Crockpot Pork Carnitas and Cilantro Lime Rice

Tastes even better than it looks! I know my blog has been a lot more "or something" than sewing lately.  I hope to get back to more sewing soon, but for now here's a really yummy recipe I made this evening!

Crockpot Pork Carnitas

Ingredients:

2-3 lb pork tenderloin roast (trim off the fat, it should be pretty lean though)

1 can salsa verde sauce (I found Hernandez brand at the grocery store)

1 can diced green chilis

1/4 cup of chopped onion

1 can of rotel (I used mild for the kids, but mexican would be good)

1/2 the juice of a lime

1/4 tsp of cumin

1/4 tsp of salt

1/8 tsp of chili powder

Rub tenderloin with seasonings.  Place in crockpot and put the rest of the ingredients on top.  Simmer 8-9 hrs on low until pork is shredded.

When done, I scrape off most of the sauce and put the tenderloin in its own bowl and shred it.

I scoop out the sauce from the crockpot and put in a separate bowl since only my husband and I add that to our tacos.

To add as toppings to our tacos I use cilantro, cheese, sour cream and salsa.  I also made Cilantro Lime Rice, which I will tell you the recipe for below.

I like corn tortillas but the rest of the family uses flour.

Cilantro Lime Rice

I have looked all over the internet for recipes similar to Chipotle's because I love their Cilantro Lime Rice.  The one I ended up with is from Skinny and it's pretty dang close!  I loved it!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup long grain rice
• 1/2 lime, juice of
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 3 tsp vegetable oil

In a small  pot, add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low and cover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minute.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining oil and toss until completely mixed.

Overall a DELICIOUS MEAL!!  Hope you enjoy!

Jars of Salsa

I could look at these all day! But instead they were eaten. If you have never made salsa, like me, I highly suggest trying The Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Salsa it uses canned tomatoes and rotel.  SO EASY! I follow it exactly except I use one can of original rotel and one can of mexican rotel.  My whole family loves it! We are never buying salsa again now!  Fresh homemade salsa is supposed to last about a week in the fridge.  Mine didn't even last 24 hours! But my hubby did take some to work, where another batch was promptly requested.  It took 10 minutes to make this so if you haven't given salsa a try yet, here ya go!

Beef Enchiladas your kids will eat!

Another quick easy meal, one my kids LOVE!  These aren't like they make in the restaurants with all that sauce, just a little on top.

Ingredients:
1 lb of lean ground beef (or if you want to be tricky, lean ground turkey, or half of each)
1 can of MILD Rotel 
1 package of taco bell taco seasoning mix
1 package of shredded cheese
1 can of mild enchilada sauce(red kind, I like Old El Paso)
1 package of small flour tortillas

1) Brown your ground beef and add taco seasoning just as if you were going to make tacos.
2) When done, add can of mild Rotel (I drain out the juice)
3) Add 3/4 package of cheese appox 4-6 oz
4) Put a scoop of mixture in tortillas and roll up and place in baking pan
5) Add can of enchilada sauce on top, sprinkle cheese
6) Bake 15-20 min at 350 degrees or until bubbly.

(If you want to make this dish ahead of time, stop at step 5 and refrigerate)

I also made the Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Salsa..it was so easy and so good! I have a link on my Pinterest.

Seriously easy pasta dish recipe

There isn't much to this. I grabbed what was in my pantry and freezer.
Frozen cheese tortellini (would work well with frozen ravioli too)
Package of chicken (all I had was southwest flavor lol)
Can of diced tomatoes
Minced garlic
Some fresh spinach I had in the fridge
Olive oil
Wish I would have had mushrooms
Saute all your ingredients until warm
Boil your pasta, drain
Put together add some parmesan
Eat!
P.S. I did this post on my phone! So I have no idea what the format will look like. :)

Crockpot recipes and more Pinterest!

If you have yet to get on Pinterest, now is the time to start! I have a board just for Crockpot Recipes! Why spend all day in the kitchen when the crockpot can do it for you! Pinterest doesn't post a bunch of unwanted junk to your facebook or twitter if you connect through them, thank goodness! It's just a fun way to see what everyone else likes to wear, eat, craft or dream about.

