So, I was freaking out today. Is anyone else out there a control freak? Growing up I had no idea I was a control freak. I was always the one just “going with the flow”, whatever, sounds good. I am a typical middle child, book nerd, peace maker, introvert.

Now, my birthday is approaching and I’m afraid that what other people plan won’t live up to what I was thinking we’d do. Like, I just gave my husband a DETAILED list of EXACTLY what I want to do on my birthday. Is that too much? I don’t know. At least I know what will happen, and that I won’t be disappointed that my husband didn’t pick up on my “hints”. Heh. Well…. bad or not, now I’m excited because he said he was really happy to see, in detail, what I wanted to do… and that he could make it happen. Whew!

Now, since I love to cook… I, at times, find myself saying… I’d rather just make it at home. Then I can control what ingredients are put into it and it will cost way less. So, I mentioned that to my husband and he said NO. Lol… problems, right? I’ve got a great husband who knows how to deal with my crazy emotions. 🙂

But this was one meal that I was considering making for my birthday since it was a crockpot meal and I wouldn’t have to “cook”. But, since I was appropriately shot down, I made it for dinner tonight!

Ingredients

• 3 TB extra virgin olive
• 2 TB minced garlic
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• dash of cayenne
• 1/2 onion sliced thick
• 7-8 potatoes cut into 6-8 pieces each
• 2 lb. center pork loin (or two 1 lb. pork tenderloins)
• 1 1/2 cups favorite white wine
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cup free range low sodium chicken broth or stock
• 1 cup half&half with 2 TB flour (or cornstarch)
• 2 TB butter

This is what the roast will look like when it comes out of the crock pot!!!

Instructions

1. Spray your crock pot with some non-stick olive oil cooking spray.
2. “Crust” the pork loin by placing and rubbing all dry herbs and garlic all over the pork loin and then place it into the crock pot.
3. Wash and cut potatoes and onions and place into the crock pot with the pork roast.
4. Add the white wine and the chicken broth, and then add the 2 TB of butter broken up into smaller pieces of the cop of the meat and potatoes in the crock pot.
5. Put crock pot on LOW for 6-8 hours for best results, OR on HIGH for 4 hours.
6. About 20 minutes before you want to eat, remove the pork roast from the crock pot and set aside on a plate and cover with foil to let it rest. Then, remove the potatoes. (At this point, you can do as I did and make mashed potatoes with them, or just eat them roasted.)
7. Take the juices and onions from the bottom of the crock pot and put into a medium sized sauce pan. Heat up on medium-low. Do NOT boil.
8. Put the 1 cup of 1/2&1/2 into a measuring cup and whisk in the flour (or corn starch). Then, SLOWLY whisk into the sauce pan with the drippings from the crock pot to make an AMAZING gravy!!! Then, add the FRESH rosemary to the gravy.
9. Place the resting pork on a cutting board (you can add any accumulated meat juices back to the sauce if you like!). Slice the pork very thinly and place on to a serving platter. Pour the warm gravy over top.
10. Serve with potatoes, and veggies… or just DIG IN!

Had to give this shot of the pork loin with the yummy, creamy gravy…

It sounds like a lot, but it was pretty easy because most of the day it was just sitting in the crock pot! Then you just whip up a gravy from the juices and voila! It’s juicy, tender and just comforting really…. perfect for a chilly and windy day!

And now, for the quote of the day: This was my day today.