[Slow Cooker] Pork Carnitas

No doubt, this year has brought about a lot of changes. Some have been a breeze, and others have taken their sweet time. Matt and I love our new home. There are so many outdoorsy things that he loves doing that I get to tag along for--hunting, fishing, hiking, etc. My work/life balance, however, has been more like WORK/life. I knew coming to a new place and starting at a new school with new standards would be challenging, so I had told myself that now would be the time to devote as much time as was needed to my work. Matt would be working hard at school and we don't have children (don't tell Avery), so I could spend time making my lessons/classroom/teaching practices perfect. Perfect? Really? No matter how much preparation goes into any of it, these kiddos I teach are twelve and thirteen. There is no perfect, and in fact, imperfection gets us much further in our classroom.

Recently, I made a decision to alter my work/life to be better for me. I said that "I made a decision," when really, I know the Lord nudged me (or shook me) and reminded me to take care of myself. I am back to working out 5-6 days a week, cooking healthy meals that I am proud to share, and I still feel like I am devoting the time needed to my students and my classroom. And hopefully, all of this will show back up on the blog.

For now, I am going to stop talking about me and start talking about a fantastic new [slow cooker] recipe that is sure to have you going for seconds (or thirds if you're anything like my hubby). This weekend was the start of my Spring Break, so today was all about playing. We were in and out of the house all day. Many people feel that slow cooker recipes are best for days when you are at work for long hours, and I completely agree, however, I am all for those recipes even on the days you are home... like today. I LOVED being able to start dinner around 11am, and do nothing about it until it was time to eat dinner. I know you clicked on the link for the recipe, so I'll stop blabbing and get to it.

Pork Carnitas
For the Pork:
Ingredients:
-2 T chili powder
-2 t cumin
-1 t ground coriander
-1 t onion powder
-1 t garlic powder
-1 t sea salt
-1 t oregano
-Pork loin (about 3 pounds)
-1 1/2 cup water
-Bay leaf
Directions: 
Mix all of the spices (first seven ingredients) together in a bowl. Rub down the entire pork loin and place in the slow cooker. Pour in water and place bay leaf inside. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. When the pork is finished cooking, it should shred easily with two forks. I like to shred mine fully and then leave the meat in the juices for a little while longer before serving (just while I'm putting together the rest of the meal).

For the Avocado Cilantro Topping:
Ingredients:
-1/2 of an avocado
-1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
-1/2 cup water
-1 cup cilantro (leaves and stems)
-1 clove garlic
-1/2 t salt
-Juice from half a lime (or more)
Directions:
Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

For the Carnitas:
Ingredients:
-Corn tortillas
-1 can Black beans (drained and rinsed)
-Romain lettuce
-Roma tomato (diced)
-Avocado (diced)
-Cheddar cheese (shredded)
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray both sides of tortillas with cooking spray and place tortillas on a baking sheet. Cook for about 8 minutes, flipping them over at about 4 minutes. I usually heat up the black beans on the stove for a few minutes, but you can omit this if you want. The rest of the ingredients are just for toppings. Feel free to add or take away any ingredients.

This may seem like a lot of directions, but it really does not take long at all. You can make the dressing ahead of time or while your tortillas are heating up. Put them together for your family/guests or have everything spread out on the counter and serve buffet-style (my favorite)!

Enjoy! Let me know if you try it!

Anticipating Christmas

Christmas time starts early for us, but not too early. We give Thanksgiving the whole month of November, but come December 1st, it begins to look a lot like Christmas around our house. There is truly nothing like the Christmas season. I spent that first week of December changing out our fall and Thanksgiving decorations for our Christmas ones. My hubby was so proud of me for going up to the attic myself to get everything down. He met me at the bottom of the attic steps, though, just in case. Since I could only decorate for a short time in the evenings, it took a few days. Also, we were missing something kind of huge.. a Christmas tree. Our old tree was a beautiful, wide, and full 8-foot artificial tree that took up way too much storage space, so I sadly parted with it (but kept it in the family), and decided we could get a real one this year (being in North Carolina and all). The fact that we would be gone for two weeks and a real tree being in our house, unattended, began to get to me a little, and when my mom told me about a smaller 6-foot, PRE-LIT, tree from Target for FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS, I was on it.

The first weekend of December was go time. We had a pretty fun weekend planned, actually. Some friends of Matt's from the Corps of Cadets were in town, and one even stayed with us a few nights. We love seeing people from home. It definitely does the heart good. They came over Friday night (pictured above), but then had plans for the rest of the weekend.

Our Saturday was booked with us having our Christmas card photo taken in the morning, and then... my hunting trip for our tree. Did I mention it was on sale for $48? I looked online to ensure that the Target closest to us had said tree, and the website claimed it did. However, this was not the case once there. No big deal, Target's awesome customer service called the next closest store (25 minutes away... I was determined) to have them put one on hold for me. This was me, fueled up with Spark after leaving the first Target on my way to Target #2.

