Slow-Cookin' Summer Day

First 'real day' of summer and it was a good one!  Slept in until 10 am, drank some coffee, ate a homemade granola bar, fresh berries and yogurt for breakfast and read the paper completely uninterrupted. 

I'm spoiled, I know. 

And I love it!

I had three pork tenderloins sitting in my fridge that were needing to be cooked ASAP.  Because I knew it would be way more food than we could eat in a couple of meals, I needed to make something that would freeze beautifully.  And because I live in Texas (and love me some Tex-Mex), I wanted to prepare the meat in such a way that it would be extremely versatile.  The decision: a 'fake-out' version of carnitas. 

After studding the tenderloins with slivers of garlic and then seasoning them with salt and pepper, I seared each one to get a nice brown crust. 

In the bottom of my slow-cooker I put one sliced onion and two finely chopped chipotle peppers that were in an adobo sauce.  Browned tenderloins set on top and then I poured in a little more liquid.  (Leftover wonton soup broth, if you really must know.)  Lid went on and it cooked on high for 6 hours. The smells wafting from the slow-cooker were divine.

When time was up and I removed the lid, this is what I saw...

Not the most beautiful looking meat ever, but holy moly it smelled wonderful!  It was so tender, it started to fall apart as I removed it from the slow-cooker.  Mmmmmm...

After shredding the pork and tasting it, I realized two things: 1) it was pretty spicy and 2) it was a little dry.  The solution?  Adding a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes and what was left of the beer I was drinking. 

Much better.

For dinner I served it with fresh-sliced avocados, corn tortillas and seasoned sour cream. 

Even though we both ate until we were stuffed, there was tons left over.  Seriously, probably enough to feed 8 more people. 

My dear friends, M & K, had given me a Food Saver for Christmas and I have not used it yet, but with all of this leftover pork, I figured this was the perfect time to try it out. 

I was more than a little apprehensive, but it I just followed the directions closely and everything turned out beautifully!

Now, what to do with all of that delicious leftover pork in my freezer?