Friday, April 19, 2013

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin {A Guest Post}

Name/Alias: Casey @ Aslan's Auspicious Albany Adventure
A brief description of your blog: A newlywed Texan misplaced to the Capitol Region of the Empire State. My blog is a lifestyle blog filled with the journeys and mishaps that come with moving to the Northeast. I enjoy anything that is different, quaint and eclectic. I am a dreamer and a creator trapped in a first born anal retentaive's body. I love everything DIY, modern and fashion with flair. I am married to a brainy scientist who has his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry. He is not only intelligent but, loving, patient, kind, and most of all my better half. 



Hello Ladies!
I'm Casey and I blog over at Aslan's Auspicious Albany Adventure. I am delighted to have to opportunity to guest post on Life Love & Pinterest! I hope Heather has a wonderful birthday week and can't wait to hear about her adventures when she returns.

Over at my blog you will mostly find me figuring out life, love and marriage 1,700 miles away from "home". It is filled with recipes, crafting, daily life mishaps from a brand new wife. 

This recipe comes from C+C Marriage Factory: Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin.
My hubby is a definite carnivore and I wanted to try something different than our chicken and ground turkey meals. 

This was definitely a hit and will be one that we will continue to serve in our Aslan abode.

Ingredients:
1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)
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

Directions:
Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

Servings: 6-8


Meat placed into Crockpot with rub

Ingredients for Glaze...BEST part!

Be patient with stirring your glaze. It will thicken over the heat...don't add more cornstarch (YIKES)

Highly recommend cooking for full 6-8 hours. Meat is extremely tender that way!


Used extra glaze to serve over rice
Hope you enjoy this recipe! Be sure to stop on by Aslan's Auspicious Albany Adventure if you have any questions or would like to share your culinary creations with me!

From our home to yours,
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Thursday, April 18, 2013

College? Part 2

Remember how I said a few posts back that I had applied to college?

Well, I got my acceptance letter yesterday! WOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm excited, but also really scared to go, actually. You know how kindergartners are on their first day of school? I wasn't like that in Kindergarten. I was rip, roaring, ready to go. Now? Not so much. Maybe because it actually cost money to go, or I'm afraid I'll fail.

I was on the phone with my best friend when I open the acceptance packet and I said "So, I just got accepted to college." As plain as day, like I was saying the sky was blue. And Andrew said "C'mon, be more excited about it!" But, I guess I'm not excited about it. I'm actually scared to go back. I'm heading towards it now, but ever part of me says to run away. Which is weird. Everyone wants to go to college, right?

I don't know. I just cried a lot about it yesterday because it scares me.

But, on a lighter note, I may potentially be getting a job (and a car!) soon! Pray and keep your fingers crossed for me, because this is a company that I really want to work for. I guess I'm lucky they're even considering me again. (Long story, but a good one.) I really want this job, so here's hoping!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

I Have A Problem

Whoopsie, I fell off the bandwagon! ;)

Sorry guys, but I was up to my eyeballs in job applications from the time I woke up, till the time Bill finished cooking dinner. Still no word on the job or college fronts, but I keep pushing along, so...

Anyway, today I'm going to talk about something that I have an extreme obsession over: corgis. I legitimately have a problem, hahah! I can't stop myself.

I LOVE corgis so much, you have no idea. I have spent the past few days just looking at corgi pictures on my iPhone whenever I've had the chance. It's my only outlet to get corgi love, since it will be many years before I'll be able to have one.

So without further ado, here are my favourite pictures thus far.
 
Coming up on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are some guest posts from three lovely ladies! I won't be here Monday, because it' my birthday! The mister is taking me to DC for the day, and we're also going to a bridal show just for the fun of it, hahah!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Thursday & a {Weekend Recap}

{Thursday}
Thursday night was a fun one indeed. Andrew came over for dinner and fire in the fire pit. Somewhere in the middle of hanging out, Allison came over, too. And since the Heather/Bill household lacks board games, we ended up playing the Newlywed Game {Andrew's test to see how well we know each other: PASSED} and  Charades.
{Friday}
I started Friday morning out with Allison, with a brunch eaten at Red Lobster. She got lobster with seafood tacos, and I had shrimp and lobster alfredo. YUM!

