Apple Cider Pork Roast in the Crock Pot

A few weeks ago, I had dinner at Cracker Barrel and saw their Apple Cider Braised Pork - delicious! But I knew I had to try and make it healthier, because let's face it....who knows what kinds of sweetener and preservatives are used and how much salt is added in when we eat out

Today I headed to Target and Costco - in the middle of all the crazy storm preparations here in Northern Virginia. Most people were buying tons of water and toilet paper, bread and milk. I did buy some bottled water just in case....but no TP, bread or milk in my basket!

For this recipe, I picked up a 4 pack of pork roasts, a bag of gala apples, dried cranberries, chopped pecans, and a half gallon of apple cider.

I browned the pork in a skillet, just to get the brown bits in the pan and on the meat. I added a tsp of coconut oil to the pan to speed things along.

(Side note: this white enamel skillet from Pampered Chef is amazing. I've completely been converted to using this and no other! I cook eggs, meat, veggies, of course bacon, and nothing sticks. It is so easy to clean up too! And pretty too!)

Then I chopped up my apples, peels on, and added them to the crockpot on high. I added about a half of the bag of cranberries and a third of the bag of pecans to the crockpot.

Next, I transferred the browned pork into the post and added a half jug of apple cider. I used a little of that to deglaze the pan and get all that yummy browned pork out of the skillet.

Now, all this is cooking on high for a few hours and it smells DELICIOUS! I can hardly wait till it is done. I'm guessing about 3-4 hours, but I will rely on my meat thermometer to tell me when the inside of the pork has reached 170 degrees and it is pull apart tender.

I'm normally very good at reading labels and avoiding additives like extra sugar. I missed the boat on these cranberries....they have sugar added. However, the chaos that is the stores here before the giant storm mean I just used them anyway instead of heading back out to exchange them. Always read carefully!

 

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