Pork Roast and Mashed Potatoes - Sunday Foodie Bits

I'm going to he honest - I thought this was going to be a fail. The last hour or so, I was 90% sure I was going to have to say that I finally found something I couldn't cook, something that didn't turn out right, and was just outright horrible. My worry-cap was on, and I was ready to come to you with a heavy heart.

Except.

It. Was. Delicious. 

My worry was for naught, because this is probably the best meat I have ever cooked. Thank you, crockpot, for being an amazing piece of cookware - I shall never doubt you again.

First, let's talk about the Pork Roast (recipe here).
I had full intentions of buying a roast. Except the roasts I found were well out of my price range. I settled for pork chops. After cutting out the bone and as much fat as I could, I eye-balled 2 pounds worth, and figured that would work - I would just have to scale down the cooking time. One, because it wasn't exactly two pounds. Two, because all my pieces were cut up - as evenly as I could, but they weren't all the same shape, thickness, or anything like that.

Chopped up pieces, all sauced up. Why does pork have such a weird texture?

My onion soup mix packet was also of the 1.25 ounce variety instead of the 1 ounce kind, and I kind of feel like it was the perfect amount. And, I didn't use the minced garlic as the recipe called for, just quite a lot of powdered garlic. But, again, I feel like it turned out just fine.

And, I promise you, that it did. The meat was tender deliciousness, and the "broth" was fantastic. I am normally not a put-any-juice-stuff on my food, but not only did I use the sauce from this recipe as a dip for the meat, but as a gravy for the potatoes!

I have no idea how my crockpot always ends up so messy. Also, this is from when it was allgedly close to done...and it didn't seem like it was (at all!).

I did change the cooking times quite a bit, because of the difference in meat (and my worried moments!).
I left it on high for 2.5 hours, then switched to low for half an hour. And, while the potatoes finished, it was on "keep warm" for about 15 minutes.

While on warm, just to simmer and let me finish the potatoes. The broth, I swear, is amazing on its own, even though it does look funny.

The Mashed Potatoes (recipe here) were quite good as well. I've never made these from scratch before, but figured why not, as I already had the ingredients.
I'm a bit sad that they were quite bland. I added cheese, powdered garlic and onion, and they were still just...potato-y. No real good flavor. But, I somehow managed to squish and swirl and stir them enough that the texture was right, so I consider it a success.

I learned from the Potato Soup that smaller pieces were necessary!

I also did not take the potatoes, after cooking, and put them in a bowl. I just left them in the pan they boiled in (after draining) and mashed them there. My potato masher (that I had to go to the Dollar Tree last second for!) is plastic, and I wanted to use the residual heat from the burner to keep them warm and help with the butter and milk (I do the same thing when making Kraft mac and cheese, and it always works out - I figured this would, too!).

Notice how the potato masher is standing straight up on its own, held by the strength of the potatoes. This is why I was worried - mashed potatoes shouldn't do that, right?!

The last half an hour or so, before this hit plates, was super stressful. The meat didn't look done, the potatoes didn't seem right, the sauce the meat was in looked "off" and *sigh* I was having a rough time of it!
And then I tried the potatoes, and realized they were okay. I tasted the sauce/broth mixture and it was amazing (it had smelled good, but that doesn't always translate!). And I stuck the pork quite a few times with a knife and it cut easily enough, and was colored properly through to the middle.

But, I was still worried - you know how sometimes you trick yourself into thinking something is okay, because it kind of has to be, even though it's really not?
I apologized to the Mister, even, that it may not be quite right.
Which, turns out, was for nothing, because it really was amazing.

It seems to be that, as a rule, everything that I make that looks horrible is, in fact, delicious. If it's messy and somewhat "ew" looking, it will taste good. So far, anyway!

I am not a eat-a-piece-of-meat kind of girl. I don't do steak or anything even in the same style of meal - I like meat to be in something, not just a piece of it to power through (which is normally what I have to do, ask my mom).
This, though, was different. We both went back for seconds. It was soft, tender, juicy, and delicious. And I was actually quite sad that it didn't yield enough to have the next day for dinner! There was enough left for lunch, but that was it.

All in all, if pork goes on sale again, I will be making this again. And again. And again.
With, hopefully, less worry.

~Havok

P.S. I am so thankful to be blessed with this kind of magic power, because I am so very thankful that so many things I try turn out. And, sometimes, it really does feel like a magic power.

P.P.S. The Mister wanted me to say that it was "the best pork chops ever".

[edit 2/9/15:  Linking up to Your Designs This Time and Come Along Ponds and One Project at a Time]
[edit 2/10/15: Linking up to Dream.Create.Inspire]
[edit: 2/12/15: Linking up to Inspiration Spotlight