RECIPE: Holy Mole Mexican BBQ Pork {Slow Cooker or Oven Roast}

Seriously, I haven't even started digesting this and I had to come on and share the recipe -- it was that good. It's based on my usual pulled pork recipe, but I tweaked it a bit and added some spices and chocolate to make a Mexican-mole-inspired sauce. I love it when experiments go well :)

I totally forgot this pork was expiring (um, yesterday) and didn't fire up the slow cooker this morning, so I made it as an oven roast. But it's pretty much a dump recipe, so it would work in the oven or the Crock-Pot equally well. (Although, like most things, it would probably be juicier in the slow cooker.)

YOU'LL NEED:

• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (unpacked)
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder (mine was a heavy teaspoon...by mistake)
• 1/2 Tbsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp garlic (minced)
• 1 square of dark chocolate (like those Ghirardelli or Lindt squares...I used 85% dark)
• fajita fixins (cheese, tomato, guacamole, whatever floats your barco)

FOR THE OVEN:
Throw everything in a casserole dish and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (or until meat is thoroughly cooked).

FOR THE SLOW COOKER:
Throw everything in the Crock-Pot and cook on low for 7-8 hours (or until meat is thoroughly cooked).

I served it on whole wheat wraps with shredded pepperjack, guacamole, and black beans. Yum.

SLOW-COOKER RECIPE: Sweet Pork Stir-Fry

Okay, so it's not technically stir-fry, but it tastes just as good without all the stirring and frying.

You'll need:

• a big old hunk of pork
• 1 bag of steam-in-bag asian veggie mix
• 1/2 can of mandarin oranges*
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. cider vinegar
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 1 T. minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon
• 1/4 t. ginger

Throw everything but the veggies in the crock pot and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. A few minutes before you're ready to eat, cook the veggies in the microwave and dump them in. You can also dump them in frozen at the very beginning, but they stay a little crisper this way. At least that's what I tell myself; it's not like I ever tried it the other way.

* I assume you could just peel a regular orange, but who wants to? Oranges are one of my favorite fruits and I almost never eat them because they're so freakin' hard to get into.

SLOW COOKER RECIPE: Pulled Porkgasm

There aren't many sandwiches as tasty as pulled pork, and I think I've officially perfected my pulled pork recipe. I could seriously eat this every meal for the next year. Remind me of that resolution when I weight 300 pounds.

• a big hunk o' boneless pork loin
• 1/2 cup ketchup (I like Hunt's all-natural)
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (don't pack it)
• 3 T. McCormick mesquite seasoning
• 2 T. Tabasco Worcestershire sauce
• 1 t. ground mustard

Throw everything in the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 8 hours. Flip the pork loin halfway through, if you happen to be near the slow cooker. If not, no worries -- I'm not sure this actually does anything except make me feel like I'm Doing Important Things like tending to dinner. About 20 minutes before you're ready to eat, turn off the heat and shred the pork so it can soak up the tasty sauce better. I served it on Grands flaky biscuits -- maybe not the healthiest choice, but delicious and totes recommended.