Crockpot Carnitas

My friend Deanna recently had a beautiful baby girl and will soon be returning to work. She asked me yesterday if I had any crockpot recipes.

Yes, yes I do!

I used our Crockpot quite a bit while I was in school, it made us many a meal during my winter semester time.

Unfortunately, I found that in warmer months, I tend to put the Crockpot up and seemingly forget about it. Warm weather and Crockpot just haven't seemed to jive in my mind.

I decided to change my way of thinking. Crockpots are really such a versatile kitchen tool for busy folks, and they don't heat the kitchen up like the oven will.

Last week I pulled the Crockpot out, dusted it off and whipped up some Carnitas.

These were really tasty. We had leftovers the next night and I think my brother had something like 8 tacos.

The best thing to have on the side is a nice cold bottle of Coca-Cola.

Mexican Coca-Cola sans corn syrup if you can get it. If not, beer is really good too.

Enjoy! Hope this helps you Deanna, I will try and get another recipe up for you soon.

Crockpot Carnitas

Adapted from Bon Appetit on Epicurious

2 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs or pork shoulder (Boston butt), cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

4 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons ground black pepper

4 teaspoons dried oregano

4 teaspoons cumin

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large onion, cut into 4 pieces

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Diced onion

Lime wedges

Salsa

Guacamole

Corn tortillas

Toss pork in bowl of slow cooker with salt, black pepper, dried oregano, cumin and garlic to coat. Place onion pieces atop pork. Cover slow cooker and cook pork on low setting until meat is very tender and falling apart, about 6 hours.

Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to cutting board. Discard onion pieces. Using fingers, shred pork; transfer carnitas to platter. Wrap corn tortillas in damp kitchen towel; microwave until warm, about 1 minute. Serve carnitas with warm tortillas, diced onion, cilantro, lime and salsa. Put carnitas in tortilla, top with onion, cilantro and a squeeze of lime and add as much salsa and guacamole as you'd like.