Simple Shredded Pork Marinara over Spaghetti Squash - Gluten-Free

It's a very rare occasion in which everyone in the house boasts over my dinners.  No, really.  I know, I know...."Queen of the Crock Pot" yada yada!  LOL  I mean, everyone usually doesn't complain about dinner, but this time, they RAVED about it!

Here's how it went....I was out teaching an Essential Oils class and on my way home, my husband said "Nice job on dinner, honey!  The kids LOVED it!  I loved it too!  Good job!"
Well, that was nice to hear!
Fast forward to the next morning when Ella gets out of bed...
"Morning mom!  Did you really make that dinner last night?"
"Good morning Ella!  Yes, honey, I did."
"Wow, mom!  That was REALLY good!  Great job, mom!  Me and Gavin LOVED it!"

Here's the thing...I literally opened cans and dumped them in the slow cooker along with a chopped up onion....which my husband did for me.  I didn't add ANYTHING else to it.  LOL  I used all Dei Fratelli products, so apparently, they season better than me!  LOL!!!!!

I'll get to the recipe now so you too can "wow" your family with you mad cooking skills!

Servings: 12-14

Ingredients:

4 oz. pork sirloin tip roast

26.46 oz. carton Dei Fratelli Truly finely chopped tomatoes

28 oz. Dei Fratelli crushed tomatoes, basil and herbs

28 oz. can Dei Fratelli chopped Italian tomatoes, herbs and olive oil

6 oz. can tomato paste

Spaghetti Squash (1 squash served 3 adults) - cooking instructions here

optional: regular pasta or gluten-free pasta if you desire

Directions: (use a 5 quart or larger crock for this recipe)

In your crock, place the pork sirloin tip roast.

Next, pour in the carton of Truly finely chopped tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, chopped Italian tomatoes and tomato paste.

Add the onions, then stir it up a bit.

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 3.5-4 hours.

Take the pork roast out, roughly shred it and stir it back through the sauce.

Serve it over Spaghetti Squash and ENJOY!

Simple Barbecue Pork Chops - Gluten-Free

You know when you walk around the grocery store....waiting for something to call your name because you have absolutely NO idea what you want to make for dinner the coming week?  Yup, that was me.  Wandering....around and around and around the grocery store.  LOL  I wound up in the pork section of the meat department, trying to find something not too expensive.  I came across pork shouder steaks which were on sale, so I bought those.  As I continued to wander aimlessly around the grocery store, picking up other things I needed, I found Mrs. Dash seasonings.  So, I picked up some Barebue Seasoning!

When I got home, I got right to work getting dinner ready for the next day!  I grew up eating pork chops weekly!  Some weeks, we had them 2-3 times.  My dad LOVES them.  I'm pretty sure we kept shake n' bake in business.  No, seriously.  We were never without it and never had our pork chops any other way.  I didn't even know you could make pork any other way!  In fact, when I was in college, I remember eating at my husband's parents' house and they were having applesauce with their pork chops.  I thought it was REALLY weird and asked if they had any barbecue sauce instead.  HAHAHAHA!!!  So, I threw my pork steaks in my crock with some Mrs. Dash barbecue seasoning and a tiny bit of water and hoped for the best.

These porch chops were awesome!  We all loved them and cleaned our plates!  My husband's only complaint was "why didn't you make more of them?!"  Whoops!  Guess that's a good complaint to have!

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs. pork shoulder steak

2-3 Tbsp. Mrs. Dash barbecue seasoning

1/4 cup water

Directions:

Place the pork shoulder steaks into your crock and coat them on both sides with barbecue seasoning.

Pour in the 1/4 cup of water and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or on HIGH for 2.5-3 hours.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Nut Stuffed Pork Loin - Gluten-Free

I wanted to cook pork loin, but I didn't want to do something boring....I wanted to do something a little "different."  So, I started digging through my cupboards and cabinets.  I came across dried cranberries and some pecans and walnuts.  Knowing I can make almond butter out of almonds, I figured.....why not makes some cranberry, pecan, walnut butter?!  So, I did!

