Slow Cooker Cranberry Apricot Pork

I don’t know about you, but my favorite appliance in the kitchen is the slow cooker.  It doesn’t get any easier than tossing some ingredients into a crock, setting and forgetting it.  Dinner ready when I get home from working a craptastic day?  Yes, please!

I bought Joe a pressure cooker for Christmas, and we have an ongoing debate on which is better for tenderizing and infusing flavor into meat.  I love that the pressure cooker can produce a moist, tender and delicious meal in minutes…and I mean minutes depending on the cut of meat.  But there is just something heavenly about walking in the front door and smelling a slow-cooked meal.

The recipe below is compliments of my friend Cerrin, who made this a few years back and I all but drooled over a photo of the finished product.  It’s my “go-to” slow cooker recipe for weekends away, game day, etc.  I usually serve it with roasted fingerling potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup of orange juice
• 1/2 cup  sugar (I used organic coconut palm sugar)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped organic dried apricots
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more, depending on your tolerance for heat)
• 2 1/2 lb boneless pork loin, well trimmed

Mix all ingredients except pork in your slow cooker.  Add the pork and spoon some of the cranberry mixture over the top of the loin.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours until the pork is tender.

Remove the pork to a cutting board and slice.  Spoon some of the sauce over the pork and serve.

Get in my belly!!