Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Apricot-Glazed Pork Roast

I love a good crock-pot meal on a Sunday.  After wrestling with the kiddos at church it's always nice to not have to worry about most of dinner.

We bought some pork roasts in a 4 pack at Costco last month and I've been itching to use one.  I found the perfect and EASY recipe to use it with.  It calls for a 3-3.5 pound roast, but mine was 2 pounds and with 2 adults and 2 little kiddos it was the perfect amount for us.  Also, I used peach jam that I canned myself (yes, pat on my back-my second time making jam!) a few months ago and used that instead of Apricot preserves.  Delish!

Apricot-Glazed Pork Roast
1 3-3.5 pound boneless pork shoulder roast
1 18-oz. jar apricot preserves
1 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard

Serve with:
3-4 cups hot cooked rice

Trim fat from meat if necessary.  Place meat in slow cooker.



In a bowl, mix together preserves, onion, broth, and mustard; pour over meat.


Cover and cook on low-heat for 10-12 hours or on high-heat for 5-6 hours.  Since my roast was smaller I  cooked on low for about 5 hours and then on high for an additional 1 1/2 hours.  Transfer to a plate and let it rest.  If you are getting dry roasts this could be why.  You need to always let your meat rest before cutting into.  This way your meat can absorb the juices back into it.  If you cut into your meat right away you lose all that juice.

After slicing I spooned some of my juice over my meat and then poured the rest of the juice into a bowl to go over our brown rice.  The juice is a nice blend of sweet and somewhat sour.  We had rolls (blog soon) and grapes and dinner was complete.  Delish!  This is a keeper for sure.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

Let me just say that I am not a huge fan of pumpkin pie or really many pumpkin food items.  I would rather eat pecan pie, lemon meringue or a chocolate pie at Thanksgiving.  This though is SO DELICIOUS!!!  I love it and I think it's one of my husband's favorite desserts, especially in the fall.   Just a note, it's way better the next day after it sits in the fridge overnight.  It's hard to resist for breakfast!

This is SUPER easy...

Pumpkin Crunch Cake
1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree
1 15-oz. can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 package yellow cake mix
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1-1 1/2 cubes butter

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.  In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, spices and salt.  Mix well. and spread into the prepared pan.

Spread into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the pumpkin mixture and pat down. 

Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over the cake mix. 

Cut the butter super thin and layer all of the butter pieces neatly in lines over the whole cake.

Most of the recipes call for melted butter drizzled all over.  The problem is that some of the yellow cake mix gets missed and that's no good.  This way nothing gets missed and it's pure deliciousness.
Bake for 55-60 minutes or until done.

I probably overbaked just a tich because of craziness that was happening during dinnertime. 


Doesn't this look so good?  If you can resist, let it cool down and put it in the fridge overnight.













Pumpkin Crunch Cake Printable Recipe