Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this past weekend, I thought it would be fun to make Corned Beef and Cabbage to ring in the holiday on Friday night. Preparing the roast in the slow cooker was so easy, and it was fantastic to come home Friday night to a dinner almost completely ready. I decided to make my cabbage separately, because I was worried it would become too mushy in the slow cooker after eight hours.  The cabbage only took about 15-20 minutes to prepare when I returned home from work on Friday night.

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

I made this the other night for the boyfriend and I, and man was it good! I saw this recipe on Pinterest and immediately knew it was a meal Chris and I would both love. Not only was it incredibly delicious, but also so easy! I was a little worried when I was making it because I didn't read the comments on  Christina's post until after I had already bought my pork loin. She used pork tenderloin in her recipe, and some readers who used regular pork loin said theirs' had come out too dry, or had to be sliced instead of falling apart. I also knew I was going to be cooking my meat for much longer than the recommended 6-8 hours because I was meeting Chris downtown at Bayou for an appetizer before coming home and having dinner, which did not help my "dried out pork" concerns. However, this recipe could not have been more wonderful. The meat was falling apart just how I wanted and was incredibly moist. I think the pork loin was perfect for the amount of time mine needed to cook. If you want to make this meal in a shorter amount of time, then I would recommend going with the pork tenderloin instead, and only using half of amount of water indicated below.