Cranberry Pork Roast

Here's a recipe that is just awesome and a favorite around here.  It uses a pork loin roast which can be gotten on sale for under $2, which is a great bargain for boneless meat!   Yeah, usually I get 9 lbs. and cut the loin into 3 roasts so I'm set for quite a while to make this recipe.  I serve it over rice with a green veggie like broccoli on the side.  YUM!

Cranberry Pork Roast

1 (2.5-3 lb) lean boneless pork loin roast or rib roast
1 (16 oz.) can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/3 cup port wine or cranberry juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 small lemon, thinly sliced
1/3 cup golden seedless raisins (I've used regular raisins too)
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. diced candied ginger
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. cold water
cooked rice

Place pork roast in 3 1/2 quart slow cooker.  In a medium bowl, combine cranberry sauce, port wine or cranberry juice and sugar.  Stir in lemon, raisins, garlic, ginger, mustard, salt and pepper.  Spoon over roast.  Cook on low (covered) for 6-7 hours or until meat is 170 degrees F on an instant read meat thermometer.

Remove roast from cooker and cover with foil to keep warm.  Mix the cornstarch and water and pour into the cooker.  Turn cooker onto high.  Stir and cook the sauce for about 5 minutes until thickened.

Slice roast.  Serve with sauce and rice on the side.

Icky migraine today but a great recipe!! LOL

OK - So a front is coming through, AF is visiting and I probably didn't drink enough water yesterday. So all that equals waking up with a migraine today. I'm going to take it easy and probably even cancel my riding today (even though Whirl was SO good on Tuesday and I'd hate for him to miss another training session - oh well) since my balance and vision are off. :( Thank God for crockpots because I had planned a pot roast for dinner tonight anyway so dinner is in the pot cooking away. No need to worry about it later. I just will peel some potatoes and make mashed potatoes and use one of those great SteamFresh veggies that just nuke up really fast. :)

OK - So my challenge last week (or was it the week before?? Don't remember) was to try a new recipe this week. Since then I tried 3 new recipes and here's the verdict:

Beef Burgundy - not bad, not the best. Won't make it again
Poulet d'Artichoke - yummy casserole, easy to make, little ones didn't like it
Caramel Apple Pork Chops - absolutely scrumptious and I'm SOOOO glad that I tripled the sauce ingredients. I had a lot of pork chops (8 pieces) and we loved the topping so much. I used fresh Cortland apples from the orchard and I need to get more of these so I can make the sauce to put over vanilla ice cream. It was like an apple pie filling on the chops! YUM!! So here's the recipe as I got it:

(from Allrecipes)
4 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops
1 tsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced
3 Tbsp. pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Place a medium dish in the oven to warm.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brush chops lightly with oil and place in hot pan. Cook for 5-6 minutes, turning occasionally, or until done. Transfer to the warm dish, and keep warm in the preheated oven.
3. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, salt and pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add butter to skillet and stir in brown sugar mixture and apples. Cover and cook until apples are just tender. Remove apples with a slotted spoon and arrange on top of chops. Keep warm in the preheated oven.
4. Continue cooking sauce uncovered in skillet, until thickened slightly. Spoon sauce over apples and chops. Sprinkle with pecans.


OK - for what I ended up doing with the recipe:

I had bone-in pork chops so I just browned them in the pan with the oil and then put them in a 350 degree oven to finish cooking (about an additional 20 minutes).

I tripled the sauce recipe and used 5 large Cortland apples (although I ate the last quarter before I had gotten it sliced - those things are yummy!). I didn't put them over the chops until I was serving them. OH - and I totally forgot the pecans. I had bought them - but forgot to use them. LOL I'm sure that they would have been yummy with this. :)