Pork Roast with Cranberries

This sweet and tart recipe for pork roast cooked in your crockpot is delicious and so easy - with just five ingredients! It was the perfect Christmas Eve dinner with so much else going on at the time the last thing I really wanted to worry about was cooking.  We paired this with mashed potatoes and Christmas green beans. Delish!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 8 hours, 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 (2-1/2 lb.) boneless pork shoulder roast
• 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup cranberry juice cocktail, divided
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Preparation:

Trim fat from pork shoulder roast. Place in 3-1/2-4 quart slow cooker. Combine cranberries, broth, 1/2 cup of the cranberry juice cocktail, and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

When done, place roast on platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Pour juices from crockpot into medium saucepan. Combine remaining 1/4 cup cranberry juice cocktail with cornstarch in small bowl and mix well. Add to juices in saucepan and cook and stir until thickened and bubbly, about 3 minutes. Serve with pork roast. 6 servings

Calories: 330
Fat: 15 grams
Sodium: 140 mg

Source

Apple Slab

Apple Slab.  Not the most romantic name for a dessert but you won't care what it's called once you get your first bite.  I made this for the the first time at Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit! It's sweet, a bit tangy and full of apple goodness. 

Ingredients

Pie Crust

Use your favorite pie crust recipe.  I made a double batch of Gluten Free Pie Crust and it worked out just perfect for the size of my pan. 

Filling

8 oz. gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 1 cup)

1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca

3/4 cup sugar (1 cup if apples are really tart)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (about the juice of one lemon)
4 - 5 Tablespoons cornstarch (depending on how juicy the apples are)
8 Granny Smith or other good baking apple

Glaze

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar)

1/3 cup boiled cider (which you can buy or make yourself pretty inexpensively .  I added a cinnamon stick to the cider while it cooked.)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Enough milk or cream to make the mixture "drizzable".

Directions

Take your pie dough and split it into two parts about 60% and 40%.  Shape each piece of crust into a rectangle; you’re going to be rolling them into rectangles, so might as well give yourself a head start.

Take the larger piece of pastry and put it on a floured work surface (if your using a gluten dough) if it's GF place between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper to roll out.  Start to roll it into an 11” x 15” rectangle.  Lay the dough into the bottom of an ungreased 9"x13" pan. The dough should come up the sides of the pan.  Don't worry about ragged edges, they'll disappear under the top crust.

Messy, huh? That’s OK. Patch up the holes by pushing the pastry together with your fingers, or adding a pinch from the excess on the sides. Push the pastry up the sides of the pan a bit, to make a shallow pastry container for the apples.

In a separate bowl, add the tapioca to the gingersnap crumbs and mix well.  Dump the lot into your dish with the pie dough in it to make an even shallow layer. This will help to absorb the apples’ juice and keep the crust from becoming soggy. 

Put the crust in the fridge while you get the apples ready. And start preheating your oven to 350°F.

Combine in small bowl: sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest. In another small bowl combine melted butter and vanilla. Mix first bowl with second now. In third bowl combine lemon juice and cornstarch until thick. Now mix with other ingredients. Set aside. Try not to eat too much of this.

Next, we’re going to peel, core, and slice about 5 large or 6 to 7 medium baking apples. An apple peeler/corer/slicer makes this task fast and EASY.  In a large bowl combine the apples with spice mixture. Mix so that all fruit is thoroughly coated.  Lay the apples over the cookie crumbs. 

Roll the remaining piece of pastry into a 9” x 13” rectangle. Flop the top crust over the apples. Yes, apples will poke through. Seal the edges of the two crusts as well as you can. There’ll be places where they don’t quite meet. That’s OK. Just before baking, slash it 6 or 8 times to allow steam to escape. You can apply an egg wash at this point or for a vegan option brush on a mix of veganaise & (soy or coconut) creamer to give the crust a beautiful golden brown color. Put the slab in the preheated 350°F oven, and bake it for an hour or until you see sugary apple gel bubble up through the venting slits. 

No beauty queen, but icing will help its looks.  Remove it from the oven; it’ll be golden brown. Cool the slab completely before glazing.

Here’s a wonderfully tasty glaze: Combine 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, 1/3 cup boiled cider, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, a small pinch of salt, and enough milk or cream to make the mixture “drizzlable.”

Don’t have boiled cider? Use plain milk or cream, maple syrup, honey, or thawed apple juice concentrate. Start with 1/4 cup of any of these; if you’ve made this kind of icing before, you know it’s easier to add more liquid, than to try to take it away. Add enough liquid to make the glaze pourable. Drizzle the glaze artfully atop the slab.

Cut. Serve. Enjoy!

Original recipe that I altered.

New England Sausage, Apple and Dried Cranberry Stuffing

Destined to become your new family tradition, this impressive stuffing gets its Yankee accent from apples and dried cranberries.

Ingredients

– 14 ounces GF bread, cut into 1/2" - 1/4" cubes (about 12 cups or one loaf)
– 1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
– 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or substitute
– 6 cups sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only; about 3 large leeks)
– 1 pound tart green apples, peeled, cored, chopped
– 2 cups chopped celery with leaves
– 4 teaspoons poultry seasoning
– 1 teaspoon sage (optional)
– 1 cup dried cranberries (about 4 ounces)
– 4 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
– 2/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
– 3 eggs, beaten to blend (while this improves the recipe it can be made without. I usually reserve a little EF bowl for myself and bake the rest with eggs for everyone else)
– 1 1/3 cups (about) canned low-salt chicken broth

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Divide bread cubes between 2 large baking sheets. Bake until slightly dry, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Saute sausages in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, crumbling coarsely with back of spoon, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Pour off any drippings from skillet.

Melt butter in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add leeks, apples, celery and poultry seasoning to skillet; sauté until leeks soften, about 8 minutes. Mix in dried cranberries and rosemary. Add mixture to sausage, then mix in bread and parsley. Season stuffing to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Mix eggs into stuffing.

To BAKE stuffing in TURKEY: Fill main turkey cavity with stuffing. Mix enough chicken broth into remaining stuffing to moisten (about 3/4 to 1 cup chicken broth, depending on amount of remaining stuffing). Spoon remaining stuffing into buttered baking dish. Cover with buttered aluminum foil. Bake stuffing in dish alongside turkey until heated through, about 45 minutes. Uncover stuffing and bake until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

To BAKE all stuffing in PAN: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 15x10x2-inch baking dish. Mix 1 1/3 cups broth into stuffing. Transfer to prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil and bake until heated through, about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

14 Servings (About 18 cups)
Source: Slightly altered recipe from: Bon Appétit_November 1994

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Here are the comments and reviews given from the original version from Epicurious.com.

Don't just take my word for it! This recipe has a four fork rating with 95% of the people who try it, would be willing to make it again. Enjoy! It's amazing - I could eat this three times a day and make it though out the year 'cause just having it annually isn't enough!