Crock-Pot Apple Butter

Apple butter is like a very reduced apple sauce and brown and thick. It's nice on oatmeal, but also with ice cream, pancakes or as a filling for various baked goods. I made mine in the crock-pot which was very convenient! You can do it on the stove, but you'll have to watch it to make sure it doesn't burn.

I know it's a huge portion in the photo, but I was scraping out the remains after filling a few jars, and it's so delicious I couldn't stand to throw any of it away.

Start this in the afternoon, and then you can add the sugar and spices overnight.

Crock-Pot Apple Butter

1500 g peeled and cored apples, cut into smaller pieces

Put the apples in your crock-pot. Cover with a lid and place on low heat for four hours. Stir, and mash up the apples.

Then add:
200 ml white sugar
200 ml brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1-2 vanilla beans (mine were dry so I added two - if they'd been softer, I'd have scraped one out and stirred in the seeds.)

Cover with the lid, and cook on low heat for eight hours.

And that's it! Pour into jars and keep cool - or freeze, which is what I do.

Recipe in Swedish:
Långkokat äppelmos i Crock-Pot

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I've made pulled pork before, and I've even made it in the crock-pot, but oh, I had never made this before...

It was so simple. I took some large pieces of pork shoulder, tossed them in the crock-pot and poured on some Coca-Cola. I switched the crock-pot on low, and let it cook for about eight hours. I shredded the meat, and seasoned it with a lot of barbecue sauce.

I buttered and fried some hamburger buns.

I made this Cilantro Jalapeño Coleslaw.

And assembled. It was truly heaven.

Ratatouille Chicken in Crock-Pot

Still really loving the slowcooker! I need to try much more with it, but I haven't had that much time to plan or cook lately. I hope to get a lot done this summer though - it'll be nice to have some time off.

This was the first, but certainly not last, time cooking chicken. I decided I want something simple to go along with it, and settled on a kind-of-ratatouille. It turned out a little watery for my taste, but still very good. The chicken was awesome - very moist and flavorful.

Ratatouille Chicken in Crock-Pot
serves 4

1 1/2 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 zucchini, diced
100 ml (a little less than 1/2 cup) fennel, finely sliced
1 red bellpepper, diced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 can (400 g) tomato "fillets", or regular crushed (or even whole) tomatoes
2 tbsp chunky salsa sauce
1 whole, fresh chicken
salt, lemon pepper

Prepare all the veggies, and mix with the salsa, the tinned tomatoes, and some salt and cumin in the crock-pot.

To prepare the chicken, remove as much skin as possible. (It won't be great slow-cooked.) Season with salt and lemon pepper. Place the chicken, breast down, on top of the veggies. Cover with the lid, and cook on high for four hours.

Serve with some sort of grain - we had bulgur wheat, which was great.

Recipe in Swedish:
Ratatouillekyckling i crock-pot

Crock-Pot Carnitas

I finally tried the crock-pot for the first time today! And what better to try than... carnitas! Or at least, slow-cooked pork. I call it carnitas because that's how we ate it - we fried it in a skillet after the liquid was absorbed, and ate it with tortillas, red onions, and cilantro. (And I admit, a dollop of créme fraîche on mine.) I didn't season the pork a whole lot in the pot, thinking I'd season it more at the final stage instead, and that's what I ended up doing. I have most of it stashed in the freezer, and will definitely use up some for tacos, and some for pulled pork sandwiches with lots of barbecue sauce.

Because, let me tell you, this was so good. So, so good. Amazing really. My regular carnitas are good, too, but this was so much more tender. It truly fell apart at the touch of a spoon. I could hardly believe it. In fact, for the first hour or so, I was really sceptical. Nothing at all happened, so I put my slow cooker on high for half an hour or so, until I could at least feel it getting a little warm, and then back to low for about eight hours.


Titus adored this, too.

So, a recipe? Hardly need it. Here's what I did. I took a big piece of pork - about two kilos of shoulder - and seasoned it with salt, cumin and ancho chili. Placed it in the slowcooked, and added the juice of one lime and one orange. I also added about 100 ml of water, which in retrospect probably wasn't necessary at all.

And that was that. I can't believe it's this easy to cook this good. It took five minutes of prepping time, and then five more minutes before serving. Anyone, anyone can do this.