Slow Cooker Carnitas

I love carnitas and I love tacos, together they are absolutely delicious! Molly at Make It Fresh has a great recipe for slow cooker carnitas. I love my crock pot--nothing is better than dinner being ready when you come home at night!

First, I browned the rib-less pork shoulder in a pan with butter for about seven minutes on each side. I seasoned each side with salt and pepper before searing.

After searing a cut pockets in the pork shoulder and filled with garlic.

Place the pork shoulder in the crock pot, I filled with a can of chicken stock, diced onions, diced habanero pepper, and diced dried pasilla peppers. Let cook for six to eight hours, turning occasionally.

Shred the pork with two forks. I combined the shredded pork with half cup of  the stock from the crock pot, and let it simmer for twenty minutes.

I served the carnitas with beet cabbage slaw and mango salsa for a delicious easy meal!

Root Vegetable Soup

My neighbors graciously gave me some rutabagas and beets before they left for Paris on Saturday. I'm pretty sure their trip trumps my root vegetable soup, but I'll take what I can get. I had never cooked with rutabagas before, so I was hesitant of the soup, but look at that color! It's gorgeous!

I roasted diced onions, sweet potatoes, beets, rutabagas, carrots, garlic and pasilla peppers at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. I seasoned the veggies with salt, pepper, and cayenne before roasting.

In small batches I blended the roasted veggies with milk and vegetable stock, until smooth.

I let the soup simmer for a while to let the flavors blend more.

All served up and delicious! I was surprised at how well the soup turned out and will defidently be making it again!