My slow cooker works over time in cool weather. Bone broth is often simmering. Soups and stews save me as I can just let them cook all day while I create recipes and manage my household duties. There just is something about ending my day and having a hot, home-cooked meal ready to go. Today, my little one and I made an extra special fall dish: Slow Cooker Pork with Beet Fennel Apple Slaw.
If you have been reading my recipes, you know that I am an advocate for humanely-raised, sustainable, LOCAL meats. I am lucky in that I live in an area where we have access to good quality meats right in my backyard. We get pastured chickens for a 1/4 mile away. Friends who bought 100 acres out by the coast raise grass fed beef. And we have an amazing place called Freestone Ranch that raises good quality pork. I feel blessed to be able to not only provide my family with amazing, REAL food, but also to be able to support folks who are trying to change the food paradigm back to the way food is meant to be grown and raised. Let’s keep voting with our dollars, folks!
Last week, my Little One (she’s two) and I visited Freestone Ranch to pick up pork from their fall harvest to stock our freezer for winter. We took our fallen apples to feed to the pigs. It was so much fun to watch those happy pigs devour the apples. It’s good to give kids a connection to where the food comes from. This ranch is full of chicken, dogs, pigs, and farm life. We got to see the mama pigs and all of the babies. I had a blast watching my Little One feed checking out the pigs and tossing apples over the fence.
OK, back to the recipe. Morning time is my favorite time to prepare and cook food. I wake up feeling bright and energetic. It took my sweetie a while to get used to my “bubbly” nature in the morning. He tends to emerge a bit slower in the morning. I sure do love him. He keeps me grounded. I tend to get a bit scattered as I buzz around. This morning, my sweet Little one and I chopped and peeled apples from our yard. Added some onions, garlic, and ginger. Then some spices. Rubbed the pork down with some salt. Turned the crock pot on and went on with our day. And when it was time to sit down and enjoy some family time for dinner, we had an amazing meal just waiting for us. I love my crock pot!
This lightly spiced, nourishing slow cooker pork is sure to please. The crispy slaw compliments the juicy pork perfectly. I love this dish served with Curried Butternut Squash and Greens. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
PrintSlow Cooker Apple Ginger Pork with Beet Apple Fennel Slaw
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Ingredients
For the slaw:
- 1/2 fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced lengthwise
- 1 medium apple, chopped into match sticks
- 1 small red beet, chopped into match sticks
- 1 small golden beet, chopped into match sticks
- 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- 1 and 1/2 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 2 pinches of celtic sea salt (like this)
- 2 grinds of fresh pepper
- 2 TBS chopped fresh basil, cilantro, OR parsley
For pork:
- 2– 2.5 pound pork roast (butt or shoulder)
- 4 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
- 1 large onion
- 2 TBS fresh ginger, minced
- 3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup good quality homemade broth
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 pinches of clove powder
- 1/4 tsp cumin powder (I use this one)
- 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
- 1 TBS RAW honey (like this)
- Plus 1 tsp celtic sea salt to run on pork
Instructions
- Pour broth into your crock pot and add apples, onions, ginger, garlic, salt, honey, and spices. Give a little stir to combine.
- Take 1 tsp of good quality salt and run it all over your pork roast. Give it some love now. Then nestle the roast into the apple onion mixture.
- Cover and cook for 8-10 hours on LOW.
- Before eating, carefully shred the roast with 2 forks and mix into juicy goodness in the crock pot.
- Make slaw just before serving: Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, ginger, salt, and pepper. Separate red beets and toss with 1 TBS of dressing. Combine apples, fennel, and golden beets in another bowl and toss with remaining dressing. Gently combine red beets into rest of slaw to prevent red from staining entire slaw. sprinkle with fresh herbs.
- Dig in and enjoy!
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