We also went to Sephora and Ulta. It's that time of year again: I got birthday gift at Sephora! A Watt's Up highlighter & Benefit's They're Real mascara. I'm still trying them out, so I can't tell you 100% how I feel about them, but oh my goodness that mascara is heaven and the brush is perf. 
Later that night, after dinner and the dogs being walked, Bill and I took a trip to Berry Creamy, a local frozen yogurt place. I basically always get the same thing when I go here: sea salt and caramel pretzel froyo with little caramel-filled chocolate cups and caramel sauce. Can you tell I like caramel?! So good! My favourite Klondike bar is the caramel Pretzel one, so as you can imagine... Anything salty and sweet is A+ in my book ;)

{Saturday}
This Saturday did not go at all how it was planned. Originally, we were supposed to go up to Bound Brook, NJ for a Revolutionary War reenactment, but the friend we were going to see wasn't able to go, so our plans change.
To start off, I treated Bill to Bob Evans for lunch. I have a lot of memories in this place, let me tell you. But that's a post for a different day. Going in the door, we saw this car parked ON THE SIDEWALK. Bill chuckled and said "I guess the door wasn't close enough for him, huh?"

It was around lunch when we got there, so I had a turkey dinner, complete with biscuits, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish and carrots {which I ate before taking this picture....} Bill had a Sunshine Skillet, which is an open faced omelet with sausage and home fries, topped with country gravy and shredded cheddar cheese. He also had his with biscuits and said about it: "That was faaantastic. I think the ratio of sausage to potato to egg should be greater." But it was still good, right?!
After leaving Bob Evans, our next stop was Red Bank Battlefield Park. I adore this park because it's one, beautiful, and two HISTORIC. I love history so much, it can be a little excessive at times.

So, as you can imagine, I was ecstatic when I found out that tours were given of the house on the grounds (built in 1748). Tours are given April - October (The Battle of Red Bank was in October) and I think their season ends with a reenactment on the day of the battle.

Considering we are in to the second weekend of April, I figure the tours would have started. Right I was! Unfortunately, the tour guide we had was very scatterbrained and somewhat terrible. He was dressed in time-period garb, so both Bill and I figured he would've been a good tour guide. But alas, he was not, and I myself could've given a better tour.

We walked around the park a bit because I wanted to take pictures of Bill, but it was so incredibly windy! So here are a few pictures taken—thanks Bill for the awful photos of me!

The top two left photos are from our trip to Wawa afterward, where we both got tea and pretzels filled with cheese! Some of my favourite Wawa things. After some food, we headed back to the house, where Chrissy and Larren were ready and waiting for us!
The four of us sat around the house talking for a little while, and Larren suggested we go out to Red Robin. This was an unexpected, but welcome, change of events—considering pasta was slated for dinner that night. No offense to pasta, but this was way better! Bill and I both had some variation of a chicken sandwich, which wasn't bad at all! I also had this amazingly delicious drink called Very Berry Raspberry Limeade. Made of Sprite, and some other ingredients (I forget, sorry :X)... Even Bill had a sip and liked it!

We came home after eating while Chrissy and Larren walked around the mall. Bill went to walk the dogs and guess who we saw parked on our street? MISTER SOFTEE! I have an unhealthy adoration for Mister Softee, so of course I had to get a cone. Chocolate with chocolate jimmies, YUM!

When Chrissy and Larren came back over after food, she and Bill picked weeds, and I planted pansies and some blue and white flower I forgot the name of in some flower pots Bill and I picked up together.

Larren made an awesome fire for us, because I just couldn't get it going right! So as a treat for everyone, I brought out my sparklers. :) And of course, what better way to end a perfect day, than with a kiss? :3 It was so nice: as the fire was dying out, Bill put his arm around my shoulder and snuggled in real close to say "I'm so glad today happened this way. It was perfect."

{Sunday}
Bill recently started working weekends, which I have to say is an adjustment for me. I thought it was Friday the whole time! It was nice though, he came home to visit me for lunch, and brought me Wendy's. We were FaceTiming while he was driving to Wendy's {NO WORRIES, the phone was on the dashboard, and when he got there, he ordered for me, exactly what I wanted before even asking. Then he checked to make sure he was right, hahah! I love that he knew exactly what I wanted, from my my plain chicken sandwich to the size, down to the "no ice, please" for my sweet tea. Two quickly eaten lunches later, and Bill left to go back to work :(

Since Sundays are our grocery shopping day (and I don't have a car currently), we went grocery shopping late. And by late, I mean BJs was actually closed when we got there, and for the first time ever, ShopRite wasn't packed, either.


Wow, what a busy few days! How was your weekend?