I threw the cranberries, pecans and walnuts into a food processor and magic happened.  It turned into a wonderful, thick filling for my pork loin.  PERFECT!  

I got to work cutting my pork loin into pieces so I they would fit into the bottom of my crock, butterlied them, stuffed them and put them in my slow cooker with a little applesauce on top with a prayer.  LOL  Honestly, sometimes I'm REALLY unsure as to what I'm throwing in my slow cooker is going to be edible.  Thankfully, this was!  It was delicious actually!  My husband was a little unsure of what I was up to, but once he tasted it, he was on board! ;)  

Here's the only negative.....the "looks" of this.  When it cooks, everything turns very brown.  The stuffing looks not very appetizing.  BUT, if you can get past that, this is delicious.  It also needs to be served with the juices over the top, otherwise it is very dry.  I took the picture below of my plate and then ate it as is.  It was painfully dry.  Tasted good, but dry.  When I had it the next day, my husband was like "pour the juices over the top! It's SOO good that way!"  So, I did.  And he was right.  I love that man.  He's so smart.  (Brownie points?!!!)

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

3-4 lb. boneless pork loin

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup pecans

3/4 cup craisins (dried cranberries - or any other dried fruit you like)

1 Tbsp. honey

3/4-1 cup natural applesauce

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: (Use a 5-6 Quart or larger slow cooker for this recipe)

In a food processor, place the walnuts, pecans, craisins and honey.

Process this until it forms into a thick paste that looks something like this....

If your pork loins will fit into your slow cooker without cutting it into pieces, great.  Mine would not, so I cut mine into 4 equal sections, then butterflied them open.

Spread the cranberry, walnut, pecan paste onto one half of each piece of your pork loin.

Close them up and put them into the bottom of your crock.

Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

 Pour the applesauce over the top and add the water to the bottom of the crock.

Cook on LOW for about 7 hours or on HIGH for 3.5 hours.

Serve and ENJOY!

Ethiopian Spiced Shredded Pork - Gluten-Free

Simple.  SERIOUSLY simple.

That is the ONLY thing I was going for when I made this!  LOL

Do you ever have one of those nights where you KNOW you HAVE to do something, but you'll totally cave and give in to the dark side if it's even the slightest bit hard?!  Well, this was one of those nights!  I knew I needed to get something in the slow cooker, but I also knew if it required any effort at all, I would run the other direction because I was too tired.

I had a pork loin roast and a giant bag of baby carrots from Costco....and that was about it!

I then remembered a spice blend my friend Henry gave me a few months back that I've been enjoying on ground turkey.  My kids and husband really liked that, so I decided that would be what I would flavor this with.

PERFECT CHOICE!

This was delicious!

It's super versatile too!  As you can see, I served mine over a bed of spinach.  I drizzled it with just a tiny bit of lite Honey Mustard for a little extra kick.  This would be fantastic over rice or quinoa as well.  We ate this for 3 nights, without a complaint about why we were eating it again.  LOL  That would make this recipe a keeper!  ;)

I'm not sure where Henry got the recipe for the Ethiopian Spice called Berberé, but it's super easy to throw together!

Servings: (6-10)

Ingredients:

2.5 lb. boneless pork loin roast

2-3 cups baby carrots

3 Tbsp. Berberé

1/4 cup water.

Berberé:

1 Tbsp. each of: cardamom, coriander, fenugreek, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, smoked paprika, turmeric, black pepper, sea salt.  Cayenne to taste. Pulverize it in a coffee grinder or food processor and store in a jar.

Directions: (Use a 3 quart or larger slow cooker for this)

Place the pork loin roast in your crock and cover it with the Berberé.  Place the carrots around it. Pour in the water.

Cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.  Shred the pork and mix back through the liquid.

Serve and Enjoy!

Onion Soup Pork Loin Roast - Gluten-Free

Ready for an incredibly EASY dinner?

This is it!

I had potatoes, carrots and a pork loin to use.....and no energy to do much more, LOL.  I have a homemade onion soup mix recipe from my cookbook, so I grabbed the container out of my cupboard and decided to use that.  Now, for liquid.....how about that 1/2 cup of white wine that is left in the bottle in the back of my fridge?  Yup, that'll do!