And then this is me leaving Target #2 with only my tree my tree and lots of other things I needed that caught my eye. Oh good grief, you try going into Target during Christmas time at any time of the year! I found a new doormat I didn't need. Seriously, I already had one that looked like Santa Claus, but I couldn't pass up this poinsettia one. I LOVE poinsettias. I also got some new wrapping paper. I actually did need wrapping paper. I like to buy one roll (sometimes ends up being two) and wrap all presents in the same paper. To me, it makes family Christmases easier. Or maybe, it's my undiagnosed OCD. Honestly, I can't remember what was in the bag. I'm sure it was full of very non-important but Christmas-y (making them important) things! Okay, I admit... I have Target has a problem.

When I got home, I got to it. The tree went up, and it was just as sweet as the sale price! The tree was perfect, and I was so happy with how it turned out. And if I say so myself, the doormat was not a bad purchase either!

       

      
















Okay, and one more, because I added a filter and put my dog in a Christmas sweater... how cute is she?!

In the weeks leading up to Christmas break, Matt was recruiting for jobs, so he was traveling quite a bit, which left Aves and me at home, dreaming of Christmas and trying to stay focused on work. We watched a lot of Christmas movies. One good thing about grading papers is that it is very easy to multitask. Lifetime and Hallmark Channel, thank you for being here in December.

Seriously, we snuggled up on the couch in our buffalo-check patterned PJs a lot and watched Christmas movies. Who knew there were so many! (Christmas movies, not buffalo-check, but I guess that, too)

Since moving to North Carolina, work has taken up a lot of my time. Recently, though, I joined a Cookbook Club, in which each month, we meet at someone's house, having all cooked a dish from the same cookbook. It is somewhat of a potluck dinner, only all of the recipes come from the same book. I've loved it. We have only had two meetings, one in November and one in December, which I hosted. We cooked from one of my favorite cookbooks (one Matt gave me for Christmas in 2014) Skinny Taste.

I loved getting to host new friends and enjoy great food and great conversation around our dining room table. 

When the time did finally come for the holiday break, I was ready. Starting all of the Christmas-y stuff on the 1st definitely has its perks and definitely brings with it anticipation. On the last day of school before the break, we busted out our tacky Christmas sweaters and sent the kiddos off in style!

Thanksgiving

Let me begin by saying that I should be grading projects. I've done literally anything BUT grade those darn things today. #YOLO am I right?

Y'all, the holiday season is awesome. Seriously, the best. It starts with Thanksgiving. I L-O-V-E Thanksgiving. This year was a very special Thanksgiving because family came to us in North Carolina rather than us having to travel to Texas. I know I'm a couple of holidays behind, but this semester has been crazy (isn't it always?!), and I am just getting to it... don't judge.

Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, the last of mine and Matt's siblings got his Aggie ring. This is a big deal to us Texas A&M people. Some say bigger than graduation day. We were so proud of him and all of his accomplishments. Unfortunately, I could not take off of work (so goes the teaching profession) and therefore celebrated from NC with Avery, but Matt was able to fly down for the occassion and got to see his brothers and our sister-in-law and dad. I was so happy he could be there. Is that not the studly-est looking bunch? Shout out to the cutie pie on the left!


 Pretty much the whole month of November was dedicated to school and getting ready for Thanksgiving company. The two ran together a little bit, too. Here is a Color by Number I assigned to my students before the holiday break. They loved it! Even though it was solving equations, you have them color it, and all of a sudden, they can't wait to get their hands on it. I also changed our kitchen chalkboard to a verse of thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for, it seemed like a great daily reminder.
            
















The first to arrive in North Carolina was my mom. She came early to help get everything ready and grocery shop but also just to be here. It was so fun having her here for a few days before everyone else got here.

The next to arrive were my brother and sister-in-law (with my soon to be born niece or nephew!) and her family, as well as Matt's brother and his girlfriend. So many people that we love all in one place! We took them to one of our favorite lunch spots, and later, some of the group even got to enjoy a Duke basketball game. Here are the Cameron Crazies in Cameron Indoor.

I stayed back with my mom to pick up these two goofballs from the airport--my dad and sister. They didn't arrive until Wednesday night, but we soaked up all the time we had together.

On Thanksgiving Day, my mom, sister, and I were in the kitchen most of the morning. My mom is pretty much a professional when it comes to holiday meals and even created a timeline of when things would go into the oven, etc. Think we are related? Yes. That afternoon, we indulged an abundance of great food, football, and family time. After lunch, we went on campus to explore the Sarah P. Duke Gardens and took some pictures (some of which ended up on Christmas cards this year).
          
















That night, many of the ladies took to the streets mall and braved the Black Friday shopping while the others went to see a movie.

The following day was spent trail hiking, showing family around our new city and the beautiful Duke campus, and again just enjoying the company. That night, we went to The Angus Barn, a Raleigh icon, that serves some of the finest steaks and seafood in the Triangle. It really was an experience. It was decorated for Christmas already and was such a wonderful atmosphere. We even took a tour of the wine cellar and kitchen.

      

     
















While we were waiting to be seated, we took pictures by the Christmas tree. If you look closely, you can see a little elf who was sitting in the tree. On the right, the boys checking out the cigar collection after dinner.

All too soon, the week was over and everyone had to go back home. We didn't get to see all of our family, but we cherish the times that we get to see any of them, especially since being so far away now. Once Thanksgiving was over, it was time to finish out the first semester strong and begin to get ready for Christmas. December was upon us!