Simply delicious pork

I cooked again tonight! I think this is my third meal in like five days. Whew, I'm starting to feel more and more as if I should open a restaurant. OK, maybe not quite because I use other people's recipes from cookbooks and online so I'm pretty sure that'd be stealing and poor cooking etiquette. Anyway, tonight's meal was pretty tasty and in a separate post I'll share some tidbits on how to do one of the sides I made with it.

Review: So tonight's meal was called simply delicious pork and then I put it on a bed of rice and steamed some carrots to go along with it. It was really simply to make. The only issue I had with the meal was that the carrots were not as soft as I would have liked them, but it was my first time steaming vegetables so it was a learning experience. If I did not cook the rice at the same time as the carrots I would have just let them steam longer to soften even more, but because I did not realize it would take longer than expected I cooked the rice at the same time. Anyway, the meal calls for some cinnamon and  sometimes that can make a meal overpowering, but honestly, I thought it could maybe use a little more cinnamon. The meat was really tender and had a nice flavor. The recipe makes 6 servings, although it is actually one serving for however much pork you use; however, because of how tender the pork is, it falls apart real easily so it probably makes more than 6 servings.

Recipe: Simply delicious pork

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin, cut into 6 pieces OR 6 boneless pork loin chops
• 4 medium Golden Delicious apples, sliced
• 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Begin by placing the pork in your Crock-Pot and then cover with apples. While the recipe calls for 4 medium apples, the amount is up to you. I had about two layers of apple slices because I bought large apples and used an apple slicer to cut them into eight pieces (I then cut each of those in half to make a total of 16 slices per apple). It also is OK to have two layers of pork if however much pork you use does not fit in one layer. Next, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples making sure to spread it out and get it all over the apples and into the holes between the apples. Cover the Crock-Pot, cook on LOW 6 to 8 hours, then serve.

For the sides I used rice and carrots mainly because I had both and that's what the picture showed in the cookbook. You can use whatever you want though, or nothing at all. If you are doing rice obviously just follow the instructions on the box and if you are doing vegetables I'll post another blog about how to do those.

The biggest take away I would give from this recipe is that the portions and amount the ingredients call for really isn't that necessary. This is one of those that will work with however much or less of the pork and apples you want. You might stick with the approximate amount of brown sugar, cinnamon and salt it suggests, but when I make this again I think I will at least double the amount of cinnamon to give it a little more flavor.