And the rest.....well, it's history as they say!

This was a yummy, satisfying, gluten-free meal!

My kids dunked their pork in ketchup of course (ugh) BUT they did eat it with no complaints.  (Although Gavin is pretty much boycotting cooked carrots right now for some reason.)

No one will know you didn't have to put much effort into this recipe!  So, go grab this stuff out of your pantry and throw it in the ole' crock like I did!  You'll be glad you did!

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

2.5 lb boneless pork loin roast

3-4 medium sized potatoes, cut into rounds

3-4 carrots, chopped into 1-2" long pieces or a few hand fulls of baby carrots

1 pkg. onion soup mix (or about 2 1/2 Tbsp. of my onion soup seasoning from my cookbook)

1/2 cup white wine or water

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In your crock, place the potatoes.  Season them with salt and pepper.

Add in the carrots

then place the pork roast on top.  Cover it with the onion soup mix seasoning.

Pour the white wine over the carrots and potatoes.

Cook on LOW for 8-9 hours, or on HIGH for 4-4.5 hours.

Enjoy!

Crown Maple Apple Cranberry Pork Loin - Gluten-Free #TaptoTable Challenge

Recently, I posted a Sweet Potatoes with Maple Syrup and Pomegranate Seeds recipe on Twitter and Crown Maple Syrup retweeted my recipe!  I felt honored!  I've been staying away from refined sugar lately and only cooking with Sugar in the Raw, Honey and Maple Syrup as my sweeteners.  I contacted Crown Maple and they happily sent me some samples to try.

Currently, Crown Maple Syrup is having a #TaptoTable Challenge, so I happily accepted!

As per usual, I took my cue from whatever caught my eye in the grocery store.  Yesterday, it was cranberries (they're so beautiful) and pork loin.  They were a beautiful marriage with the Crown Maple Dark Amber and Medium Amber.  The final product was sweet, with a hint of tartness from the cranberries.  

I'm excited to share the recipe with you!

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

2-3 lb. boneless pork loins

12 oz. cranberries

3 apples (I used Gala,) sliced

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1.7 oz. Crown Maple Dark Amber Syrup

1.7 oz. Crown Maple Medium Amber Syrup

Directions: (Use a 3 quart slow cooker for this recipe)

I used my 360 Cookware Slow Cooker for this recipe, so I seared my pork loin first.  If you don't have one, don't worry about it!  Just place your pork loins into your slow cooker and season them with the salt and pepper.

Add in the apples

and the cranberries.

 Add in the Crown Maple Dark Amber and Medium Amber Maple Syrup.

Cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 3.5 hours.

Serve and Enjoy!

Korean Inspired BBQ Shredded Pork - Gluten-Free

Two weeks ago, I had a brilliant idea (at least I thought so) to make a Korean-ish meal.  I had a pork shoulder in my refrigerator, so I went for it.  I made a delicious marinade, PACKED with flavor.

Fast forward 10 hours.................my husband calmly, and lovingly to me, "Honey, I'm sorry, but it has no flavor."

WHAT?!  How could it NOT have flavor?!  My marinade kicked butt!

After I calmed down (and tasted it.  He was right.  Flavorless.) I started thinking about it.  I believe the large amount of fat on the shoulder completely took the flavor our of my marinade.  It got "lost" due to the excessive amount of grease.

Well, luckily, I came across some beautiful pork loin roasts at Costco and I had a good feeling about them!  Turns out, my "good feeling" was spot on!  My Korean Inspired BBQ Shredded Pork was amazing!  My husband said tonight, and I quote, "Wow, honey!  This is REALLY good!" (Did you notice the emphasis on the REALLY?!!!! He meant it!!!) He was right.  It was.  My entire family cleaned their plates tonight, and Gavin even asked for seconds!

This Korean inspired marinade contains a delicious onion, lots of garlic and apple.  Say what?!  Apple???!!!  YES!  I'm telling you, this is incredible.

