Lupie's pork, a Crock-Pot feast and more cookies

Today in our food coverage:

Can you make an entire Christmas dinner in a slow cooker? Amy Dunn, who writes about bargains and thrifty living for the Raleigh News & Observer, decided to try. Yep, it worked, and today you get seven recipes that can be used for the party season. By the way, Amy is the mother of Observer business writer Andrew Dunn, so they both are smart with a buck.

How do you open and eat a pomegranate? It's surprising how many of us are intimidated by one of the world's oldest and most popular fruits. In my column, I tried to take some of the mystery out of it. And in another "by the way," did you know you can grow pomegranates in North Carolina?

Fans of Lupie's can celebrate: For her column You Asked For It, Robin Domeier got the recipe for the slow-roasted pork with jalapeno sauce. You'll definitely want to save this recipe for use all winter.

Star anise and anise: What's the difference? I answered that one in this week's Q&A.

My fellow Observer writers and I will be signing books Thursday in The Observer lobby, if you want to drop by between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.: Get the details on that along with news in the Charlotte Wine & Food Weekend and new hours for Tupelo Honey's new Charlotte location.

Helen Schwab has news about a new Fort Mill restaurant, Flipside, with ties to Upstream and Mimosa.

Are nuts a good idea for your diet? Suzanne Havala Hobbs helps you figure that out.

If you had trouble with one of last week's Christmas cookie recipes and would like a corrected copy, we have them here, along with the full slide show of recipes. My apologies for that.

And more:
From-scratch chocolate pudding. 
Pork in Port Wine.
Decorate a Cookie Tree.
A Shortcut Cookie for the Holidays.