I love my crock pot

I've mentioned before that I like cooking with the crock pot. Clint and I were very lucky last Christmas to get a beautiful new one last year from his parents, and it has been fun to cook with this year. Yesterday, I tried Slow Cooker Pork Chops, Apples, and Sweet Potatoes from the Cheap, Healthy, Good blog with mostly-success (our timing got thrown off, and the pork cooked for too long, leaving it a little bit dry) but good enough to put in the repeat pile. I tried adding the dried cranberries, but I don't know if I noticed a difference. And I was out of fresh onion, so I threw in dried diced onion. It added the flavor without the texture, which I think I may like better. I did the brine part, but I'm not sure what difference that makes. I need to do more research on brining. So here is the recipe, with my alterations. As always, you can find calorie, fat, fiber, and price information at Cheap, Healthy, Good.

Slow Cooker Chops, Apples, and Sweet Potatoes
From Cheap, Healthy, Good blog, Adapted from Alton Brown and All Recipes.

For the brine
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth (I used chicken bouillon mixed with a cup of water)
3 tablespoons cup kosher salt (I used 2 tablespoons since I wasn't using low-sodium broth)
3 tablespoons light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 teaspoons black peppercorns, slightly crushed
1/2 pound ice (I guessed, but didn't worry too much since my pork chops were still partly frozen)
4 (1 to 1 1/2-inch thick) boneless center cut pork chops (4-oz each)

For the slow cooker
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 Golden Delicious apples, cored and sliced into 1/2-inch wedges (DO NOT PEEL) (I used Gala apples since that was what I had at home)
2 medium large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large red onion, sliced into 1/4-inch rings (I used dried, diced onion, and just shook it on until it looked right)

Optional
Cinnamon or nutmeg
Dried cranberries

1) Mix the broth, 3 tablespoons kosher salt, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, and peppercorns in a medium pan. Heat over medium-high and cook until the sugar and salt is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, add ice, and stir until ice is melted. Place pork chops in a gallon bag or 1-quart dish, add the brine, and refrigerate overnight (but not too much longer).

2) Remove pork from brine. (Discard brine.) Rinse the chops and pat them as dry as possible. Set aside. In a medium-large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high. When oil is hot, brown chops, about 5 or 6 minutes on each side.

3) While pork is cooking, combine brown sugar in a bowl with apples, and stir until apples are coated. (There will be sugar left over, but we’ll use that later.)

4) Place sweet potatoes in bottom of slow cooker, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Then, layer as follows: ½ the onion, ½ the apples, pork, the remaining onion, the remaining apples. Sprinkle with leftover brown sugar and cook on HIGH for 4-1/2 hours. Stir gently before serving, and be sure to spoon some of the sauce on top of each dish.