10.31.08

Happy Halloween!

Tonight we are meeting down the block at my mom's house and all of the grandkids are going to trick or treat together while we follow behind. Love seeing how excited they get and how they always have comments about the candy they receive. (we must always hear "thank you" or they have to go back to the door, something they dread, ha) Noah will be Darth Maul from Star Wars. :) Afterwards, he and all of his cousins will dump out their candy stashes and trade for their favorites. (this is when Noah trades away all of his Reese's since he doesn't like peanut butter...argh!)

David made homemade whole wheat donuts for breakfast this morning. They were so good. I decided to make a good dinner since there's so much sugar in the diet today. :) I just put this in the crockpot for dinner and wow, the entire house smells heavenly! I'll serve it along with some rice (for the gravy) and steamed broccoli.

Orange Herbed Pork Roast
1 (2.5-3 lb) pork roast (I used a lean tenderloin)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons orange peel, finely shredded
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup orange juice

1. Trim fat from roast. In small bowl, combine garlic powder, ginger, thyme, and pepper. Rub spice mixture over entire roast. In large skillet, brown roast on all sides in hot oil. Drain.
2. Transfer meat to slow cooker. Combine chicken broth, sugar, lemon juice, soy sauce and orange peel. Pour over roast.
3. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
4. Transfer roast to serving platter, keep warm. For sauce, pour juices into glass measuring cup, skim fat. Add water to equal 2 cups. Transfer to saucepan. Combine cornstarch and orange juice, stir into juices in saucepan. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Serve sauce with meat. Yum!

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The cold opening from last night's episode of The Office. :) Happy Halloween!