Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

I’ve been searching for a pork loin recipe that will work in the crock pot. Pork loin is something I have only made a few times, and I honestly prefer pork in the crock pot. I’d love to smoke a pork loin sometime, or grill it, but that’s a challenge for another day.

This recipe I found on Pinterest. Have you joined this website? Can I just tell you how much it has changed my web experience? Pinterest allows you to save images from around the web and organize them onto ‘boards’. It is really amazing for visual people like myself. Decorators, crafters, aspiring chefs. Right now it is invite-only, so let me know if you’d like one.

Anyway, I found this recipe on Pinterest and made it the next night. The ingredients are just things I have around the house most of the time, so it wasn’t too difficult. I’d happened to have picked up the pork loin at the store the day before this appeared, so it was serendipity. On top of that, everyone I showed the recipe to invited themselves over for dinner.

This will easily provide 2 meals to adults and then some. I hope you like it as much as we did!

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

1 pork loin roast, 2lbs
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground sage (omitted)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup water

Glaze:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce

Directions:

Rub the pork lon with the sage, salt, pepper, and garlic. Place in your crock pot with the 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Prepare the glaze by mixing all of the ingredients in a saucepan, heat and mix until thickened.

During the last hour of cooking, brush the roast with the glaze 2-3 times.

I served mine with sauteed zucchini (olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic).

Delicious Vegetable Quiche

Trust me, the ‘delicious’ adjective belongs in this title.

This is my first attempt at a quiche. I’m going to leave out the crust recipe because that needs a little perfecting. You can figure out your own crust recipe, or honestly, make a fritata. Save yourself the calories.

I told my husband I wanted to make a quiche for dinner tonight. He asked if there’s a sauce that can go with it, because to him, quiche is always dry. I talked this over with a friend and decided that instead of a sauce, I’d add some sour cream to the mixture. This should increase the moisture content and add some flavor and protein without increasing the calorie context extraordinarily high. So here is my vegetarian quiche recipe. It totally worked, and it was a hit! I hope you enjoy!

Delicious Vegetable Quiche

Ingredients:

1 bunch spinach, washed and torn to smaller pieces
4-5 mushrooms, sliced thin
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded mozzarella, divided
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Prepare a quiche crust (sweet pie crust minus the sugar), or don’t. Preheat the oven to 425.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes then add the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms start to soften, add the spinach and cook down. Place in a bowl and allow to cool in the fridge for a few minutes.

Whisk the eggs and milk, plus salt and pepper, in a separate bowl. Then add the sour cream, whisk as best you can, but it won’t be entirely smooth. Add the egg mixture to the veggie mixture along with 2/3 of the cheese.

Pour this into a pie dish, with our without a crust. Bake for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature is above 160 and there’s no uncooked egg when you cut into it.

Remove from the oven and let set for 5 minutes, serve warm.

Serve along side some sauteed potatoes for a delicious breakfast-for-dinner.

Chicken Enchiladas with Green Tomtatillo Chile Salsa

This dish is labor intensive, it honestly took me about an hour to prep the entire thing for baking… and I skipped the tortilla-prep steps from the original recipe. The end result is delicious, so it’s worth it. I only made half of the recipe and it filled 4 large tortillas, plenty for us for 2 meals! Tonight I served this alongside steamed broccoli and corn on the cob.

Enjoy!

Chicken Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Chile Salsa

Ingredients:

Salsa –
1 lb tomatillos
1 white onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, whole
2 jalapenos
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (omitted)
Juice from 1/2 lime

Enchiladas –
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium white onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken stock (I used chicken broth)
3 lbs chicken, shredded
1/2 lb pepper jack cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste
Flour tortillas
Sour cream
Cilantro, for garnish
Red tomatoes, chopped, for garnish

Directions:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare the salsa first. Husk the tomatillos and wash; cut the tops off the jalapenos. Place in a baking dish the tomatillos, jalapenos, onion, and garlic. Roast in the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Once roasted, put everything in a blender or food processor with the cumin and lime juice. Process until salsa-like consistency, keeping it a little bit chunky. Set aside.

Next, prepare the enchilada mixture. In a pan, heat the olive oil and add the onions. Caramelize over medium heat until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and heat for another minute. Then add the flour, stirring to keep the flour from burning. Add the broth slowly and cook until thickened. Once complete, remove from the heat and add the chicken and about 1/2 of the green tomatillo salsa.

Prepare the baking dish by adding a small amount of the salsa to the bottom. Decrease the oven temp to 350.

Add some of the mixture to your tortillas along with a bit of the cheese. If the tortillas are stiff, heat in the microwave for 1 minute with a wet paper towel over them to soften them. Wrap the tortillas closed, tightly, and place seam down in the baking dish. Once all the enchiladas are prepared, top with the rest of the salsa then cheese.

Bake 30 minutes or until the cheese is well melted and the internal temperature of the enchiladas is around 130 degrees.

Sweet Barbacoa Pork

I love this dish.

The first time I explained it to my husband, he said he’d try it, but he tried to bargain with me for a pizza as needed if he did not like it. That’s fine, it’s the deal we have. We’ve only ever ordered a pizza once, and that was when I forgot to cook chicken before putting it into a dish that required it to be pre-cooked. Ooops.

Anyway, this dish is fabulous. You should make it, and it’s super convenient because you’re going to use your crockpot! It does have a 2-step cooking process, but it is worth it. I recommend making both the marinade and the sauce at the same time and putting the sauce in the fridge so it’s ready to go.

Feel free to do something more interesting with the rice and beans. I usually just do a packet of brown rice from Trader Joe’s and a can of black beans. I have been known to spice the black beans with salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, and a little bit of the sauce. It isn’t the prettiest dish, but what it lacks in appearance it makes up for in sheer awesome.

Sweet Barbacoa Pork
From Skinny Taste

Ingredients:

Marinade
2.5 lbs pork shoulder, most of the fat removed
6oz Coke Zero
1/4 cup brown sugar
Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
1/4 cup water (set aside)

Sauce
8oz Coke Zero
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 can green chilis
8oz tomato sauce
1 chili in adobo sauce
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

The night before, marinade the pork shoulder in the marinade minus the water. You can marinade it in the crock pot dish, should you desire. In the morning, add the water. Turn it on low for 8 hours.

Remove the pork shoulder form the crock pot and put on a cutting board. Shred with 2 forks or your fingers, don’t burn yourself! Discard the cooking liquid and put the pork back in the crockpot.

Add the sauce to the pork and mix. Heat for 30 min at minimum, the original recipe suggests 90 minutes.

Serve over rice and black beans.

Fair warning, this makes enough for 3 dinners for my husband and I!