Slow Cooker Pork Tacos

So tonight's dinner is Slow-Cooker Pork Tacos. A recipe I found in the "healthy eating" tab on the Food Netowrk site. I am a big fan of tacos- my favorites are chicken, fish, and shrimp but I wanted to change it up a bit so we are trying pork.

Now typically people will say that pork isn't a great option for healthy eating. That's not because pork itself is bad but rather, most pork recipes consist of fried pork chops, honey glazed hams, pork roll, etc..It's all in the preparation to keep your pork healthy. Avoid adding butters or oils, avoid processed pork like sausages/scrapple, and please oh please don't fry it!!

Your leanest cuts of pork are pork loins, chops, loin roasts, and Canadian bacon. In a direct comparison of meats- a serving of pork tenderloin has 120 calories/3g of fat vs. skinless chicken breast with 139 calories /3g of fat, and salmon with 175 calories/11g of fat. So don't be afraid of the pig! To see more comparisons and nutritional information on pork click here.

That being said we are making a pork shoulder- each serving of this recipe has 399 calories, and 15g of fat so I am sticking to one tortilla with a side salad and/or homemade coleslaw.

Click here for the link to the recipe on Food Network or see below....

Ingredients

• 3 whole ancho chiles
• 3 whole pasilla chiles
• 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 2 to 3 chipotles in adobo sauce
• 1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• Kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican
• 3 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder (untrimmed), cut into chunks
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Corn tortillas, warmed, for serving
• Assorted taco toppings, for garnish

Directions

Put the ancho and pasilla chiles and the garlic in a bowl; add 2 to 3 tablespoons water. Microwave on high until soft and pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Stem and seed the chiles; peel the garlic. Transfer the chiles and garlic to a blender.
Add the chipotles, onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, honey, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt and the oregano to the blender; puree until smooth. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over high heat; add the chile sauce and fry, stirring, until thick and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Pour in the broth and reduce until slightly thickened.
Season the pork all over with salt and pepper and transfer to a large slow cooker. Add the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, then pour in the sauce. Cover and cook on high until the meat is tender, about 5 hours. (Or cook the meat in a large Dutch oven, covered, for 1 hour 45 minutes at 350 degrees; uncover and cook 30 more
minutes.)
Discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Shred the pork with 2 forks; season with salt and pepper. Serve the shredded pork in the tortillas, along with toppings.
Per serving (does not include tortillas or garnishes): Calories: 399; Total Fat: 15 grams; Saturated Fat: 4 grams; Protein: 51 grams; Total carbohydrates: 14 grams; Sugar: 5 grams; Fiber: 3 grams; Cholesterol: 147 milligrams; Sodium: 212 milligrams

So here it goes- I put the pork shoulder in the crockpot and sectioned it into three smaller pieces so it would cook faster. I will say that I like crockpot recipes because they are easy..this one was a bit more labor intensive than I would typically like for a weeknight meal because you have to get out the blender and mix the first 9 ingredients- then put it in a saucepan and cook it down for a bit before adding it to the crockpot. BUT I will say that it DID have great flavor so it will definitely be made again- most likely on a weekend. PS- I really like the cinnamon flavor in this- YUM.

So after 4.5 hours it looked done so I pulled it out a shredded it in a bowl and added some juice to keep it moist over the next 24 hours.

Here is the final product: one whole wheat tortilla with the pork topped with lettuce, hot sauce, and pineapple.

This recipe made quite a bit for just Adam and I so I plan to freeze the remaining pork for another day when I don't feel like cooking.