Tag pork

Crockpot Cranberry Pork Loin

Mrs. Rhodes Leave a comment

This recipe is delicious during the Fall and Winter, holidays, or any time you love eating cranberry sauce. The photo doesn’t do it justice. I put a little pic in the box up there so you can see how it looks before cooking.

Cranberry Pork Roast

Ingredients:
3 lb. pork loin roast
salt and pepper to taste
1 15-16oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4-1/2 cup honey or brown sugar
1/4 cup cranberry juice
2 Tbsp. orange or Lemon juice
1 tsp. dry ground mustard
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cloves

Directions:
Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of pork loin then put into sprayed crockpot.  Add the rest of the ingredients to meat. You could also just mix cranberry sauce, sugar, juices, and spices together in a medium bowl then pour over pork.  Cover and cook on LOW up to 8 hours or high 4-5 hours. To serve just carefully remove roast to a plate or cutting board. Let rest for 5 minutes then slice and spoon the gravy over meat. See note about thickening gravy below. This tastes great with stuffing, over rice, or with mashed potatoes.

Note—To thicken gravy: Thirty minutes before meat is done remove roast then take out some of the juice from slow cooker. Combine the 2 Tbsp. cornstarch and cold water and mix together until smooth.  Stir this into juice mixture from roast and pour back into crockpot to get warm.

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Cranberry Sauce

Mrs. Rhodes 2 Comments

This time of year I love having a few cans of cranberry sauce on hand to use in several ways. You can just open a can and pour into a dish to slice and eat along with your holiday meal. It is also good for making a sauce for cocktail lil’ smokies or meatballs. I have also made cranberry chicken or cranberry pork roast in my crock pot.

Some years ago I started making my own cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries when I saw how easy it is to make. I prefer the taste of it over the canned version so now I take the time to make the homemade version every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here is how I make it:

Crockpot Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
1 12oz. bag of fresh cranberries
1 cup of sugar (I like using 1/2 c. white and 1/2 c. brown sugar)
1 cup water or orange juice (I like doing 1/2 c. orange with 1/2 cup cranberry, apple, or Cranapple juice)

Directions:
Spray a small crockpot (under 5 quarts) with cooking spray.  Put clean cranberries in crockpot.  Pour the sugar and juice of choice on top.  Cover and cook on High for 1 hour. Stir and continue cooking another hour. Stir every 15 minutes as the cranberries will soften and pop. Once it is the consistency you want turn off and cool down. Pour into a container and refrigerate over night for the flavors to blend.

Note: This tastes even better made a day or so in advance so that the flavors will have time to sit and blend together. I do a mixture of white and brown sugar to give it an extra flavor boost. Using juice instead of water enhances the flavor as well.

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Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Mrs. Rhodes 6 Comments

I have made my own breakfast sausage many times using ground pork (for pork sausage), ground beef (for beef sausage), ground venison, ground chicken, and ground turkey (for chicken or turkey sausage). I have even done a 1/2 and 1/2 mix with beef and pork, beef and venison, or chicken (or turkey) and pork. They all come out tasty and much cheaper than buying name-brand sausages filled with MSG and other unhealthy additives. Once you see how easy this is to make you’ll wonder why you haven’t tried this before.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs. ground pork, venison, beef, turkey, or chicken (can use any ground meat of your liking)
1 tsp. Salt (I like sea or Real Salt)
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. ground sage
1 tsp. regular or smoked paprika
2 tsp. brown sugar (or Maple Syrup- see note below)
3/4 tsp. thyme
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. ground fennel seed (optional)
1/4 tsp. marjoram
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (use more to make it spicy if you’d like)
1 Tbsp. olive oil (if using only venison, chicken, or turkey)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. The flavors blend in better if you make this a few hours ahead of time. After mixing in a bowl, cover and chill (or refrigerate it overnight) before cooking. When ready to cook, shape into 8-9 patties and cook in a heated skillet with a little olive oil (if using chicken or turkey) about 4-5 minutes per side or until done. Serve with your breakfast, or freeze cooked sausage in Ziploc bags for later use. These are good with biscuits!

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Easy Crockpot Pulled Pork

Mrs. Rhodes Leave a comment

Grilling season is upon us and that means it’s time to break out all the good meats. One thing I love making is the Memphis BBQ rub recipe I found online many years ago. This is a great season for meats before grilling. I also have a regular season I use for my crockpot pulled pork used for meal prepping. Now let’s take a look at the 2 different ways I cook pulled pork.

Easy Crockpot Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

up to 5 lbs. bone-in pork butt Pulled Pork Season or BBQ rub (I make my own. See below.)

1 medium onion, sliced or chopped 1 cup chicken or bone broth

Pulled Pork (or Chicken) Season

1.5 Tbsp. Paprika

1/2 Tbsp. Onion Powder

1/2 Tbsp. Garlic Powder

1/2 Tbsp. Black Pepper

1/2 Tbsp. Sea Salt

1 tsp. Mustard Powder

Directions: Clean the pork roast and pat dry with some paper towels. Add as much pork season (or BBQ rub) to both sides of the meat. In a lightly greased 6-quart slow cooker, place the onion at the bottom. Place pork roast on top. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 8-10 hours or until fork-tender. Take out pork and discard all but 1/4 cup of the liquid.  Remove the bone and shred the meat. Now add the meat back to the slow cooker to toss in the reserved liquid. I love cooking and having pulled pork around for meal prep. It makes it easy to use in various ways or separate into meal portions to freeze for later. I’ll share more about that in a later post.

Memphis Style BBQ rub Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. Paprika
3 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp. Onion powder
1 Tbsp. Garlic powder
1 Tbsp. Sea Salt
1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. dried Basil
1/2 Tbsp. ground mustard powder
2 tsp. ground Cayenne Pepper

Directions for making BBQ Pulled Pork: I suggest using 3-4 lbs. of boneless pork butt/roast. Mix BBQ rub ingredients together and use to season meat. Just coat meat with your desired amount of rub. Cook in a sprayed 4-6 quart slow cooker with 1/2 cup broth on LOW for 6-8 hours or until fork tender. After cooking remove the meat and leave 1/4 cup of broth. Now just shred the meat and add it back to the slow cooker. Combine a 12 oz. bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce, 2 Tbsp. honey (less or more according to your taste), 1 tsp. Liquid Smoke, a few dashes of hot sauce in a bowl or glass measuring cup. Pour over roast, toss meat to coat, and cook for up to 30 minutes on LOW to warm up the sauce. Serve over your choice of buns. It is delicious topped with Cole slaw too.

Note: This stuff is good on ribs, chicken, beef, or any pork. Just use desired amount to season meat of choice. For ribs or steak just rub into the meat before grilling. When we grill we often add sauce on ours before the meat has finished cooking. My go-to BBQ sauce is the Kraft or Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. I just mix up some Kraft original BBQ sauce with a little honey. Sometimes I add a few drops of Tabasco or Hot Sauce for an extra kick.

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