Slow Cooked Carnitas with Peach and Tomato Salsa + 30 Days of Dinner!!

I know that peach season is long gone, but everyone so loved these Slow Cooked Carnitas with Peach + Tomato Salsa, that I'd make them again and again and just leave out the peaches. It was so easy for so much flavor! And I doubled the recipe so we used the leftovers in multiple dishes (brinner, tacos, etc.), which always adds up to a huge win in my book.


With the work we've been doing at our house, the rest of our 30 days of dinner was a bit of a mixed bag. But we kept it as clean as we could. And I was reaffirmed to find that the entire family was so cranky when we were forced to eat out for a week straight (I skipped over that in this post because eating out for a whole week doesn't really seem like a good meal plan). Turns out there is something to thing homecooking and family meals thing. At least for us!

Slow Cooked Carnitas with Peach and Tomato Salsa 

(slightly adapted from Food52)

For the carnitas:
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 lbs boneless pork butt or shoulder
- 5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- juice of 2 limes, plus 1 lime cut into wedges for serving
- juice of 1 orange
- 12 ounces beer (sub beef stock if Whole30)
- peach and tomato salsa (recipe below)

Directions 
- Place the pork shoulder and chopped garlic into a big bowl. Sprinkle the meat with salt, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne. With your hands, rub the seasonings into the meat.
- Transfer seasoned pork to the slow cooker. Add in lime juice, orange juice, and beer. Cover the pot and cook on low for 8 hours.
- After 8 hours, transfer the meat to a large bowl and shred it apart using two forks. The pork should fall apart easily.
- Next, preheat broiler and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spread the pork into an even layer and broil for 5 to 10 minutes, rotating the pan, until the pork is evenly crisped.
- While the pork crisps up, mix together the salsa.

For the salsa:
Ingredients
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 tbsp minced jalapeno (with or without seeds and membranes depending on desired heat)
- a few big pinches of kosher salt
- a few grinds of black pepper
- big squirt of lime juice
- 2 cups diced tomatoes
- 2 cups peeled and diced peaches

Directions
- Mix together all the ingredients in a big bowl. Food52 made the peach and tomato separately, but that seemed silly to me. If you don't want peaches, just 1/2 the other ingredients and use tomatoes only.

I served ours over cauliflower rice and topped with avocado chunks. Because, obviously.

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30 Days of Dinner

Day 1 (M) -- Burgers, Grilled Potato, Lemon + Zucchini Salad with Romesco (YUM)
Day 2 (T) -- Hawaiian Chicken + Pineapple Kebabs (no sugar); Cauliflower Fried Rice (no edamame -- I LOVED this recipe. It was quick and easy and upped my cauliflower rice game)
Day 3 (W) -- Paleo Egg Cups; leftover potato salad
Day 4 (Th) -- Turkey and Vegetable Skillet
Day 5 (F) -- leftovers + GOOP Roasted Tomato Salsa 
Day 6 (Sat) -- Grilled Chilean Beef Skewers with Smokey Chimichurri and cilantro cauliflower rice 

Day 7 (Sun) -- Slow Cooked Carnitas with Peach and Tomato Salsa and cauliflower rice

Day 8 (M) -- brinner with leftover carnitas
Day 9 (T) -- Lamb Burgers with Mint-Feta Pesto; Heirloom Tomato Salad with Green Beans + Chèvre
Day 10 (W) -- Peach Salad with Grilled Basil Chicken + White Balsamic-Honey Vinaigrette; roasted potatoes
Day 11 (Th) -- leftovers
Day 12 (F) -- dinner out
Day 13 (Sat) -- Texas Chili (I didn't care for this -- something about the texture was almost gritty to me) 

Day 14 (Sun) -- bbq at a friend's house 

Day 15 (M) -- dinner out
Day 16 (T) -- Easy Weeknight Chicken Tacos; cauliflower rice
Day 17 (W) -- Turkey Bolognese Stuffed Spaghetti Squash 

Day 18 (Th) -- brinner
Day 19 (F) -- dinner out
Day 20 (Sat) -- dinner out 

Day 21 (Sun) -- dinner out (this was the start of our entire week without a kitchen) 

Day 22 (M) -- Chicken Gyro Salad (LOVE) 
Day 23 (T) -- brinner 
Day 24 (W) -- Slow Cooked Maple Dijon Pot Roast (still a big family fave) 
Day 25 (Th) -- Lamb Chops with Pistachio Tapenade 
Day 26 (F) -- dinner out 

Day 27 (Sat) -- dinner out 

Day 28 (Sun) -- dinner out 

Day 29 (M) -- Chicken with Her Roasted Tomatoes + Pan Sauce; mashed potatoes; green beans
Day 30 (T) -- Ms. Lillien's Fabulous Flank Steak (minus the sugar); green salad; leftover mashed potatoes

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