer for a recipe in the future.
Enjoy this dish with a side of spinach, sliced mushroom, tomato, and orange salad. Dressing: Squeeze juice of lemon, drizzled olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper on top. Enjoy!
Gluten free and Paleo friendly meal
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