25 Years Young

Today I am officially a quarter of a century old.  Wow, that sounds horrible.  Let's just go with 25 years young!

I found this little gem of a picture in an old stack of photos and I have a few thoughts on it...

1. My Mom always made the best birthday cakes.  This duck for my 5th was one of my favorites.  I've also had a clown, a caterpillar, a pool cake, a teddy bear, a bunny, and a cheeseburger.

2.  Wait a minute.  I don't think this tradition should have ever ended!

3.  My Mom made a mean birthday cake, but she didn't do so hot in the hair-cutting department.  You should have seen it when she curled the ends under.  I looked like a cute little pudgy mushroom.

4.  Completely unrelated, but 20 years later she has a much better decorating sense, thank God.  Seashells woven into some sort of tapestry thing?  Really Mother?

25 puts a new perspective on things for me.  I'm like officially an adult.  Like the days of excuses for being young and stupid are dwindling.  Darn.  Now I can just plead old and stupid!  :)

I've accomplished a lot in my 25 years...not nearly as much as I dreamed about growing up, but that's what the next 25 are for, and the 25 after that.  I've got lots to do, and hopefully even more time to do it in!

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

- Abraham Lincoln

Pulled Pork Tacos

This is one of my favorite pulled pork recipes (yes, I have several!).  This was the main course at my party so I made two, yes two, crock pots of pulled pork for a total of 10 pounds.  Yoi! 

For this post, I'll give you the recipe to make a 2.5 pound piece of pork in the slow cooker.  That should be enough for 5-6 people.

In your crock pot, combine:

• 
  
  2 cups salsa
• 
  
  OR 1 cup salsa and 1 cup Rotel diced tomatoes (I've even used plain diced tomatos from a can, use whatever you have on hand)
• 
  
  2 tbsp. oregano
• 
  
  2 tbsp. chili powder
• 
  
  2 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 
  
  1 tsp. salt
• 
  
  2.5 lb. Boston Butt pork shoulder (may have a bone in it)

Stir this mixture and add pork.  Turn pork to coat.  Picture below shows pre-coated and post.  Rocket science, I know.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8 hours.  When done, the meat should just fall apart without much pulling on your part.  Remove the bone if you had one, and you're ready to serve!  That's it, so easy!!

To serve:

Wrap your tortillas in foil and warm in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.

These are best served just with the tortilla, pork, fresh cilantro, salsa, sour cream, and fresh squeezed lime juice.

You can also add lettuce and cheese as I've shown below, but you really don't need them!

For a normal meal, I pair these with some mexican rice and voila, there you go.  It's easy and fast to put together, perfect for a busy weeknight!

2nd Annual Guac-Off and Mexican recipes!

I love to entertain and have several parties a year.  The "GUAC-OFF" came about last year when my friend and I were arguing about who had the better guac recipe...hence the guac-off.  Last year I had about 10 people over and it was thrown together fairly quickly.  This year I had about 20 people and was much more prepared!  I had the party this past Saturday and it was a success!!

I had pulled pork tacos for the main course and will be posting that recipe soon.

See how festive I was?!? Lol...

Below are all my recipes, except I forgot to take a pic of my queso dip!

This was my bowl of guacamole for the contest and 5 other party-goers brought guac to be judged.  Haha, we really do pass out slips of paper and do a blind vote.  I got second place...boo!  The winner got the honorary sombrero shown above.  I will not be sharing my recipe in case any of my competition decides to look.  ;)

I like to make my own tortilla chips, shown above.  Cut several tortillas at once into triangles with a pizza cutter and lay on a foil covered cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt.  Bake for 9-10 minutes at 350 or until golden brown.  They are super yummy!

These Chicken Enchilada Roll-Ups were a surprise hit.  I used chipotle flavored tortillas in case you were wondering.  You can find the recipe here.

I made these cinnamon chips the same way as the tortilla chips above except I brushed them with melted butter and sprinkled with a cinnamon sugar mixture.

Fruit Salsa:

3 kiwis

1 pint strawberries

1/2 pint blackberries

1 can of peaches

1 tbsp. strawberry preserves

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. lime juice

grated lime zest

Dice all the fruit and mix in rest of ingredients.  Strain the mixture before serving to get rid of some of the juices.

6 Layer Mexican Dip

This makes a large serving platter so you can always make a smaller portion.

Blend 3 8oz. blocks of softened cream cheese with a mixer.  Add in 2-2.5 tbsp. taco seasoning (store bought or make your own, see below!)

Spread this mixture on your serving platter or plate.  Top with salsa, black beans, lettuce, shreaded cheese, and chives.

Taco Seasoning:

1 tbsp. chili powder

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Mango Pico de Gallo

3 mangos, diced

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

1/2 red onion

2 limes, juiced

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. sea salt

Lime Margarita Cupcakes...Mmmmm

These were awesome!  My friends call me the cupcake queen now, especially after they had the cookie dough ones!

After these cooled, I brushed the tops with Patron tequila.  I also whipped Patron and lime juice into the buttercream frosting, but I think I added too much because my frosting wasn't as stiff and pretty as Annie's!  Check out the recipe here!

 

Sweet Potato Pancakes, Mmmmmm!

I love sweet potatoes any which way you could possibly make them.  Good thing for me- they are pretty good for you!

This recipe makes 3 large pancakes, 2 of which are shown below.  Following the recipe, they should be about 200 calories each.  Add some sugar free maple syrup on there, and it's still not a bad meal.  I had 2 for dinner and will be thoroughly enjoying the last one for breakfast tomorrow morning.  :)

1 medium sweet potato (Wash, chop off ends, wrap in foil, and bake at 400 for 1 hour.  Scoop out the inside and mash before adding to batter)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

 1/4 tsp. salt

 1/8 tsp. ginger

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. vegetable oil

1 egg

1/8 cup packed brown sugar (I prefer dark)

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and all spices.  Add buttermilk and vanilla, followed by oil, egg, and brown sugar.  Add mashed potatos, mixing well.

Cook as you would regular pancakes!