rabbit food

start with a generous bed of organic baby spring greens.


then add:  baby corn, julienne beets, sliced olives, marinated artichoke hearts, bacon bits (the real ones), mushrooms, sunflower seeds, grated cheese and a small splash of italian dressing


your finished product is a tasty salad that hits the spot!

what's cookin' good lookin'?

more randomness in regards to cooking and eating ~


my hubby barbecued us an amazing meal for dinner last night - lamb chops (yes, LAMB), roasted corn-on-the-cob with a seasoned goat cheese mixture and stuffed mushrooms stuffed with blended artichoke and mushroom stems and then topped with goat cheese.  it was super good as most meals that he makes usually are.  but what was more amazing than the meal was that he cleaned up ALL of the dishes and kitchen afterward even clearing the dining room table and wiping it down!  while i always love it when my wonderful hubby cooks for us i don't like the clean up afterward because he likes to use every single dish, pan and utensil that he can!!!  so last night was a super treat!


i've NEVER made pancakes for breakfast.  


my girls and i love cream of wheat and i did make that for breakfast this morning.


i'm not necessarily looking forward to the little man starting to eat solid food because that means disgusting, stinky diapers.  though the up side of that will be a lot less "exploding" diapers and therefore a lot less clothing changes throughout the day and less baby laundry.


when we remodeled our house i insisted on either putting in a double wall oven or getting a stove with two ovens.  we went with the stove and double oven combo and i will never willingly go back to a single oven again.


and lastly . . . 
i found out this morning that my VERY non-picky eater does NOT like roast.  i'm like, "what"?  SO . . . . . . . even though we're all going to be "raptured up" here in a couple of hours - i'm planning on making a delicious, juicy roast tomorrow for dinner that completely changes her mind!!!

oh, i almost forgot -
i checked out the Pioneer Woman's cookbook from the library and am considering actually trying out a few of the recipes . . . 
but i'm gonna need to get myself a rolling pin first.

advice

Savanah's advice on changing her brother's diaper:
. . . when "it" darts up - you duck down!!!!

randomness . . .

just a few things from my morning . . .

apparently my daughters are NOT fans of the band Chicago - i'm very disappointed

our one day of sunshine yesterday was not enough to make this day of pouring down rain "acceptable"

peach pie and coffee does a breakfast make

i never realized how much i could "love" baby poo and spit-up

i'm looking forward, once again, to a time in my life where i'm not so tired that i fall asleep while watching a movie - no matter what time of day i'm watching it

i really do prefer to dress my baby boy like a little man

we have four different cartons of milk in our frig on a regular basis:  Non-fat for Sammy and I, Lactose-free for Savanah, 2% for Keith and Half n' half for my coffee   ---  it takes up a lot of room

AND . . . i think it's time for me to start reading Breaking Dawn again

This PORK BUTTS for you!!!!

It's hard to believe that it has been almost a year since our family went to the Essman's for dinner and had the pleasure of our first pork butt. Since then I have made it for my family, Keith's family, friends and even my Bunco babes. It's a simple yet DELICIOUS meal that is fairly inexpensive and VERY easy to make. I recently learned that what we fondly call "pork butt" is actually called Kahlua Pork. I've had a few requests for the recipe so I'm passing along my "version" of it. I didn't actually get the recipe from Shauna so the recipe that follows is what I remember of what she told me and then what I've done to change it up and make it my own. If you try it make sure you let me know what you think.

Ingredients:
pork shoulder roast
cooked rice
black beans
shredded cheddar cheese
salsa

PORK BUTT

pork shoulder roast
3 tbls each of course salt & liquid smoke per 4lbs of pork

I slow cook mine in my crock pot for 12 hours on low. You'll know it's done when it starts shredding apart easily. (I just had a bit of an ah-ha moment. I just realized that the last two times I've made the pork I actually had it in my crock pot for 24 hours and it was WONDERFUL. This actually made it easier because I could put the pork in the crock pot between 4 and 6pm and it was ready the next evening at the same time.)

Serve the pulled pork over a bed of rice (I prefer brown rice which can be made with chicken broth in the rice cooker - 1 part rice, 2 parts liquid). On top of the rice and pork, put a spoonful of heated black beans, then shredded cheddar cheese and top with a liberal scoop of fresh salsa.

So that's how we eat our pulled pork "butt". My family absolutely loves it. I normally get my pork shoulder roast at Winco for .99lb. But the last time we were at Winco I noticed the price had gone all the way up to $1.99lb with the bone-in. We ended up getting our last pork butt at Costco and paid $1.75lb and it was boneless. Keith is the one who always "pulls" the pork for me. He said that the cuts from Costco were much better, they didn't have nearly as much fat as what we normally get at Winco. If I'm cooking for a lot of people (10 or more) I will do two roasts.

I hope that if you try the recipe you'll enjoy it as much as we do. If you have any questions, let me know!

(Amended on 5/5/11)
We have found that depending on the brand of liquid smoke you use this could easily become too salty.  I prefer Stubb's brand.  It comes in both Hickory and Mesquite flavor.  We like the Hickory best but either is good.  If you are using Wright brand you will want to use less salt.  Or if you don't like salt use less.  I wouldn't use less liquid smoke though, it really enhances the flavor of the pork.  Also, the saltiness seems to increase if you have leftovers.  But we still LOVE this recipe.  We like to use the leftover pork for tacos!!!