A Royal Flush

I've mentioned this before, I mostly write my blog posts a month in advance. This month just hasn't worked out that way. But if I wanted to post something today and, after all, I had made a lovely new recipe and couldn't wait to share it, I needed to get to it. With Thanksgiving coming up fast, I needed to have this done at least the week before. So last week I put it on my to-do list. "Write Tuesday's Post". No longer on the "pencil" to-do list, this was written in magic marker. Like, "don't go to bed without getting this done". 

So I sat down to write and found myself at a real loss. It had been a pisser of a week. And, sadly, that pun is intended.

On Monday the handle on the toilet in the basement broke and the toilet would not flush. Hubs had worked late but after work went out to buy a new handle and was able to get the toilet fixed. A pain in the butt and a long exhausting day for Hubs but it was handled (yeah, another pun, sue me).

On Tuesday I innocently went out to get the mail. Big mistake. When I took a look at my credit card bill it was clear there was a problem. Apparently I'd been purchasing hundreds of dollars worth of baby snacks at target(dot)com and having them sent to an address in St. Louis. NOT. An hour and 4 phone calls later I was shredding my credit card and both Target and Visa had a fraud report.

On Wednesday one of the sinks in the boys' bathroom would not turn off. It wasn't dripping either, it was running. I had to shut the water off at the valve. We had just bought both new faucets and had a plumber install them in June. Hubs had to go out and buy another faucet, which will not be an expense as we'll return the broken one, but we will have to pay the plumber to come out again to pull out the old one and put in the new one.

On Thursday our lawn guy came to put down the final treatment for this season and pre-emergent for next year. We thought he'd already come. We had shut down and drained the sprinkler system. It needed to be watered in. No rain in sight, of course.

On Friday the chain from the brand new toilet handle broke. Oh crap. Literally. 

This whole damn week has been a royal flush. Not the winning poker hand kind, the toilets are my enemy kind.

Then on Sunday I put my Maple Pineapple Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin on to cook and headed for the airport.

Maple Pineapple Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin

 (going into the crock pot)

And when that plane landed and I saw my youngest walking towards me, that royal flush was no longer of the week long toilet issues kind. I had a winning hand.

I wish you all the happiest of Thanksgivings.

Maple Pineapple Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
2 - 2 1/2# Pork tenderloin
salt, pepper
1 (16 oz) package thick cut bacon slices
3 large sweet potatoes
1/2 cup cranraisins
1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 TBSP balsamic vinegar 

Directions:
*Spray the inside of your slow cooker with nonstick spray.
*Sprinkle pork tenderloin with salt and pepper. Place in the slow cooker and wrap with the bacon slices, tucking the ends under the tenderloin.
*Peel and cube sweet potatoes. Place into slow cooker around the tenderloin. Sprinkle the sweet potatoes with cranraisins.
*Drain the pineapple chunks reserving the juice. Place the pineapple chunks over the cranraisins.
*Whisk the reserved pineapple juice with the maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. Pour over all of the food in the slow cooker.
*Cook for 1 hour on high, then 1 1/2 hours on low. Carefully turn the meat over, stir the fruit and vegetables and cook on high for an hour.
*Turn the meat back over, lower the temperature again and cook another 1 1/2 hours. Check temperature of the pork to be sure it is at least 145 degrees (145 degrees is more rare, 160 degrees is medium). Remove the tenderloin, slice and serve with the fruits and vegetables. Drizzle with the sauce.