Follow up/notes on previous menu from end of January (week 3).

OK, so the recipes from Cooking Light slow cooker cookbook were a bust. The pork loin recipe would have been good if I had used a fattier cut, such as pork shoulder, instead. The lean meat dried out after cooking all day. Also, the recipe seemed too sweet, so I added in a sauteed onion which helped add a savory note. Next time I buy a pork loin I will go with my instincts and not overcook it. Butterflying the loin and stuffing with dried fruit would be a better way to go.

The cabbage rolls were not that good. I made extra filling that I froze, and I think I will find a use for (like adding smoked turkey and butternut squash and then stuffing the squash), but the tomato sauce that went on top wasn't very tasty. The leftovers were eaten out of a sense of duty.

Lets see. John had a stomach virus Thursday and the groundnut stew wasn't sounding very appealing. I made a slow cooker chicken drumstick in tomatillo chile sauce instead. That was good. I used Rick Bayless' salsa verde recipe and browned up the ddrumsticks then put it all in the crockpot for a few hours.

Friday I changed it up a little as well. We had salmon but I made Dilled Brown Rice and Kidney bean salad instead. There was some other side as well but I can't remember what it was now.  Maybe baked sweet potato.