Booboo's....

Alright...time to admit the boo boo I made in the kitchen! 

So the other night I decided to slow cook some pork chops and saurkraut.  This is where my overly insane desire to concoct the PERFECT recipes comes in.  I decided to marinate the pork chops in a homemade chipotle mustard marinade.  I took 2 kinds of mustard, used some chipotle seasoning (and a few other secrets) and mixed away.  Of course I always taste the marinades first and I was pretty pleased with the taste...so in the pork chops went.  Because of the acidity of the mustard...I didn't marinate them for very long.

Next step...I combined saurkraut, grated valencia orange peel, and diced tomatoes in the slow cooker.  I put the porkchops on the top and turned the cooker on low.  The smell in my house was amazing.  Fast forward 6 hours...(I ran some errands and got stuck at Wal-Mart for almost 2 hours because the lines were insane!!!)  I got home...unplugged the slow cooker (mine has a "warm" setting...but I have found it will continue to cook the meat...and dry it out...)

I made some white cheddar mac and cheese...(organic!!)  and pulled out the pork chops...they smelled awesome...looked really tender...etc.  The saurkraut was amazing....the combo of all the flavors was wonderful!!!  However...the pork chops were sooooooooo dry!  The flavor was GREAT...but neither Adam or I could get past the dryness.  :(

Irritated much?!  I have discovered I am a bit of a perfectionist.  Sure...noone was left hungry that night...but I was so mad. 

Lesson learned?  If you are going to cook pork chops with mustard marinade (high acidic), saurkraut (highly acidic), and tomatoes (highly acidic)...do NOT let them cook longer than 4 hours depending on the thickness!  I will be most definitely trying the recipe again on a day where I am not stuck running errands. 

Keep plugging away ladies!  It takes time to learn the perfect combination's, cooking time, etc...but its worth it.  Besides...your family will thank you in the long run!!!