October is both National Pork Month and National Apple Month which are both favorites around our house. Even though we raise cattle, our whole family enjoys all kinds of pork and I cook it regularly. One of our favorite recipes is a Pamper Chef one called Moroccan Pork Chops. It’s quick, easy, and delicious!
Another even easier way to cook certain types of pork is in the slow cooker. I love this time of the year because I seem to use my slow cooker (Ninja Cooking System) so much more and it’s just the best when you walk inside after work and your dinner is all cooked and waiting for you!
Since it’s National Pork Month I’d thought I’d share a few fun pork facts: with you:
- Pork is the world’s most widely eaten meat.
- China is the #1 producer and consumer of pork.
- Each market hog represents 371 servings of pork.
- Ham is still the #1 type of sandwich eaten for lunch at home.
- The pig dates back 40 million years!
- There are seven cuts of pork with a total fat content that falls between a skinless chicken breast and a skinless chicken thigh.
So one of the meals that I cooked for my family recently is this Easy Slow Cooker Pork and Apples. We have quite a few apples at our disposal right now since I just picked the rest of them from our apple trees, so I thought that I’d pair the apples and pork together for this meal. It’s really easy! I started it at lunch right before I went back to work and it was ready when I got home, the whole house smelled great!
- 1 Ham Roast (mine was about 4-5 pounds bone-in)
- 6 apples, cored and sliced into wedges
- 1 c. apple cider
- ¼ c. maple syrup
- ½ c. apple sauce
- 1 T. spicy brown mustard
- 2 t. cinnamon
- ¼ t. nutmeg
- Couple dashes of cayenne pepper
- Salt & Pepper
- Salt and pepper both sides of the ham roast.
- Place the roast in the bottom of a slow cooker and put the apple slices over the top.
- Mix the apple cider, maple syrup, apple sauce, mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper together in a small bowl. Pour over the top of the ham roast and apples.
- Cook over low for four hours or until it reaches at least 145 degrees.
- Serve the pork with the apples and some of the juices in the slow cooker. Enjoy!
For more information about pigs and pork, check out these fantastic ladies’ blogs:
Nicole Yoder at Farm Girl Facts of Life
Wanda Patsche at Minnesota Farm Living
Kellie Blair at Home Again Finnegan
Val Plagge at Corn, Beans, Pigs, and Kids
Leanne Ragland at Florida Girl on the Farm
Celeste Harned at Celeste Laurent
I must try this ASAP! Love that it’s a slow cooker recipe and that I can use up some of the apples that are overflowing from our trees these days.
🙂 It’s so easy Julie! Let me know what you think!
I have this cooking in my crockpot today. I didn’t have any cider so I used apple soda. Hope it turns out! Thanks for the recipe!
Kerry-
I’m sure it will taste great! What did you think?