From My Kitchen: Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Roast

I got this recipe off my new favorite addiction: Pinterest. If you haven't fallen into that black hole yet, the site lets you create virtual bulletin boards (or a recipe book) by "pinning" things that interest you. The best part is that you get to see what everyone else pins, too.

I've been known to pull lots of recipes out of the newspaper and magazines, but I don't always get around to trying them. They tend to get filed away, and it's out of sight, out of mind. But on Pinterest, I see those pictures of yummy things to try every time I visit. (Which is far too often!) So, I'm motivated to try them.

This Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin was a real winner.

Photo credit: C + C Marriage Factory (Click photo for link.)

Jeff immediately declared this dish a keeper. Not only is it delicious, it goes in the crock pot, so it's super easy. As you know, that's always a plus for me. I used a pork roast I had on hand instead of a loin when I made this earlier this week, and it was just as tasty.

Here's the recipe:

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

1 (2 pound) boneless pork loin (or pork roast)

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

Glaze:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over loin or roast. Place in slow cooker (crock pot for those of you from the Great Frozen North) with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

About one hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small saucepan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze two or three times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

I wanted to eat this straight out of the crock pot, but I decided to class it up a bit and throw in on plates before devouring it. I added mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli to make a complete meal.

Enjoy!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Writer's Workshop - A Dublin Disaster

DATELINE: Dublin, Ireland
Quite some time ago

It was spring break during my semester in London, England, and a large group of us was headed to Ireland for the week. We took the ferry across the Atlantic. It was cold and a little rough, but not a bad crossing overall.

When we arrived in Dublin, it was a rainy spring afternoon. We pulled out the umbrellas and headed out for some touring, supper and for some, a Guinness. We were having a blast.

That all came to a very harsh end some time around 11 p.m. That's when the puking started. And it wasn't from too much alcohol, either.

There we were at the hostel, one large dorm for girls and one large dorm for boys. There were about 20 of us in each room. Except 90 percent of us were so sick we never left the bathroom. The bathroom that had four stalls and two sinks. Four very overused stalls and two very overused sinks.

And you have to be really sick to lay on the bathroom floor in those conditions.

I have never been so sick in my entire life. By 2 a.m. I was certain I was throwing up vital organs, and my back hurt so bad from wretching that I was grateful to just lay on the cold floor.

Just when we thought we were all going to die, a chipper Irish doctor arrived for the house call from hell. He asked us a million questions, and never really determined what the cause of the disaster was, but he suspected that it was food poisoning.

He cheerily handed out suppositories, which we gratefully accepted. We were able to crawl back to our beds about 6 a.m., and had to report to the bus two hours later. It was a miserable way to start a vacation. We straggled on board the bus, but there wasn't enough ibuprofen in the world to take away the pain. It was like I had been beaten by a baseball bat all night long.

In the end, we had a great trip, though I was very careful about what I ate and drank for the rest of the week.

And to this day, I can't stomach the thought of  Guinness.

Play along with Mama Kat at the Writer's Workshop:

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Wordful Wednesday: Sisters

Everywhere we went, people asked if we were related. Hmmm, I wonder why?

Mom, me, Mary, Judy and Cathy ~ Girls' Weekend 2011

Wanda, our favorite desk manager at the hotel, quickly dubbed us "The Family," and took great care of us.

Especially when she chose to bend her own rule and warn us to keep it down instead of just kicking us out at 11 p.m. one night.

Really, we weren't that loud. We just got to laughing a bit too much.

Apparently the people in the next room who complained were young, too. And they weren't up when we left the room at 8 the next morning. Which made us laugh all the more.

I wonder what they'd think if they knew we were too loud because we were celebrating an 80th birthday?

I'm hosting the 11th annual Girls' Weekend next year, and I'm already looking forward to it.

Play along with Wordful Wednesday at:

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Ahhh....

Sleeping in.

Eating out.

Thrift store shopping.

Leisurely breakfasts.

Playing tourist.

A five-foot metal garden sculpture.

Painted toes.

Long, hot showers.

A little wine.

An 80th birthday.

Talking.

Laughing.

Celebrating.

Relaxing.

Ahhhh....

Hanging out with my sisters and my mom for the weekend was very restorative.

Which was good, because re-entry consisted of getting up at 5 a.m. with a child who had a nightmare and boys in my bed at 6:30 a.m., jabbering away about the weekend with Daddy.

And that brought a smile to my face, too.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Another Vacation?

Yep. Another vacation. It's time for the annual Girls' Weekend with my mom and my sisters, so sorry blogosphere, but I'm outta here!

We're meeting in Iowa, so I think a repeat of last year's near-disaster is unlikely. I'm looking forward to sleeping in, shopping, good food and drink, and talking, talking, talking.

I'm heading out tomorrow morning sans computer, so unless the WBH posts over the weekend (and you know, he'll have so much time on his hands), you won't hear from me until Monday.

After this little trip, I'm settling in for a long winter here on the home front, so no more blogging interruptions, I promise.

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves while I'm gone.

Trippin' Mama 2011

The (Bottom) End Is in Sight

It seems that potty training is nearly behind us. Last week we had just one accident, and one of my two holdouts on the pooping in the potty front finally caved.

I can't claim any credit for teaching this one to poop on the potty. Our efforts were aided by a little intestinal trouble that made it very easy to go, almost too easy! Every time he sat on the potty he went, and every time he got the latest potty-training treat: candy corn. (I'm going to have to stock up on that stuff before the season is over!)

I hope this means the end of pooping at the playground and then stripping down because "it feels yucky." Yep, I know what it feels like to be the mom who has to chase down a half-naked boy and then pick his poop up off the playground equipment. After the first incident I started to carry plastic bags in case I had to do pooper scooper duty again. I shudder to think how many times I had to use them.

My other non-potty pooper is now diaper trained. When he has to do the deed, he goes to the bathroom, gets a pull-up, puts it on and then comes to me to be changed after he's done.

Hey, I'll take it. As long as I don't have to clean any more poopy underwear, it's all good.

Now that I've finally, with great trepidation, started to leave the bathroom door open, the boys have started to just go in and use the potty without being told. They have also started to go in and run a sink full of water or "clean" the potty, which is why I resisted leaving the door open in the first place.

You've just got to take the bad with the good, I guess!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Boots!

The big sale was a success. We sold most of what we took, and got some bargains, too.

My favorite bargain is this pair of green, black and white suede boots for Amelia. Very mod and so cute!

I really bought them because I wish they had been in my size.

I was afraid that Amelia would refuse to wear them, but figured it would only be a $2 mistake. (And the boys would probably wear them around the house.)

Turns out, Amelia loved them!

So I had to find something to go with them. I lucked out and found the perfect skirt at the children's consignment store for $6, and the black and white fleece at Kohl's for $8.

So my $2 bargain cost me another $14, but it was worth it!

© Trippin' Mama 2011