I wish I could remember what website I pulled this recipe off of... but it escapes me. But since the gal who posted it said that she had adapted it from Real Simple's recipe, I don't feel too bad. I made this dish for dinner tonight and it was the perfect dish to serve after an 8-hour work day! All I did was pop it in the crockpot in the morning and then chop up some condiments right before serving.
Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Tacos
Ingredients
2 cups store-bought salsa, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
salt
1 2 1/2-pound boneless pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of excess fat- I halved this for just the two of us.
flour tortillas
Serve with:
cilantro
lemon/lime
cabbage or lettuce
cheese
avocado
black beans
Directions
1.In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the salsa, chili powder, oregano, cocoa, and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the pork and turn to coat.
2.Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours (or 9.5 in my case).
3.Twenty minutes before serving, heat oven to 350° F.
4.Stack the tortillas, wrap them in foil, and bake until warm, about 15 minutes.
5.Meanwhile, using 2 forks, shred the pork and stir into the cooking liquid.
6. Serve with whatever you love best on tacos!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Thrifting and Blogging
I was thinking about things that I've loved getting at yard sales and I remembered this table-runner that I found this summer, and this green tray that I found last year. Combined with my Pottery Barn candles they make our coffee table very cheery and summery.
I think my recent (almost) obsession with yard-sales and thrift-store finds has a lot to do with all the home decor blog reading I've been doing. There are so many fabulous blogs out there, and I get inspired to try new things each time I visit them. But trying new things usually involves buying new things. And it's a fun challenge to find beautiful things at very low prices. Here are some of the blogs I've been following (most of them introduced to me by my friend Kathryn)
Eat Drink Pretty
Little Lovely
ISLY
The City Sage
I think my recent (almost) obsession with yard-sales and thrift-store finds has a lot to do with all the home decor blog reading I've been doing. There are so many fabulous blogs out there, and I get inspired to try new things each time I visit them. But trying new things usually involves buying new things. And it's a fun challenge to find beautiful things at very low prices. Here are some of the blogs I've been following (most of them introduced to me by my friend Kathryn)
Eat Drink Pretty
Little Lovely
ISLY
The City Sage
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Thrifting Paradise
Today was my day off work (hurrah!) so I took the opportunity to go thrift-store shopping with my friend Morgan. We hit stores in both Moscow and Pullman. Morgan made off with some fabulously adorable shoes, which I do not have a picture of. And I was very pleased to find this rug for a mere $10 at Palouse Treasures in Pullman!
Don't look too closely or you'll notice a few stains, and granted the woven ends are a little ragged, and there was one ripped corner of the rug. But in my part of the decorating world that's all known as "shabby chic". Besides, it was $10, and Joel and I had wanted a floor rug like this since we got married, but were unwilling to cough up the hundreds of dollars that they cost new. Now I just need to find a proper centerpiece for the table since those flowers do not match at all. But I can't think of what would look good on the table that would tie in the rug! Hmmm... time to start scouring the home decor blogs.
Someone else has really taken a shine to this rug, so you'll get a close-up on her as well.
And then for dinner I successfully made a very yummy French bread, after fabulously bombing my first attempt at Challah Bread a few weeks ago (recipe said 3/4 stick of butter, I translated as 3/4 cup of butter).
Now, I was brave and took a picture, even though I somehow managed to get a square/misshapen loaf instead of the beautifully round loaf that the original poster's picture shows. So no laughing. It was my first try. And square or round, it still turned out delicious! You can find the recipe here:
http://ivoryhut.com/2010/01/baking-bread-made-easy/
Joel loves the bread too. I served it with baked pesto chicken and corn on the cob. Delicious!
Don't look too closely or you'll notice a few stains, and granted the woven ends are a little ragged, and there was one ripped corner of the rug. But in my part of the decorating world that's all known as "shabby chic". Besides, it was $10, and Joel and I had wanted a floor rug like this since we got married, but were unwilling to cough up the hundreds of dollars that they cost new. Now I just need to find a proper centerpiece for the table since those flowers do not match at all. But I can't think of what would look good on the table that would tie in the rug! Hmmm... time to start scouring the home decor blogs.
Someone else has really taken a shine to this rug, so you'll get a close-up on her as well.
And then for dinner I successfully made a very yummy French bread, after fabulously bombing my first attempt at Challah Bread a few weeks ago (recipe said 3/4 stick of butter, I translated as 3/4 cup of butter).
Now, I was brave and took a picture, even though I somehow managed to get a square/misshapen loaf instead of the beautifully round loaf that the original poster's picture shows. So no laughing. It was my first try. And square or round, it still turned out delicious! You can find the recipe here:
http://ivoryhut.com/2010/01/baking-bread-made-easy/
Joel loves the bread too. I served it with baked pesto chicken and corn on the cob. Delicious!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
We love Saturdays!
We had a fabulous Saturday yesterday, in part because of the glorious summer weather we're finally getting! I went yard-saling in the morning and found these lovely items:
The pumpkins were 75 cents for all four, and I just love fall decor so I couldn't resist them. The yarn was 25 cents a skein (to build up my new yarn collection now that I've discovered that I love crocheting), the lamp was 50 cents (it'll need a lampshade but I usually end up taking off old ones anyway!) and the burlap sacks were 50 cents each. I adore those burlap bags, I've always wanted some and these ones are so colorful and cute! I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with them.... some sort of a colorful rug or room decor is what I'm thinking... but if all else fails I plan on hanging them in our garage (the next time we have a garage) to hide whatever unsightly things are out there. I've always thought they helped make garages look a lot less cluttered. I'll keep you posted!
