It's Not the Way I Planned It!

Ah yes, fall has come and with it the freedom to bake away and heat up the house.  I came home from running errands highly motivated to begin baking.  There was already a roast in the crock-pot.  I made mashed potatoes, a pumpkin cake, and assembled a bread pudding to bake for breakfast before I finally set my sights back on the to-do list for the day.  None of this items had been on it.  Oh well. 

But back to the roast.  I had intended to serve this Hawaiian style pork roast with a sweet and sour sauce I found in the pantry and a can of pineapple (which I'd stopped to buy) over a fresh pot of rice.  On the side would be a Sumi salad with mandarin oranges and colorful cabbage.  All this to be followed with the pumpkin cake for dessert.  Well...

daughter number 2 came home with boyfriend in tow and they needed a snack, so some pork was donated, and they ate it on French rolls before running out the door...
son  number 2 came along and ate the pork plain with a heap of mashed potatoes...
hubby came home and made himself a pork sandwich with a side of salad...
son number 1 came home and ate something because there was less in each of the dishes this morning...(I checked the fridge)
and daughter number 1 never did eat this meal.
The pineapple is still in the can.  The rice never got cooked. The sauce was opened and drizzled on the meat on the French rolls.
And tonight, I do not have to cook!

It seems that  many of our meals are now being served at various "seatings" similar to a cruise ship but minus the fancy table settings.  First round is about 4:30/5:00 and it continues throughout the evening until about 10pm when the last child arrives home from school.  While it is a delight to have college kids living at home, it does wreak havoc on any sense of a family meal time.  If I'm lucky though, I get a meal with each kid nearly every day.

Hawaiian Pork Roast
(Yet another favorite from a Taste of Home Magazine, tweaked for size.)

5 lb. pork roast, rinsed
5 tsp. liquid smoke
5 tsp. soy sauce
2 unpeeled, ripe bananas

My crock-pot version...Create an "addition sign" with foil and lay it in the crock pot.  Place the meat on the foil.  Douse with liquid smoke and soy sauce.  Lay the two bananas along the two long sides of the crock-pot.  Fold the foil over the meat and bananas.  Pour 1/2 Cup of water in the bottom of the pot.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Remove bananas and throw away. Lift out pork and place on a platter.  Serve as is or add Sweet and Sour sauce.  Couldn't be easier to put dinner on the table. 

When I buy my roast for OAM Cooking I simply freeze it and then defrost it the night before I plan to cook it.