Italian Pork with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is from the "Better Homes & Gardens So-Easy Slow Cooker" cookbook.

Cookbook picture:

My picture:

Ingredients:
1 t fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 t dried oregano, crushed
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
1 1/2 to 2 lb boneless pork shoulder roast
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 c chicken broth

Directions:
1. In small bowl, combine spices. Trim fat from meat. Sprinkle spices evenly over meat; rub in with your finger. If necessary, cut meat to fit into a 3 1/2 or 4-quart slow cooker. Set aside.
2. Place sweet potatoes in cooker. Add meat. Pour broth over mixture in cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8-10 hours, or high-heat setting for 4-5 hours.
4. Remove meat from cooker, reserving juices. Slice meat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer sweet potatoes to a medium bowl. Use a potato masher to mash sweet potatoes, adding some of the cooking juices. If necessary, to moisten. Serve meat with mashed sweet potatoes.

Notes:
Unfortunately, I don't have a price estimate for this, because it was all ingredients I had on hand. We didn't have sweet potatoes, so I used a butternut squash.

I took the pork out of the freezer last night, but it didn't have time to thaw all the way before I needed to cook it. So my first tip, is make SURE your roast is thawed before you cook. It bled out into the juices, and made these gross, foamy, cooked blood clots. I had to fish them out with a spoon, and I couldn't get them all.

My second tip, is to just cook the squash/sweet potatoes separately from the meat. I'd recommend boiling, baking, steaming, really anything other than letting them sit in chicken broth for 6 hours. They were SOOO soggy. When I mashed them, they splashed. I ended up putting them in my metal strainer for a few minutes to let some of the broth drain off them. So next time, I'll cook them some other way and just add a little butter.

Everything had sort of a sweet taste. It's hard to describe. The meat didn't have much flavor, I think it all leaked out into the broth. We ate it with steamed broccoli. The broccoli was my favorite part of this meal.

My 2.5 year-old also loved the broccoli, ate a few bites of the meat (but only because I took them off my plate to give to her) and refused to even taste the squash.

My husband loved everything. I mean, LOVED. He asked when we can have it again. He was really disappointed when I told him I didn't like it. He especially enjoyed the squash, and the gravy I made from the juices. (1 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water for every cup of liquid. Heat to boiling, then boil until it thickens.)