While I was on my thrifting spree I stopped by the storm cellar and found an adorable maternity skirt, also for very cheap. Here I am modeling it for my 27 week photo!
And then to top it off we got to go boating with the Church's!
Here are Laura and Rachel, very excited to go inner-tubing:
Kathryn and Asa:
Mike:
And the hubby and me:
I didn't go inner-tubing, but here's a picture of Joel and Laura, pausing for a moment to wave to the camera as they were being whipped around on the waves. How fun!!
The pumpkins were 75 cents for all four, and I just love fall decor so I couldn't resist them. The yarn was 25 cents a skein (to build up my new yarn collection now that I've discovered that I love crocheting), the lamp was 50 cents (it'll need a lampshade but I usually end up taking off old ones anyway!) and the burlap sacks were 50 cents each. I adore those burlap bags, I've always wanted some and these ones are so colorful and cute! I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with them.... some sort of a colorful rug or room decor is what I'm thinking... but if all else fails I plan on hanging them in our garage (the next time we have a garage) to hide whatever unsightly things are out there. I've always thought they helped make garages look a lot less cluttered. I'll keep you posted!
While I was on my thrifting spree I stopped by the storm cellar and found an adorable maternity skirt, also for very cheap. Here I am modeling it for my 27 week photo!
And then to top it off we got to go boating with the Church's!
Here are Laura and Rachel, very excited to go inner-tubing:
Kathryn and Asa:
Mike:
And the hubby and me:
I didn't go inner-tubing, but here's a picture of Joel and Laura, pausing for a moment to wave to the camera as they were being whipped around on the waves. How fun!!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Baby Update
Before the baby update, I had to show off this cute piece of furniture that we got to hide our tv! It's actually not that new (as you can tell from the Easter decorations on top) but I never posted the picture and since it seems like most of our posts these days are baby updates, I thought I'd start with something different!
Here we are at 25 weeks! This really has been the best part of the pregnancy so far: no more morning sickness, the pregnancy rash has subsided, and I have energy! Lots of it!
As I was organizing our study closet yesterday (so much energy!) I found a sticky note with a memory verse on it. Back when we were trying for quite some time to get pregnant I had my share of emotional ups and downs. During one of my low points I happened to be reading through the Psalms and I came across this verse:
"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13.
It's such a beautiful verse with so much promise and hope in it for whatever hardship you might be going through. So I wrote it out and carried it around with me in my purse for a while until I had it memorized. Anyway, it had slipped out of my mind after we got pregnant until I found it again yesterday. The memory of how hard that period of time was and how God has delivered us from it made me so grateful. I have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Here we are at 25 weeks! This really has been the best part of the pregnancy so far: no more morning sickness, the pregnancy rash has subsided, and I have energy! Lots of it!
As I was organizing our study closet yesterday (so much energy!) I found a sticky note with a memory verse on it. Back when we were trying for quite some time to get pregnant I had my share of emotional ups and downs. During one of my low points I happened to be reading through the Psalms and I came across this verse:
"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13.
It's such a beautiful verse with so much promise and hope in it for whatever hardship you might be going through. So I wrote it out and carried it around with me in my purse for a while until I had it memorized. Anyway, it had slipped out of my mind after we got pregnant until I found it again yesterday. The memory of how hard that period of time was and how God has delivered us from it made me so grateful. I have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Some things I love looking at right now:
Look at me! Two posts in a row! In Phoenix I was thrown a fabulous baby shower by my family, and here in Moscow I've been finding lots of splendid things at yard sales for our daughter. This has resulted in lots of tiny things that I now enjoy looking at and imagining her in.
First, my favorite thing. Little girl dresses.
Then of course there is this adorable hat that my sister crocheted, plus a newborn baby toy and Curious George treasury.
And last, one of my favorite yard sale finds: a rocking chair for only $10! It needs a new cushion, but I would probably have made a new one anyway to match my nursery colors. And it actually matches the changing table that I also got at a yard sale (you can kind of see it in the dresses picture).
Very exciting!
First, my favorite thing. Little girl dresses.
Then of course there is this adorable hat that my sister crocheted, plus a newborn baby toy and Curious George treasury.
And last, one of my favorite yard sale finds: a rocking chair for only $10! It needs a new cushion, but I would probably have made a new one anyway to match my nursery colors. And it actually matches the changing table that I also got at a yard sale (you can kind of see it in the dresses picture).
Very exciting!
Last Week's Baby
We still haven't taken the 24 week picture (which means it may never happen) but here we are at 23 weeks! Moving right along. This 2nd trimester is definitely flying by compared to the first.
My blogging lapse excuse this time is that Kate and Davey came for a month to visit, and we've been having a blast! David left yesterday to start summer school, and Kate will be leaving this Thursday. Very sad! But, as you can see, I've been getting quality nephew time in (I stole these from Kate's computer).
And here's a picture Kate took:
My blogging lapse excuse this time is that Kate and Davey came for a month to visit, and we've been having a blast! David left yesterday to start summer school, and Kate will be leaving this Thursday. Very sad! But, as you can see, I've been getting quality nephew time in (I stole these from Kate's computer).
And here's a picture Kate took:
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