Pork Roast with Mushrooms & Brown Sugar Apricot Sauce

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless pork loin
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large sweet onion, sliced
2 cups sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
A sprig of fresh rosemary

For the sauce:

1 8-oz. jar apricot jam- no sugar style
1 1/2 cups unsweetened pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup brandy or wine, optional
4-6 tablespoons organic light brown sugar, or honey, to taste
2 teaspoons dried Italian Herbs- oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mild curry

Directions:

Turn on your slow cooker to low.

Place the pork loin into the slow cooker. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Throw in the garlic, onions and mushrooms. Toss in a sprig of rosemary.

Make your sauce:

Combine the apricot jam, pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar. Stir in the brown sugar, herbs and spices, till smooth. Pour over the pork loin and mushrooms.

Cover and cook for about five hours. Test the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. It should read 145 degrees F. To be honest, I let the temperature get up to 160 degrees F. I wanted my first pork roast to be well done.

Take the roast out of the cooker, tent with a piece of foil, and allow it to rest for ten minutes.

Remove the sprig of rosemary and pour the sauce and mushrooms into a medium sauce pan; keep warm until serving. If the sauce is thin, thicken it with a slurry of tapioca or arrowroot (dissolve 1 tablespoon of either starch in two tablespoons cool water or liquid; then add it to the heated sauce; whisk until thickened).

I found this recipe on this blog http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com I have tried two of her crockpot recipes now and have been very impressed with both. They are definitely ones I would recommend! The only thing i changed in this recipe was the apricot jam. I could not find the no sugar kind so I used organic reduced sugar apricot preserves. I also only used one package of Baby Bella mushrooms. The pomegranate juice does not come cheap so i suggest using the left overs in a recipe from the same site that is also good!