What's in the Crockpot? IX.

What’s in the Crockpot?

Mexican Pulled Pork!

I expressed my love for Pinterest and a new blog I stumbled upon in my last What’s in the Crockpot? post. In exploring Andie’s blog, I found her recipe for Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork. Since last week was pretty busy after work, I planned for a few crock pot recipes to keep me on track and avoid eating take out. Admit it, it’s pretty nice coming home from work and having dinner ready for you, right? And all it takes is a few extra minutes in the morning. This recipe is totally worth the five extra minutes in the morning!

I had to slightly adapt the original recipe because I couldn’t find a 1 pound pork tenderloin. Of course, you can always substitute chicken as well.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 lb of pork tenderloin
1 16 oz. jar of Newman’s Own Farmer’s Garden salsa
1 Tbsp. of chili powder
1 Tbsp. of ground cumin
1 Tbsp. of brown sugar
1 tsp. of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. of salt
3 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

Place pork in the base of your slow cooker. In a small bowl, stir together all remaining ingredients. Pour evenly over pork. Cook on low for 8 hours. When done, shred the pork using two forks, pulling against the grain of the meat.

My adaptation of the recipe makes about 5 servings at 5 PointPlus per serving. I served mine with warmed soft taco shells, reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese and light sour cream, which will change the PointsPlus value. Next time I think I’ll try this with BBQ sauce for yummy pulled pork sandwiches.

Sidebar: If you’re thinking about becoming a fellow crock pot enthusiast, I urge you to read this article from Fine Cooking that my father sent along to me. It outlines the Dos and Don’ts of Slow Cookers.

And on a completely unrelated note, Happy Leap Day!