Yummy Recipes

I will be adding a Yummy Recipes tab to my page soon, at the request of family and friends.  That always makes you feel good, people wanting to make what you eat! I post a lot on Facebook with pictures which probably entices a little.  I will start out tonight with the easiest and also the kids and I newest discovery, Wingstop Ranch! Just a note if you didn't know...I live in Texas and in Texas we eat Ranch Dressing with everything! So us Texans are somewhat connoisseurs when it comes to good ranch.  We have a place here called Wingstop.  They have really yummy wings and awesome ranch dressing! Well, I have discovered EXACTLY how to make that dressing here at home. (I will not reveal my sources)  What's funny is it's actually super close to the normal recipe.

Best Ranch Dressing there is:
1 1/2 packets (so obviously you need to buy 2) Hidden Valley Ranch BUTTERMILK recipe dressing
1 cup of buttermilk
1 cup of mayo (I used Kraft Real Mayo)

Uh yeah that's it, so basically you would normally only use 1 packet of dry seasoning, so you are just increasing that part to 1 and 1/2 of the dry seasoning and it makes a huge difference and tastes exactly like they make at Wingstop.  Chill it in the fridge about an hour and use it on everything like we do here in Texas! It will actually last 2 to 3 weeks in a good fridge container.  I found a really awesome dressing measuring cup and container in one through Pampered Chef, if you want to order one, click HERE.

Vintage finds for me and you!

So I just scored some awesome vintage things today, some for me and some for you! I'll start with the ones for you, since I know that's why you are reading this. Do you remember these characters?

I was at our local antique mall looking for rustic/farm related things for R's bday party coming up in November.  Well I didn't really find much there for the party that wasn't just crazy priced.  That's the thing about antique malls, some stuff is super high and some is super low.  BUT, I came across these 3 cookie cutters from the 70's and knew I was in love.  I am not the greatest at the painting/art end of the craft spectrum, but I knew someone out there could make some baking magic out of them!  So I grabbed them up for you and all 3 of these are listed in my Etsy shop, Sweet Stuff Shop.

The lowly worm from the Busy World of Richard Scarry.

 Joan Walsh Anglund's famous little girl from her books and prints of the 60's and 70's.

And...who could forget Porky Pig's "That's all folks!"

Now onto my finds!

Some of mine is from Thrift Town and some from the Antique Mall.  Thrift Town produced the $1.99 Milk Bottle which I will probably use for a vase at the party and the cool car that R picked out for himself for 75 cents.  My antique mall finds were the $2.00 Napa Valley crate (again probably for the party), and of course the coolest cookie cutters, but I think my favorite find of the day is the Fisher Price School Days Desk from 1972 for $5! He immediately started playing with it and loves it!  Right next to it was more magnet letters for $3 but I grabbed the lowercase ones (which we are still working on recognizing). There was another set there and I am hoping those were uppercase and will snatch them up. 

 It has a chalkboard and these cool paper pullouts that you are supposed to put your magnet letters in or I assume draw with chalk.  I am glad he thinks its as cool as I do!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  as Porky would say,  "That's all Folks!"

Elastic Sale!

I have mentioned Pick your Plum before, but seriously they have awesome deals! Today is 12 yards of colored elastic for $3.24!  On Pick Your Plum's Pinterest Board they give you a bunch of cool ways to use it.  So go forth and get a good crafty deal!!

I'm back!

Did you miss me this summer? It was hectic around here with all the kids home and I barely did any sewing or crafting.  I did make a couple cool birthday presents that I am preparing a tutorial for. Magnetic play tins for kids. Super fun and easy. I keep promising my fb fans I am going to put up the tutorial soon but seriously it will happen! I have been coming up with ideas galore for my littlest's 3rd bday party, in which I will end up having a ton of tutorials.  You can see my inspirations on my pinterest. Just look on my side bar to go to pinterest and follow me.  See you soon my blog friends!