How to Make Pork and Sweet Potato Stew

As winter approaches, very few things warm you up come dinner time like a nice hearty stew. This stew, made in the crock pot, is a great way to make a simple, low fat dinner. The best part is that it cooks while you're at work! This dish is also fairly economical, using fairly inexpensive cuts of pork (shoulder can be often found on sale for a very reasonable price).

Everyone knows pork and apples go together. "Pork chops and applesauce" is a staple to many. This recipe takes those two great tastes, and combines them into a stew with three great winter flavors - sweet potatoes, apples, and onions.

Ingredients

1 pound of boneless pork (loin or shoulder will both work fine)

2 pounds of sweet potatoes (about 2 large)

1 large onion

1/3 cup of dried apple

2 cups of chicken broth

1 cup of apple cider or apple juice

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1/3 teaspoon of dried sage

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Procedure

Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces (about 1 inch square), removing and discarding any large deposits of fat.

Add the oil and the pork to your frying pan. Turn burner heat to medium. Fry the pork in the oil, turning often, until pork is browned on all sides.

Peal the sweet potatoes and cut them into bite sized pieces. Chop the onion coarsely. Coarsely chop the dried apple. Add all three ingredients to the crock pot.

Add the chicken broth, the cider or juice, and the spices to crock pot. Stir thoroughly to mix all the ingredients.

Add the pork to the crock pot, stirring to mix with the other ingredients.

Cook the mixture in crock pot on low heat setting for approximately six hours, or until the pork is cooked through and the sweet potatoes are soft. This recipe makes approximately four servings. If you cannot find dried apples, you can use fresh apples instead. Peal and core the apple. Coarsely chop the apple. Instead of adding the apple in at the beginning of the cooking process as you would with the dried apple, add it for the last 1-2 hours of cooking only.

For an even healthier stew, use a reduced fat and/or sodium chicken broth...you won't lose any taste, but will save yourself a lot of calories and unhealthy stuff. Or, you can make the stew with vegetable broth.

Leftovers from this recipe are also great for creating a hearty warm lunch. I often double the recipe so that there will be some left for lunch the next day.