Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

My friend Shannon gave me this recipe when we did one of the volleyball team dinners together. It's genius. This fed 18 people for one of our family dinners and doubled it fed 40 volleyball players and coaches. (Serve with Cilantro Lime Rice.) If you're not feeding all those people, freeze some for next time.

2 Pork Sirloin Tip Roasts (they come in packages of four at Costco for under $20)

1 jar of Mango & Peach Salsa (refrigerated section at Costco)

1 cup brown sugar

Place two pork roasts in a large crockpot.

Blend salsa and brown sugar together in a blender. Pour over pork roasts in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. The roasts should shred easily with a fork when they're ready.

Mexican-Style Sweet Shredded Pork

Katy with Anya in Allyn's Kitchen.  (The Mexican Pork is in the crock pot on the island beside Katy. Ha!)

 We made this at Allyn's when Katy and I visited her last October to throw her a HERO PARTY.  I don't have any photos of it, but let's face it, a picture of a crock pot full of pork isn't that pretty.  It is fantastic to eat, though.  We used it in quesadillas, enchiladas, nachos, tacos. The recipe is from Our Best Bites.

Ingredients:

4 lbs. boneless pork shoulder roast (no substitutes!)

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1 - 2 T. vegetable oil

2 (10-ounce) cans enchilada sauce

1 c. brown sugar, divided

1/2 c. salsa

1/2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 c. apple juice (I've used whatever juice was handy if I didn't have apple and it's still great)

Directions:

Trim the visible fat from the roast and sprinkle with salt, pepper, chili powder, and onion powder.  Use your hands (do it, Katy!) to massage the spices over all sides of the meat.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Sear the pork roast for about 1 minute on all sides or until the meat surface is golden brown.

While meat is searing, combine the enchilada sauce, 2/3 cup brown sugar, salsa, Worcestershire sauce, and apple juice in a slow cooker.  Add the pork, cover, and cook for 7 hours on low with the lid on the entire time.

Remove pork and shred, discarding any pieces of fat.  Add the additional 1/3 cup brown sugar to slow cooker and turn heat to high.  Add shredded meat.  Simmer with lid off for 30 minutes.

Sweet Potato Stew

I have to admit that when this was cooking I really had my doubts.  Who puts allspice and cloves in beef stew?  I was skeptical that my children would even eat it, so I gave everyone small portions in order to avoid having to throw out 5 full bowls of soup.  I cooked it a while back and froze it, then it spent the day today in the crock-pot, smelling up our house.  Then a Christmas Miracle!  They all loved it.  They asked for more!  They cleaned their bowls.  Amazing!  So now I must share it with you.


1 lb trimmed stew meat
1/2 cup yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2/3 cup sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 cup green string beans
1/4 cup carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced


1.  Coat pan with cooking spray and place over medium heat.  Sear all sides of stew meat, then reduce heat to low.  Add beef broth, onions, Worcestershire sauce and all spices.  Stir gently to coat.  Cover pan and let simmer for 90 minutes.
2.  Thinly slice celery and carrots; cut beans into bite-size pieces; peel and cube sweet potato.
3.  Stir in all veggies, then cover and let cook on medium-low (simmer) for an additional 40 minutes.
4.  If desired, thicken stew by adding a tablespoon of whole-wheat flour with a small amount of water.

Sorry I don't have a picture.

20 Clove Garlic Chicken for Crock Pot

Secretly I haven't made this yet, but I found it and want to put it somewhere safe. It's on the menu for next week. It looks amazingly wonderful and easy.
It calls for 3-4 lbs of chicken parts and the use of a 6 qt. crock pot, which I don't have. Nor do I have an army to feed, so I will be using less but posting the recipe as I found it. And we're all glad to know that, aren't we?

3-4 lbs. chicken parts
1 large onion, sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp pepper
20 cloves of garlic, peeled, but intact

Place sliced onions at the bottom of pot. In a bowl, toss chicken with all other ingredients and pour over onions. Do not add water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6 hours.

Sweet Roast

They were passing this out as samples at Macey's the other day, along with the recipe. It is so delicious. It's actually called Sweet Meat Salad and served with beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, taco stuff. It's great meat without all the fixings, too.

1 Cross rib roast
1 16 oz. bottle of salsa
1/2 c. brown sugar

That's it. It sounds gross, but it's so good. David and I agree that it could be sweeter
Cook in the crock pot on low for 4 hours or until shreddable.

Amazing Spaghetti Sauce for Crock Pots

This recipe calls for a ton of ingredients, so if you're Katy and Allyn's family, do what it says. I cut it in half, and completely left out the hamburger. It's super chunky and full of flavor.

2 lbs. Ground Beef
3/4 lb. bulk Italian Sausage
4 medium onions (I used 1/2 an onion and it was great)
8 garlic cloves (I used 1, and again, it was great)
4 cans (14 oz each) petite diced tomatoes
4 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1/4 c. minced fresh parsley
2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil, or 2 tsp. dried
1 Tbsp. minced fresh oregano, or 1 tsp. dried
4 bay leaves
1 tsp. rubbed sage
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 tsp. pepper
Hot cooked Spaghetti

Brown the beef, sausage, onion and garlic until meat is no longer pink. Drain.
Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, oil and seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until bubbly. Discard bay leaves and serve with spaghetti. Yum!
I also didn't have any sage, bay leaves, or marjoram and it was still delicious.

French Country Slow Cooker Chicken

This is a good piano lesson day recipe. It also uses the wonderful tarragon that I bought for the maple salmon recipe and haven't used for anything else.

1 med. onion, chopped
4 Carrots, sliced
4ribs celery sliced
6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and black pepper
1 can (10 3/4 oz.)
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/3 white wine or apple juice (I use the apple juice!)
2 T. cornstarch
Hot cooked rice

1. Place onion, carrots and celery in slow cooker. Arrange chicken over vegetables. Sprinkle with tarragon, thyme, salt and pepper.
2. Pour soup over chicken. Sprinkle with dry soup mix. Cover; cook on High 3-4 hours, stirring once during cooking.
3. Twenty minutes before serving, blend wine and cornstarch until smooth; stir into slow cooker. Cook, uncovered, 15 minutes or until thickened. Serve over rice.