Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork Tacos

I made these tonight, and they were DELISH!!  They were on the spicy side, so our girls had cheese quesadillas instead.  Next time, I'll take it easy on the red pepper so we can all enjoy them!

Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork

serves 4

1 lb pork tenderloin, or chicken
1 15 oz can tomato sauce, or one 12oz jar salsa (I used the tomato sauce)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I didn't have any cayenne, so I used red pepper instead)
½ teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced

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. Serve in warmed tortillas (either flour or corn; I chose corn) with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream. Garnish with chopped scallions.  We also added sliced olives and guacamole.

To.  Die.  For.  Seriously.

Sweet Pork Burritos

My sister Liz introduced me to these.  They are so delish.  And what's better is that they are SO easy!! 

Ingredients:

Pork (I use either a roast or country style boneless ribs)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup salsa
1 can of Sprite

Throw all of it in the crock pot.  Cook it all day.  Shred the pork. 

It's the best in freshly made tortillas, topped with cheese, beans, guac, and maybe some rice.  Sooooo delicious! 

Crock Pot Chile Verde

1 small onion, diced
1 (4 ounce) can diced chile (mine were mild, your choice)
Pork roast (shoulder or chuck)
1 green bell pepper seeded and diced
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
10 tomatillos, diced (peel off the outer wrapper, if they have one)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons sage
1 Tablespoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more, to taste)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

The Directions.

I used a 6 quart. Trim any visible fat from the meat, and plop into your slow cooker stoneware. Add diced bell pepper and onion. If your tomatillos have the leafy-outer skin left on them, take the skin and stem off, and dice finely (I used the pampered chef chopper thingy. You can pulse in a food processor, instead, if you'd like). Pour in the contents of the diced chile can and the tomato can. Add spices. Stir a bit to get the spices down the sides of the meat. Add chopped cilantro to the top.
Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, high for 6, or until meat shreds easily with a fork. After 7 hours on low, my meat was still pretty tough, so I chopped it into large chunks, and put it back in the pot for another 2 hours. By then, it had shredded nicely for me.

Texas Pork Burritos

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home magazine. That's the BEST $4.00 for a magazine subscription I've ever spent! It was soooooo good.

Ingredients
1 boneless pork shoulder butt roast (3 to 4 pounds), cubed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cans (10 ounces each) green enchilada sauce
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
2 cans (2-1/4 ounces each) sliced ripe olives, drained
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons ground cumin
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
10 flour tortillas (8 inches), warmed
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend

Directions

Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown meat in oil in batches. Transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine the enchilada sauce, onion, carrots, olives, broth, cumin, garlic and oregano; pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender.

Combine flour and sour cream; stir into meat mixture. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cilantro.

Spoon 2/3 cup pork mixture onto each tortilla; top with about 3 tablespoons cheese. Roll up tightly. Yield: 10 servings.

***Here are the changes I made: I didn't cook the pork prior to putting it in the crock pot. I just put the whole thing in there, and after 6 hours, I shredded the pork. Much easier. Also, I omitted the carrots. That seemed like an odd addition. Next time I make it, I'm going to use a 1/2 tsp of chicken bouillion (instead of chicken broth), in order to avoid it being so soupy (possibly less enchilada sauce as well. It was pretty soupy. I may make it AS a soup come this winter!). I also heated up some black beans and topped the burritos with those. YUMMY!!!**

BBQ Pork for Sandwiches

Another favorite of ours. I LOVE this recipe because it's SOOOOO easy and SOOOOO TASTY!!!

Ingredients:

1 can beef broth
3 pounds boneless pork ribs
1 bottle barbeque sauce

Pour beef broth into slow cooker (see how easy????), and add boneless pork ribs. Cook on low all day, or on high heat for 4 hours, or until meat shreds easily. Remove meat, and shred with two forks.

Drain crockpot of beef broth and stir in BBQ sauce. Cook on high for 30 min. to 1 hr. Stirring every so often to avoid BBQ sauce burning around edge of crock pot.

Serve on bread or buns. Great served with fries and fresh fruit.