Pineapple and the Crock Pot

Part of our Monday morning routine, in addition to math, spelling, music practice, language arts and Bible study, is baking.  I consider this an “optional” part of our routine which means that if Bible study or music practice goes long, we don’t get much baking done.  So, I haven’t done any baking for about a month, now.

But, yesterday, I glanced at the 6-1/2 lb. industrial-sized cans of pineapple chunks that we have left over from Amelia’s wedding and decided that I wanted to use them on the crock pot pork chops for Monday evening.  Monday supper always involves home-grown pork chops in the crock pot (thanks to Amelia’s fabulous crock pot-based master menu that she made for me on our ride up to Cornerstone Bible Institute when we were taking her back to school last fall).  Of course, I couldn’t use 6-1/2 lbs. of pineapple on 20 pork chops, so I decided to make these Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes from Family Fun magazine.

I sextupled (that’s not a word I use very often) the recipe and made 4 dozen cupcakes and a 9 X 13 cake.  I haven’t baked anything that sweet in a long, long time.  The kids seemed to like them, though.  Of course, cupcakes are not exactly acceptable fare on the South Beach Diet, so I didn’t try one.

For that matter, pineapple and raisins are to be avoided on the South Beach Diet, but I decided that I could scrape them off of my serving of the pork chops, so this is what I concocted for the Pineapple Crock Pot Pork Chops:

2- 20-oz. cans of pineapple, including juice (and you already know that I just used the equivalent of that from my huge can)

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1-1/2 teaspoons of salt

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/4 cup dried onions

1/2 cup raisins

20 pork chops

First, I mixed the spices in with the pineapple juice.  I put the pork chops in the crock pot and poured the spiced juice over them.  Then I dumped the pineapple chunks and onions and raisins on top of the chops and turned the crock pot on low for 8 hours.

Let’s just say that there were no leftovers.

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Tags: Crock Pot, cupcakes, pineapple