Herb-Salted Pork Roast

So the baby finally decided to take a nap this afternoon, and I took 5 minutes of that "me time" to prepare dinner for later tonight, when my husband should be home to watch her. This is only the start of the recipe, which I prepared at least two hours before I planned on cooking it. The pork roast ran me about $4 and I had all the spices on my shelf. I'll be cooking vegetables to go with this later, just not sure what yet. This can be roasted on its own and just served with sides of sweet potato and a green veggie.

Ingredients for dry rub:

Pork Loin Roast, 1-2 pounds
1 Tbsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp dry oregano
1/8 tsp dry thyme

Mix herbs and spices together well in a small bowl. Rinse meat off under warm water and shake dry, then rub seasoning mixture over the entire slab of meat. Place meat in a gallon-size storage back and let sit in the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.

Vegetables:
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1-pound bag of baby carrots
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil spray
seasoned salt
ground black pepper

When it's time to cook, spray bottom of pan with olive oil then place meat in roasting pan and surround with chopped vegetables. Spray olive oil over veggies and sprinkle with some seasoned salt and ground black pepper. Roast at 325 F for 1 hr 15-30 minutes, depending on weight of pork, or until internal temperature is up to 160 F or higher.
I accidentally over-salted the vegetables, but other than that even a little overcooked it was fantastic. Feeds 3-4 people, if they don't steal all the veggies like my husband did.

Pork Loin Roast with Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Onions

Military folks get paid twice a month, and it's almost pay day. This means that my fridge and cabinets are almost empty of all the food I bought last paycheck (two weeks ago), so I'm doing pretty well for making it last two whole weeks. But that means that the pork roast I had thawing in the refrigerator for today had little left to accompany it. So this is totally an empty-out-the-cupboard meal. And I'm starting it a little late, having waited for the baby's 10:30am nap to get this ready. And now that you'll have my recipe, I can tell you it will probably only take about 20-25 minutes to prepare in your 7-quart slow cooker, and then you just play the Crock Pot waiting game.

Ingredients:

2-pound pork loin roast (cost me a little over $3)
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp garlic pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp seasoned salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 apple, cored and cut into small chunks
1 whole sweet onion, sliced lengthwise and broken up
2-3 shallots, sliced lengthwise into strips
1/2 cup water
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Rinse meat off and place flat side down in bottom of Crock Pot. Sprinkle next 6 ingredients (herbs/spices) over the meat in whatever order you like, rubbing into meat.

Toss in onions, potatoes, shallots and apple, mixed up altogether. You can do this in layers as it may be easier to spice that way. Pour in 1/2 cup water. Sprinkle seasoned salt on all layers of vegetables, then sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg, trying to get most of the last two on just the sweet potatoes and apples. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Makes about 4-6 servings.

The pork ended up tasting a little bit dry, but not bad. If you have time, I recommend salting the pork a half hour before you set it in the crock pot to cook.

Pork Loin with a Different Twist

Well, don't I feel sheepish? Yesterday, after skimming the fat off the Ox Tail Stew and cooking it on low for an agonizing 7 hours in the Crock Pot (I say agonizing because the smell permeated the entire house and made our mouths water all day long), we finally ate the unbelievably delicious, rich, hearty stew. The meat literally sloughed off the bones, and even the bones were coming apart. Unfortunately, during our frenzy to get the food into our mouths, I forgot to take a photo of the finished product. You will just have to try it out for yourself. All in all, I think the stew cost me around $17 to make, leaving leftover veggies for later meals.

Tonight's dinner is pretty much the same as the Pork Loin with Apples that I made a week ago. The twist I made on it tonight was that after cutting up the sweet potatoes, I spread them about the pan and sprayed them with olive oil, then sprinkled them with a small amount of seasoned salt and cinnamon.
For the sweet apples, I opened my fruit drawer and realized I only had one apple left so I ended up using a pear as well; one apple, one pear, along with the butter and brown sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves, and as an added bonus a couple shakes of ground ginger. It was very tasty!