Jim and I have gotten to spend a lot of time together lately - which I love, of course! He starts his MOS school tomorrow, so last week and Monday & Tuesday of this week he has been home more often since they don't need him as much on base right now. We've been pretty productive getting our apartment settled [I'll post pics of our home soon!], running dozens of errands, and exploring the new area that we live in.
Jim getting ready to head out the door to go check-in with his MOS school
I asked him to smile and the first picture turned out very forced [well, to be fair, I WAS interrupting his shoe shine]. The pic above still looks a little forced/cheesy, but he's still the cutest around! This past weekend we went to a nearby island; it still amazes me that we are just miles from the ocean! Here are a few pictures that I snapped while we were enjoying the relaxing day near the beach:
We walked the pier and there were so many people fishing! Quite the scene. I told Jim that we'll have to come back sometime to fish - he was taken by surprise! Fishing isn't my number one activity, but I'm always game for trying what the locals do!
Additionally, Jim and I had quite the culinary experience during our first few weeks of marriage. I was the bud of many jokes among my family before marriage since I rarely made a meal for myself [rarely as in maybe once every few months!] Thinking back, I have no idea what I ate for dinner each day! Probably cereal, leftovers, mooched off of my family's meals, and frozen dinners. I was nervous to take on the role of chef once married, but I was also excited to have an excuse to get cooking! I didn't cook for myself before because it just didn't seem economical. I didn't want to go out and buy so many ingredients and spend all that money on just a meal. I didn't want to have to commit to the leftovers as well. If it didn't turn out then it would have just been a waste of money in my opinion! Now that I have my husband and myself to feed it makes much more sense to prep dinner each night. It also helps that I'm currently not working [but I start back up Nov 1st!] so I have plenty of time during the day to piece the meal together. Another reason why I didn't like cooking before was that I would get home from work around 5:15 to 5:30pm and I was always SO hungry already! I didn't want to wait even 10 minutes for a meal, let alone prep the food and cook for any longer than that. Usually I just grabbed whatever I could consume the fastest! It's nice to have the meal in the crockpot, oven, or stove so that it's ready right when we're hungry. Cooking on an empty stomach just sounds like torture!
Despite my lack of experience, so far we've had several dinner and dessert successes! The Lord must want Jim to be well fed so He's using me to glorify Him through well prepared and delicious meals for Jim to eat! Last night's dinner has been Jim's favorite so far. And it was quite easy - SCORE : ) I whipped up maple pork loin, baked two sweet potatoes [a Niemann household favorite], and cut up fresh pear slices.
[Recipe adapted from the book 'Slow Cooker Revolution']
Ingredients:
1.5 lb. boneless pork loin
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
**Keep in mind, the original recipe called for a 4.5 to 5 lb. pork loin. I forgot to alter the rest of the recipe [aside from the onion] accordingly. In the future, I would cut the remainder of the recipe in half. If you choose to follow this recipe exactly, it still turns out tasty, you just have a lot of leftover maple glaze**
STEP ONE
Dry pork loin with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a skillet [I used a skillet that had sides that go up a few inches since we will be adding syrup and chicken broth in a future step]. Brown the pork well on each side on medium heat for about 8 minutes/side. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker. I used a slow cooker liner while following this recipe which helped incredibly when it came to returning the sauce from the slow cooker to a saucepan.
STEP TWO
Heat remaining tbsp. of oil over medium heat until simmering. Add onion and cinnamon and cook until the onion is softened and slightly browned - about 8 minutes. Stir in maple syrup and broth. After a few minutes of simmering, transfer the liquid to the slow cooker.
STEP THREE
Cover and cook until pork is tender and registers 145 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Since we're only using a 1.5 lb. pork loin, this should take between one hour to an hour and 15 minutes on the slow cooker's low setting. I had an instant read thermometer in the loin for the entire cooking time so that I would avoid over-cooking the meat.
STEP FOUR
Once the loin registers at 145 degrees, remove it from the slow cooker and tent loosely with aluminum foil. [When I made this recipe I ended up putting the meal in the refrigerator for a few hours since the meat cooked much faster than expected and was ready far before dinner time. I didn't tent the meat, instead I heated it in the microwave since it had been chilled.] If you follow the recipe correctly, and tent the meat after it was cooked to 145 degrees, then move the liquid from the slow cooker and transfer it to a small saucepan on the stove. Since I used a slow cooker liner, it was a breeze to pull the bag out and slowly pour the liquid into the saucepan; no spills! Simmer the sauce until reduced to 1 1/4 cups - about 15 minutes.
STEP FIVE
Slice the pork into 1/2 in. slices and arrange on a serving platter [or serve directly onto plates]. Spoon the sauce over the meat as desired.
If you plan to serve this meal with sweet potatoes like I did, I recommend rinsing, piercing, and putting the 'taters in a 450 degree oven or toaster oven about 60-75 minutes before you plan on eating. It should work out perfectly if you put them in the oven immediately before starting the prep for the pork loin. I baked our sweet potatoes in our toaster oven and placed them on a foil covered baking pan. This helps greatly with clean up since the sweet potatoes ooze a sugary goodness as they bake! While I love the sugary goodness, it's no fun to scrape off of a pan.
Raw pear slices compliment this meal perfectly - Jim and I LOOOVE nature's candy ; )
So today's post was much longer than yesterday's, but I hope you make this delicious recipe and find it worth the read!
Have a great day, y'all!
Sounds Delish Gret! You had nothing to worry about ;)
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