Guest Post: Crockpot Cranberry Pork Roast

Okay, slow cookers and Just Makin' It followers, I have another post from my friend, Tara. She made an incredibly tasty Cranberry Pork Roast (chicken) that I am for sure going to try, and you should too! Check it out below, and then head on over to her blog to let her know your thoughts and give her your support. Take it away, Tara....

Friday! What better way wind down from your week than to let someone else do the cooking? That's my moto- I like to cook it low and slow on Friday's. So here is the original to your Friday slow cooker recipe. Cranberry Pork Roast. If you have been keeping up, we (Jana and I from Just Makin' It) are on Recipe #4 for Stephanie O'Dea. We will post 2 recipes each week as we cook through Stepahnie's recipes!

Let's get to it, shall we?

Right away you should have noticed I changed it up. I used chicken instead of pork. I thought I picked up some pork when I was grocery shopping, but alas... that memory was not real but was fabricated in my head amidst rushing through the aisles to ensure there were no scenes from 3 Things. In their defense I grocery shop for 2 weeks at a time. On my best day it's a 30-45 minute trip and with 3 under 6 that's soooo boring. Either way, I chose not to return to the store to pick up the pork and to do with what I had on hand, chicken. Good idea, bad idea? It was good but would have been GREAT on pork. Do not do this at home folks, just grab the pork :)

What do you need? Hold on tight... this is my version. I switched it up to make it more budget friendly and realistic for pantry needs/uses.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 (14-ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
about 1/2 palm full of white sugar
1/3 cup regular raisins
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 can Ocean Spray Sparkling Cranberry Juice. Why did I grab this instead of cranberry juice? Because the man LOVES this stuff. So I just used one can out of the 4 pack instead of buying a whole jug of cranberry juice that he probably wouldn't drink.
1/2  lemon

Using a freezer bag, add your cornstarch, dried spices and chicken. Remember, I don't thaw. Mine's frozen solid. Zip it closed and shake it. Shake it like a polaroid picture... I'm sorry, did that slip out? Anytime I hear shake it or read shake it, I think of a two things: the phrase I used above and shake and bake. Isn't that horrible? Ok, did you get your meat coated? Add your meat to the crock pot. It should look like this.

Now, grab that handy dandy can of cranberry sauce. Do I brand for stuff like this? Nope. What's the point? It's just cranberry sauce that is going to get cooked down. Save your dimes for something better like whole wheat bread.

Now add your cranberries. This is what I had in my pantry. Ignore the dollop of cranberry sauce on my thumb nail.

Go ahead and add some sugar.

Add your juice. This is what I used.

Now top with your garlic, raisins and lemon. Turn it to low and let it go.

This had great flavor! Very fall. I wish I had grabbed the pork roast it would have made all the difference. Still, on the chicken it was good! I give this one a thumbs up! Happy Friday y'all! Enjoy your weekend!