Slow Cooked Pork and Potato Stew

I love coking home and smelling dinner when I walk through the door! We're making more slow cooker recipes right now b/c it's just easier - especially on the late nights at the gym. I make everything the night before and store it in fridge to save morning time. This recipe took a little extra time when I prepped it out the evening before, but it's worth it. It also made quite a bit, so we ended up using "food saving" and freezing about half; I'll thaw it out next week and re-heat! It was pretty good the way it was, but I was expecting a little more of a kick - next time I'm going to try a few different things - my suggestions are at the bottom.

Ingredients:

• apprx. 2 pounds pork tenderloin
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pound new potatoes, quartered
• 3 stalks celery sliced - including the leaves
• 1 1/2 cup of chopped carrots
• 1 yellow onion - chopped
• 2 green peppers - cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 jalapeno seeded and chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1 carton of chicken broth
• 1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes undrained
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• kosher salt to taste
• Brown rice or noodles for serving

Directions

• In skillet heat the olive oil. Trim the pork tenderloin of any fat and cut it into 1 inch (bite sized) pieces, and brown pieces in the skillet. Drain off fat.
• In bowl of crock pot combine all of the ingredients (except rice/noodles) and stir well.
• Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.
• Serve over brown rice or noodles

Suggestions for next time:

This had a really nice cinnamon flavor, but since I was expecting more of a "kick" in flavor, I think I might add cayenne pepper next time. I would also suggest adding a bay leaf (or two) while cooking, and maybe right before serving add some frozen peas, turn the slowcooker up to high to heat through and then serve. This could definitely be turned into soup if you add more broth and cut back on the pork.

In fact, I have a container in the fridge to eat for lunch this week and I might add a can of chicken broth to it with some wheat pasta or orzo, and a sprinkle of nutmeg for a pork and noodle soup. I'll keep you posted!