Months ago my supermarket had a super deal on pork loin. Like any smart frugalista would do, I stocked up. I had the butcher cut the pork loin into one-pound pieces, and I put a bunch in the freezer. Yesterday, we enjoy that last loin. However, since we currently have no kitchen–and therefore no oven–my only option was to cook it in the slow cooker.

Normally, I would do a pulled pork recipe with barbecue sauce in the Crock-Pot, but my daughter Annie hasn’t been feeling the pulled pork lately. So I decided to experiment.

Recently, I’d purchased a couple of bottles of discontinued salad dressing on clearance at the grocery store ($.50/bottle) and had one left–spicy Italian–and figured I could do worse with a “sauce” for the pork loin. So I got cooking. Here’s what I used:

2 T olive oil
1 pound pork loin (no need to thaw if frozen)
1 16-ounce bottle of salad dressing (whichever flavor you prefer)
2 cups of water

I coated the bottom of the Crock-Pot with the olive oil and swished the bowl around to cover the bottom surface. Then I put the rock-solid frozen pork loin in the bottom of the Crock-Pot and dumped the entire salad dressing over it. I added an additional two cups of water, then put the slow cooker on high for eight hours.

Fast forward eight hours and the pork smelled delicious and just fell apart when I cut into it to serve it.

We rounded out dinner with rice (made in the microwave) and Green Giant steamers (we had corn in butter sauce, which was delicious) also cooked in the microwave. (Hey, I had a coupon and did you know that, ounce for ounce, frozen vegetables are often cheaper than their canned counterparts? But they’re just as nutritious!)

Annie had invited a friend to dinner that night, and they both told me that they loved the pork. I think they had seconds and maybe even thirds. I would definitely make this recipe again and can’t wait until pork goes on sale in the future so I can!