Slow Cooked Sweet Barbacoa Pork

About two weeks ago, someone on the GP board posted a link to Gina's Skinny Recipes and I've been cooking recipes from there ever since. Tonight I made this barbacoa pork, cilantro lime rice and Cuban black beans. Holy cow, it was good! In fact, I've made about ten recipes from this site and they have all been great. All of her recipes have the Weight Watchers point counts and most of them have the calories and other nutritional information.

The only I change I made in the pork was to use a regular Diet Coke instead of Coke Zero.

Slow Cooked Sweet Barbacoa Pork
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: about 10 • Serving Size: 3 oz • Old Points: 4.5 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 202.5 • Fat: 6.3 g • Protein: 26.2 g • Carb: 11.5 g • Fiber: 0.6 g
Adapted from Favorite Family Recipes

Marinade:

* 2.5 lbs pork loin roast, all fat trimmed
* salt and pepper
* garlic powder
* 6 oz Coke zero
* 1/4 cup brown sugar (unpacked)
* 1/4 cup water

Step 2

* 8 oz Coke zero
* 6 oz can sliced green chilies
* 8 oz tomato sauce
* 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
* 1/8 tsp garlic powder
* 1/8 tsp cumin
* 1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder (to taste)
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/3 cup brown sugar (unpacked)


Season pork with salt, pepper and garlic powder and place in the crock pot. Add 6 oz of coke and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Marinate refrigerated for a few hours or overnight turning meat at least once while marinating.

Remove crock from refrigerator, add water, and cook on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily). Remove pork from crock pot and discard any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork with two forks.

Step two: In the crock pot, combine 8 oz coke, green chilies, tomato sauce, chipotle chile, garlic powder, cumin, chipotle chili powder and remaining brown sugar.

Put shredded pork back in the crock pot and combine with sauce. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, cover and cook on high 1-1/2 hours more.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

My mother-in-law came over earlier today because she wanted to meet Rex, our cat. I like to make a little something whenever she comes over because that's just the way I was raised. Plus, I'm good at it and I like to show off. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. white sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1 c. blueberries (I used frozen ones from last summer)

1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter, softened

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375. Grease and flour a 9" pan. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk oil, sugar and egg. Stir in the flour mixture alternating with the milk until just incorporated. Fold in the blueberries.

Pour batter into prepared pan and top with streusel. For the topping: In a bowl, combine 1/3 cup flour, cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (I find it's easiest to do this with your hand).

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Past Due Updates

I've been doing a pretty good job of making the recipes, albeit not always in the week posted, but I have been lousy at posting my updates. So I have two today.

Apple Pork Roast: This was delicious, however, I think I was running on fumes when I made it. I was planning on having it for Sunday lunch, so I was going to put it in the crockpot before I went to bed and it would be perfect when I got home from church. Like some kind of fool, I put the crockpot on high. So, needless to say, when I got up at 7:00, it was already done and the apples were cooked to squish. I just took it out and put it in the refrigerator. Then when I got home, I reheated it in the microwave and fried some apples in butter as a little side dish. We loved it.

Creme Brulee French Toast: I made this dish the following Sunday. We enjoy breakfast food a lot, and really anything that will let us have bacon. The french toast was so rich and the caramel sauce made it so that it didn't need any syrup (not that that stopped J). This dish would make an excellent Christmas morning breakfast, especially since you make it the night before and just bake in the morning.

Chocolate Brandy Balls

This is a recipe that my mom used to make for Christmas. I have no idea where she got this one, but we loved to sneak these out of the refrigerator when we were kids. We thought we were being so bad. We had no idea how little alcohol is really in them, but after a week or so in a sealed container in the refrigerator, the fumes when you opened it would just knock you over.


Chocolate Brandy Balls
1 6 oz package of semisweet chocolate chips
1 c. vanilla wafer crumbs
3/4 c. finely chopped walnuts, plus 1 c. finely chopped walnuts
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 T. melted butter
1 T. brandy or rum

Melt the chocolate chips and stir in vanilla wafer crumbs, 3/4 c. walnuts, sour cream, sugar, butter and liquor. Chill for several hours. Roll into balls the size of a marble (I use the large end of a melon baller, then roll in my hand). Drop into 1 c. of walnuts and roll until lightly coated. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Creme Brûlée French Toast

This is one of my most favouritest breakfast ever.  It also helps that it's a prep-ahead dish.  The rich sweetness of this pairs wonderfully with some nice smokey/salty bacon and a strong cup of coffee or, y'know, some mimosas.  It's perfect for a special occasion, or for making Sunday breakfast a treat.

Crème Brûlée French Toast

from Epicurious

ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup (based on the reviews, I reduce this to a scant tbsp)
an 8- to 9-inch round loaf country-style bread
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
1/4 teaspoon salt


preparation:
In a small heavy saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring, until smooth and pour into a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking dish. Cut six 1-inch thick slices from center portion of bread, reserving ends for another use, and trim crusts. Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit.

In a bowl whisk together eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, Grand Marnier, and salt until combined well and pour evenly over bread. Chill bread mixture, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 350° F. and bring bread to room temperature.(generally I try to leave it sitting out for about half an hour, it's still a bit chilled, but it works.  Depending on how long you leave it out, you may have to adjust the cooking time)

Bake bread mixture, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are pale golden, 35 to 40 minutes.

Serve hot French toast immediately.

Souffle #2 and Apple Pork Roast

The broccoli souffle was even better than the sweet potato! Mmm. I used fresh steamed broccoli and topped it with panko bread crumbs drizzled with olive oil for a nice crispy topping. (Crushed corn flakes is another idea that I've been meaning to try.) I've actually made a similar dish before as a casserole - same mix of cream soup, mayo and cheese, with chicken cubes and frozen veggies. It's one of my favourite comfort foods.

The apple glazed pork roast was also delicious. I didn't start it until the afternoon so I set the cooker on high, and it cooked in less than 4 hours.

We had the roast and broccoli with wild rice. A great hearty meal.

Slowing things down this week

Once the weather starts getting colder I love to start cooking more with my slow cooker. I have had a craving for pork and apples. Came across this simple recipe from http://slowandsimple.com and it looked simple enough.

Apple Glazed Pork Roast

INGREDIENTS
4 lb. pork loin roast
6 apples
1/4 cup apple juice
3 T. brown sugar
1 t. ginger, ground

DIRECTIONS
Rub roast with salt and pepper. Brown pork roast under broiler to remove excess fat; drain well. Core and quarter apples. Place apple quarters in bottom of crockpot. Place roast on top of apples. Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and ginger. Spoon over top surface of roast, moistening well. Cover and cook on Low for 10-12 hours, until done.