Tasty Crockpot Recipe Anyone?

Dinner time.

What are we eating? or What’s for dinner?”

When we answer, we hear grumbling, followed by “I don’t like that.” 

We both work full-time jobs and are busy running a household as well.  So these nightly comments got to me.  I suggested the children go through my recipe books, clippings, or search online for new recipes that they would like to try over Christmas break.  Olivia gave me two recipes. We tried one of them and it was delicious!  We have added it to our collection.  Plus, it is a crockpot dish – place it in the crockpot and return hours later. You just need to make a side and vegetable and dinner will be complete.  

Crockpot Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork

2 lbs. pork tenderloin

Rub:

1 tsp. ground sage                               1 clove crushed garlic

½ tsp. salt                                            ¼ tsp. pepper

½ cup water

Glaze:

½ cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

½ cup water

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Mix ground sage, salt, pepper and garlic together. Rub over tenderloin and place tenderloin in crockpot.  Place ½ cup water in crockpot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

An hour before the roast in finished, mix together the glaze in a small sauce pan.  Heat over medium heat and stir until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes.  Brush glaze over roast 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking.

For a carmalized crust, remove tenderloin from the crockpot and place on an aluminum-lined sheet pan.  Glaze and set under broiler 1-2 minutes until bubbly and carmalized.  Repeat 2-3 times until desired crust is achieved.  Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

Delicious!!!

Bouncing Ball

Elliott has a tendency during basketball season to go to the basement and dribble.  He’ll dribble for quite a while.  Dribbling makes a lot of noise. It doesn’t seem to bother him at all. He’ll dribble around and talk to John.  The noise bothers me and they are downstairs. I can’t stay in the kitchen.   

Bounce, bounce, bounce. 

I am glad he does go down to dribble.  Practice is a good thing and it should build his confidence.  If I go downstairs to get a basket of clothes, I’ll try to take the ball from him.  Or I have him dribble around me so he has to work on skills. The weather was mild over Christmas break and on Christmas Eve, I took him to the elementary school to shoot hoops.  The parking lot had puddles and it was drizzling but we spent more than an hour shooting and having fun.  We’ll I had fun, Elliott tends to get uptight because his form isn’t right or he doesn’t make baskets.  We played a game or two of horse but he said that wasn’t fun.

They have been playing more games this year and practice goes well.  I see him improving and yes, his confidence is growing.  He really wants to get a basketball hoop put up at home. We don’t have much flat land and what we do have, well, it is wet most of the year. However, we have a tractor now and ditches can be dug in a day or two, so drainage and dry land may be very possible.  I’d love to have a basketball hoop up so we all can go out and shoot, play horse and just have fun. It’s just another thing for me to work on (a.k.a. work on the Big Guy to agree).

This being Elliott’s second year, I see improvement.  More important is his confidence.  Both of our kids think they should be able to play a sport and hey, be great at it right away. John and I sound like a broken record, “You have to practice, practice, practice to improve your game.”  They don’t see that mistakes are part of their growth.  We continue to work on that…season after season!

Winning always seems to build confidence and enthusiasm.  So when Elliott recently won a hoop shoot contest for his age group, I asked him how he felt.  He said, “I feel awesome!”  He should, he handled the ball well, concentrated and won.  I was happy for him and proud of his accomplishment. I wish he could stand back and see what I see – a young boy that has been blessed with incredible athletic abilities that develop with every season.

Here are some photos from a basketball game and his certificates and plaque from the hoop shoot. I forgot to mention, his win means he goes to another hoop shoot in February.  My goal now is to get the boy some court time, ball and hoop practice.

 Elliott is #34

 First place winner!

Break and Bed

Christmas has come and gone and the first half of January has already past.  We are all back in the routine of work, school, practice and games. Still busy. Still running.

I was able to enjoy the Christmas break with Olivia and Elliott. I had 15 days off with them.  It was so very nice and much needed.  The three of us slept in and stayed up later than normal.  Olivia usually stayed up later than all of us and sleep in much longer as well. If we woke her up, she was grumpy.  Oh the life of a teenager! John had to work some days while we hung around home.  I managed to get a lot of cleaning done, holiday baking, and sorting through paperwork and magazines. I recycled a lot!  Of course my list was long and I did not get everything done but what I did accomplish, made me feel productive.

John is never one to sit around and Olivia had a project to keep both of them busy, that is when he wasn’t at work and she wasn’t sleeping.  I painted her room a while ago and she wanted John to make a platform bed.  He really did not want to make it. The cost, time and no plans were his arguing points. Well Little Misses can be and was very persistent. I had found a blog about making a platform bed so I printed it and took it home to her.  After many discussions and notes about the construction, we headed to the lumber store.  Measuring tapes, safety glasses, gloves and tools were gathered. They spent mornings, afternoons, time when John said, “Let’s go work Livvy” in the garage workshop.  They built three boxes during the break.  I bought paint and painted the first coat early one Sunday morning. Olivia painted the second coat later that afternoon.  That night, we tore down her old bed, dusted and vacuumed, and put her new, beautiful platform bed in place.  She is now looking for woven baskets to place in the storage areas under her bed.  She is very particular, so purchasing baskets won’t happen any time soon.

The bed turned out beautiful and she is very happy with her room. New, bright color. New platform bed - that she helped make.  New bean bag sofa for reading and lounging. Wow!  Lucky lady.

 Platform bed in place.

Two cubbies at the end of the bed for storage.

Two larger cubicles for storage - on both sides.  This bed has a ton of storage space.

Did I mention that - tons of storage space.

 The lounging area, study area, hang out area.

 From her doorway, this is what you see.

She is also making artwork for her walls and shopping for just the right items.  

Now if I can get her to keep it clean :)