Cranberry Apricot Pork Tenderloin in the Crock Pot

On Friday I shared my favorite Cranberry Sauce recipe.... and today I am giving you a recipe that uses it.  A Weight Watchers buddy gave me this recipe long ago and I had never tried it.  I don't normally have dried apricots on hand. 

I am so glad that I remedied that!  It is absolutely wonderful... the sauce is spicy and a bit sweet, and it really goes nicely with the pork.  It is from the Weight Watchers Slow Good Super Slow-Cooker Cookbook.

I served it with rice and steamed carrots... I am sure potatoes would be nice instead of the rice if you prefer them.

The recipe suggests cutting the cooked pork into 16 slices but we thought they would fall apart if we tried to cut them that thin, so The Captain did 12 thicker slices instead.  I added orange zest to the ingredients that went into the slow cooker, and then more at the end before serving.  And, I had some home made cranberry sauce in the freezer, leftover from Christmas, so I let it thaw and used it in this dish.

I am sharing the recipe as it appears in the book, using the WW nutritional information to calculate P+ values as well.

Cranberry Apricot Pork Tenderloin

Makes 4 servings  

• 1 lb pork tenderloin
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup canned cranberry sauce
• 1/2 cup sliced dried apricots
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest

1. Sprinkle the pork with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook, turning frequently, until browned, about 6 minutes.  
2. Transfer the pork to a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker. Combine the cranberry sauce, apricots, cornstarch, cinnamon, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a bowl; pour over the pork, turning to coat. Cover and cook until the pork is fork-tender, 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.  
3. Transfer the pork to a cutting board; cut into 16 slices. Stir the orange zest into the fruit sauce and serve with pork.

Per serving (4 slices pork with about 1/4 cup sauce).

Weight Watchers P+ = 8.

Calories 295;  Protein 23g; Carbohydrate 40g; Fat 5g; Fibre 2g.

Note: 

My own cranberry sauce is sugar free so if you use it instead of a commercial product that containes sugar, the P+ values will be reduced, probably by at least 2.

Add salt and pepper to pork and set in the pan of heated oil.

Turn frequently till browned all over.

Combine sauce ingredients...

and pour over pork in crock pot.

Enjoy with rice and vegetables.

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