Best news of all, this is gluten-free and HEALTHY!  You don't need to feel any guilt eating this delicious shredded pork.  Serve it over rice, quinoa, on a gluten-free bun, or get even more creative.  Make it work for your family!

Servings: 8-10

Ingredients:
1 medium onion
1 Macintosh apple
5 cloves garlic
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp. hot sauce
2 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. ginger
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
2-3 lb. Pork Sirloin Tip Roast

Directions: (Use a 2-3 quart slow cooker for this recipe)

In a food processor, puree the onion, apple and garlic.

 Pour it into a bowl.

Add in the rice vinegar, hot sauce, soy sauce, ginger, chili powder and red pepper flakes.

Lastly, add in the brown sugar and ketchup.

Mix it up!

Put your pork loin tip roast into your slow cooker and pour the sauce over the top.

I flipped my roast just to make sure it was coated in this goodness all over!

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours, or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

Remove the pork, shred it and mix it back through the sauce.

Serve and ENJOY!

Hawaiian Shredded Pork - Gluten-Free

Oh my goodness!!!  Sometimes when I have a good idea, it turns into an EXCELLENT idea!  This was one of those times!  This smelled AMAZING while it cooked!  I couldn't wait for it to be done so I could sneak a taste!  The rub makes this pork shoulder stand out above any I've tried before.  This is definitely worthy of being in the next cookbook I'd say!

This is of course naturally gluten-free, but I've pictured it below how I ate it, and how the rest of my "non-gluten-free" family ate it!  They enjoyed theirs on Hawaiian Rolls, and I enjoyed mine on a some big iceburg lettuce leaves.  Yum!

Pork shoulders are often on sale.  You may even have on in your freezer, and might not even have to make a trip to the grocery store to get started on this treasure of a recipe.  Enjoy!!!

Servings: 12-18

Ingredients:
5-6 lb. pork shoulder
12 oz. crushed pineapple, juice separated from the pineapple (you will use both)
1 1/2-2 cups barbecue sauce

Rub:
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 Tsp. cumin
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions: (Use a 5 quart or larger slow cooker)

Mix together all of the rub ingredients.

Place your pork shoulder into your crock and rub on all sides with the rub you just made.

Pour the JUST THE JUICE of the pineapples around the pork.  I know the pineapples are in this picture, but they lost all flavor.  We'll add them later.

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours, or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

Shred the pork and place it back into your crock.

Pour the bbq sauce over the pork along with the pineapple and mix well.

Let it cook another 15-20 mins. or so...just long enough to heat the bbq sauce up.

Serve and ENJOY!

"Eye-Popping" Ribs

Looking for something "spooktacular" to serve your family for Halloween?!  Here it is folks!  Ribs, brewed with "Witches Brew" along side Apple "Eye balls!"

How did this come to be? Well, I had it in my head that I really wanted to make something with "Witches Brew" wine.  It actually caused me to run to the store for it at 10:40 p.m.  (I know, I know!  But, I really wanted to make this!)   Once I tasted it, I knew just what to do!  That's where the Apple "Eye balls" come in to play!  Apples are always good with pork, but with the flavor of the Witches Brew, I knew it would be awesome!  So, I used a melon baller to scoop "eye balls" out of my apples!

The results?!  A "Die-licious" creation!!!!!  Not only was this awesome, but my "eye balls" actually held up in the crock and still looked like I had intended!  BONUS!  My daughter got a big kick out of this meal!  She had a lot of fun at dinner!

"Eye-Popping" Ribs

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Boneless Country Ribs, FROZEN

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder

1 Tbsp. Onion Powder

2 apples, "eye balls" cut out with a melon baller

2 cups Leelanau Cellars Witches Brew (this is wine)

Directions: (I used a 3 Quart Slow Cooker for this recipe)

Place the ribs into your crock.

Add the brown sugar, garlic powder and onion powder.

Add your apple "eye balls!"

Lastly, pour your Witches Brew over your ribs and apple "eye balls."

Cook on LOW for 9-10 hours or on HIGH for 4.5-5 hours.

ENJOY!