Slow-Cooker Pork with Noodles

from Food Network Magazine

Ingredients:
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine or dry sherry
3 tbs. packed light brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled, and sliced
2 pieces star anise (find this in the spice aisle)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3 lbs. boneless pork shoulder
1 head bok choy, roughly chopped
3 and 1/2 ounces dried rice vermicelli noodles (found in your world foods grocery aisle)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Combine broth, soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, anise, and salt in the slow cooker. Add pork and cover. Cook on low for 8 hours.
2. Add the bok choy; cover and cook for 20 more minutes.
3. Add noodles, making sure they are submerged, cover and cook for 10 more minutes.
4. Shred meat (mine was already shredded from cooking) and divide into bowls with noodles and liquid. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Pork Pasole

If you've never had Pork Pasole before, or are just looking for an easy version, try this!  It's a slightly spicy soup that is really tasty. The list of ingredients is kind of lengthy, but it goes together super simply.

From Rachael Ray's Everyday with Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 and 1/2 lbs. ground pork
salt and pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped (if you're not a fan of grating your own garlic, try chopped garlic in a jar. 1 clove = 1 tsp.)
2 jalapeno chilies, seeded and finely chopped (I use a bottled salsa verde b/c I have a hard time finding the chilies, and it works great)
10 tomatillos, husked and halved
1 tbsp. honey
3 cups chicken broth
One 15.5 oz. can hominy, drained
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (a generous handful)
1 lime, halved
1 avocado, cut into chunks
2 cups tortilla chips, finely crushed - we use lime tortilla chips for extra flavor

1. In a deep skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the pork and season with salt and pepper; add the cumin and allspice. Cook until brown and crumbly, 3 to 4 minutes.Stir in the garlic, onion, and jalapeno.
2. Using a food processor, pulse tomatillos until chopped - a few seconds.
3. Stir the tomatillos into the pork, lower the heat to medium, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the honey and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the chicken broth and hominy and cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes.Stir in the cilantro and turn off the heat.
4. Squeeze 1/2 of the lime over the pork. Squeeze the other half over the avocado. Serve the pork in bowls with the avocado and tortilla chips on top.

Enjoy!