If you have read any of my recipe posts you probably know I love leftovers. It just makes a lot of sense to me to cook once and have some of the meal left over for a quick meal later on. This is really a great help for people who are busy or who’s schedule does not allow for cooking every night. This week I am going to be busy three nights in a row. Two nights I am subbing Nia for Hot Hula and the third night I have Gentle Yoga. So Monday I did some cooking. Monday I actually prepared dinner that will be our dinner for a couple of nights, but I also prepared a lasagna. I froze it and I will put in the oven before I go to class one night this week, so it will be done around the time I get home. I will use time bake for that so we will see. But last night we had Crockpot Balsamic Pork.
I modified a chicken recipe I had seen on Facebook. First of all I used pork instead of chicken. I love chicken and I have been “missing” it. We haven’t had any for a while. Then the people-getting-sick-from-chicken thing came up and I was happy we hadn’t purchased any. Then I found some in our freezer hiding behind something and I was happy. It was purchased way before the latest issue and we had eaten the other chicken from the batch so I was so glad to have found it. So we had just had chicken and I didn’t feel comfortable buying any so I bought pork. I know that I like pork and balsamic so I thought it would work.
I rarely use my crockpot. Something about cooking meat for HOURS, just doesn’t sound good to me. This recipe called for FOUR hours on high. Well, I figured that pork would NOT need FOUR hours so I decided to try it for two and see how it looked.
The recipe also calls for dried basil, but for some reason I thought fresh would be better. Not sure why and not sure that it was.
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Crock Pot Balsamic Pork
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 heaping tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 heaping tsps dried minced onion
1/2 cup of fresh chopped basil
5 garlic cloves, pressed with garlic press
2 tblsp olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
7 thick cut boneless pork chops
chopped parsley for the top
Combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl, then spread over one side of pork, saving half for the other side. Use half the basil piling a little on each piece. Let the pork stand a bit. Then flip the pork over and use the rest of the dry ingredients and basil to coat the pork.
Use the garlic and the oil to coat the pot of the crockpot. Then place the pork inside. Pour the vinegar over.
Set to high and cook for about two hours.
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An hour and 45 minutes later I turned my pot down to low so that I could keep preparing my salad for dinner and my lasagna for later. I think I will cook it less next time. I think turning it off at an hour and 45 minutes would have been better. Although our pork was not overcooked, we just prefer it a little less cooked.
I know the thing that people think is so great about crockpots is you put it on and forget it. Even though this is not hours and hours of “forgetting” it is still at least an hour and 45 minutes. I would think it could be the four hours on low.
This was good. My husband and I love garlic and that was a primary flavor . . . so I think if I want the balsamic to stand out more I will use less garlic. If I had used dried basil – as the original recipe calls for – this would have been a super simple meal. Adding the basil (washing and chopping) dropped it down to a simple meal.
It was good. I can see me making this again. And one day I will even try it with chicken. Last night we had it with a spinach salad and my favorite Smashed Potatoes! I did not take pictures of the finished product. I was doing too many things at the time!
Do you use a slow cooker/crockpot? What is your favorite thing to cook in the crockpot? Does meat you cook in a crockpot come out well done?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 