Last week I made plans to start exercising. It takes me at least a week to work up to these kinds of things.
I was going to go fast walking with my new BFF (don't be jealous your all my BFF's!)
As you know walking leads to talking, especially when your walking with a girl and also you happen to be a girl. Which I am.
So we say things like "doesn't it just suck to make dinner" you have to think of what to make then you have to have the stuff to make it, or worse, you have to go get the stuff to make it, and to top it off you have to pay money for all that stuff. And in my house there's always at least one person without fail, that has to whine about it! Such a chore!
So she says to me, "we should trade dinner ideas!" to which I promptly reply... " I don't have any good dinner ideas"
BUT ... (this is where it gets good)
rewind...
Earlier that day I decided that I should ought to have dinner ready for Chad when he got home from work so that I would be ready to go walk off those cookies I ate for breakfast... and lunch. ( I haven't kicked the holiday sugar habit yet and it's March...not cool) well, I did it... I had dinner {sweet teriyaki pork soft tacos} ready to eat before I had to go, though I did not eat because exercising with a full tummy is no good!
fast foward...
When I got home I was plenty ready for dinner. And guess what!! It was soooo good!! And I said to myself... I'm going to tell Mia that I have a dinner idea to share!! And then I thought... No wait, I will just put it on my blog for all my amazing friends to enjoy!
The problem is I didn't use a recipe... but your good at following along so here we go...
a quick list off all the ingredients I used... 2 pork tenderloins, half an onion, brown sugar, 2 6oz cans of pineapple juice, soy sauce, 3 cloves of garlic, pickled ginger, sambal oelek chili paste, and *tsk tsk* a splash of Jack Daniels!
Pork... I get this at costco, its really cheap. It specifically is "pork tenderloin" it comes in like a package of 2. This is confusing because I tried to explain this to my sister and she was not getting it but finally after a few phone calls I think we got it figured out. its in a package that has 2 sides, in each side there is 2 loins :) following so far?
Use one half of the package... so 2 loins.
Brown the pork in a hot saute pan with a bit of oil, then take the loins out and place in your crockpot. So what you do next is deglaze the pan with some pineapple juice... I am including a picture of some of the ingredients I think you may like to see to know what I speak of.
Deglazing is basically using an acid to get the brown bits and what-nots off the pan. (can be vinegar or lemon juice or something... we're using pineapple juice:)
So you just take one of those little 6oz cans, and pour just enough to where it sizzles and stuff, then pour that along with the rest of the can into the crockpot with your pork.
Take your onion half and slice it into strips... I don't think thats how I mean to say it but other than julienne I can't think of the proper word for it... so strips (or julienne for you fancy shmancy folks)
Saute your onion strips in a bit of oil and when they're well caramelized add alot of brown sugar! If I have to guess I'd say I added like 1/2 cup but it could have been more... this is not critical. and when it gets all bubbly add a splash of soy sauce. Then take that and dump it on top of your pork loins. Then lavishly cover the loins with a layer of brown sugar... like I said I have not kicked the sugar habit... I like candy for dinner too! Dash it with salt and lid it.
Everyone's crockpot is different but I set mine to low (these are some pretty speedy pork loins and I like them s-l-o-w cooked)
Wait like 3 hours...
then when it gets all shreddable you take a little sauce pan and pour one more 6 oz. can of pineapple juice, a long splash of soy sauce (1/8 cup maybe????) 3 cloves of chopped garlic, and a forks worth of pickled ginger... chopped, some chili paste (don't quote me... 1/2 teaspoon? this will make your teriyaki sauce spicy so you just be the determiner of how much goes in k!) ... boil it. turn it down and simmer it for a bit. At the very end add a splash of Jack Daniels (if this rubs you the wrong way... skip it :) again its not critical) but it is gooood :)
Thats really all there is to the pork... you can either toss the shredded pork in the sauce or if your like me and you want to make sure you get maximum sweetness on your pork you can drizzle it right over your pork after you put it on your tortilla!
I made soft tacos with it. I love those bake yourself tortillas from Costco. so it was...
tortilla
shredded pork
heavy sugar drizzle (sauce)
cheese
lettuce
YUM!
The only thing I can think of that would have made these a little extra excellent is some diced mango :)
Which I did not have.
By the way, the pickled ginger is awesome. I used to buy fresh ginger but it always seems to shrivel up and get moldy before I used it. The pickled ginger is always there ready to be used at any ginger whim... you find this at the grocery store in the asian isle.
Also, the Sambal Oelek chili paste can be found in the same area I do believe... however I got mine at Cost Plus. Lee Lee's is another great place to find it, if your in the neighborhood. This is the stuff P. F. Changs mixes in your lettuce wrap sauce. Its quite yummy and may very well be the secret ingredient. Though not very secret anymore. Unless you want the secret ingredient to be the Jack Daniels which I can totally see because you don't want your good mormon neighbors you just invited over for dinner to know that you doused their food in hard liquor!!
And of course those cute little cans of pineapple juice can be found in the juice isle sold as a 6 pack. Near the canned juice not the bottled juices. Typically on the bottom shelf :()
I promise this is easy and tasty and best of all CHEAP!
enjoy.
