Pulled Pork Recipe

I got an awesome recipe from my brother! I just had to try it right away!! Jim said he cooks the pork in his crock pot Saturday night, all night. In the morning, he shreds the pork & adds the BBQ sauce & then lets it cook for a little bit more. By the time football is starting, his pulled pork is ready to snack on for the rest of the day. Genius!!

Pulled Pork
**I got his recipe from my brother, Jim. It turned out so good! I did not include the onions or cloves. I think this may become a big hit on Sundays while watching the Carolina Panthers play football!**

4lb pork roast
2 onions, sliced, divided
1 onion, chopped
5-6 whole cloves
2 cups water
16oz bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
salt & pepper

1. Place one sliced onion at the bottom of crock pot.
2. Stud pork roast with cloves and season with salt & pepper.
3. Place roast in slow cooker on top of the sliced onion. Cover with the second sliced onion and add enough water to fill crock pot 2/3 of the way.
4. Cover and cook on low 8-12 hours.
5. remove roast. Remove and discard cloves, bone and fat as well as any water, onions and grease remaining in pot.
6. Use a fork or fingers to pull roast apart and shred.
7. Return the pulled pork to crock pot. Mix in the chopped onion and BBQ sauce and cover.
8. Heat on high 1-3 hours or until onions are soft.

I cooked my roast Saturday night. Once I returned home from church, I shredded the pork & let the pork & BBQ sauce sit in the crock pot on "Keep Warm" for the rest of the day. Justin was working today so we didn't eat the pork until dinner time. It was delicious!

Zoo Day!

College football has offically started which means, NO ONE in Alabama goes anywhere on Saturdays! This is good for us because we can go to the Birmingham Zoo & not have to fight crowds on a Saturday!

The Birmingham Zoo has 5 new lion cubs. The zoo is having a celebration since the lion cubs are now with their parents, on display. There was face painting & we got to see the "King of the Jungle" perform a bit.

Ready for some zoo fun!

Checking out the elephants!

The Lions!

My Lion! :)

Waiting in line to get the kid's faces painted.

David's Turn!

Grace's Turn!

Nanny bought each of the kids a lion stuffed animal.

BIG Lion!

We ate our lunch by the splash pad at the zoo. The kids loved playing in the water!

Of course, we had to go for a ride on the carosel!

Grace waving to Mommy! So cute!

My big kids!

Grace was NOT happy to get off!!

But then we went over to the play ground, & both kids were happy!

For dinner, I made pizzas. I used to the Honey Pizza Dough recipe.

A Trip to Nanny & Grandpa's House!

Nanny had an eye appointment this morning so she needed to drive back home yesterday for the night. Justin was working late Thursday night, so the kids & I packed ourselves up & went with Nanny to Montgomery. I am in a lot of pain! The pain medicine for my tooth doesn't do anything for me but make me feel loopy, which I do not like! I called the dentist this morning & he basically told me I will just have to ride out the pain. I am hoping to get some relief in the next couple days because I am having a hard time sleeping at night. Thank God my Mom is around to help with the kids!

Nanny has some play shoes for Grace at her house. Grace LOVES to walk (and sometimes run) in them around the house. Below Grace is sporting her night gown with her matching high heels!

After Nanny's eye appointment, we all headed back to Birmingham. We are looking forward to a fun filled weekend with Justin!

A long day...

Okay, today wasn't really long, just painful. I had a root canal done back in April. I am still having issues withe tooth so my dentist sent me to a specialist to have the root canal redone. Boy, I thought the first time around was painful but I was WRONG! I started to really hurt after the novocaine wore off. I am so thankful my Momma is here to help me with the kids & to make us dinner. I asked her before she came if she would make us scalloped potatoes with hot dogs. This is something my Mom made for us a lot growing up. I have made it a few times for my family but it always seems to taste better when Mom makes it! :)

Nanny Arrives!

My Mom arrived this afternoon! She is staying with us for the next week because my Dad is out of town for business. We haven't seen my Mom since our family beach trip a couple weeks ago, so I was very excited & happy to catch up with her! I decided I wanted to make something special for her. Pumpkin pie is her absolute favorite dessert! I found a recipe online for Pumpkin Crisp & decided, we had to try it & it would be a fun surprise for her when she arrives!

Pumpkin Crisp
**I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It turned out so good! It tastes like pumpkin pie with a crumble topping! So Yummy!! It was really easy to make!**

1 package yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (29oz) can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Set aside 1 cup cake mix for the topping. Combine remaining cake mix, 1 egg, and melted butter or margarine. Pat into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, 2 eggs, spices, 1/2 cup sugar, and milk. Pour pumpkin mixture over the cake mix crust.
4. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup cake mix and 3/4 cup sugar. Cut in 1/2 cup softened butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle mixture on top of pumpkin mixture.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes.

For dinner, I tried a new recipe called Taco Chicken Bowls. This is served over rice instead of on tortillas. This interested me. It turned out really good & everyone said they would like to have it again. :)

Taco Chicken Bowls
**I found this recipe on budgetbytes.blogspot.com. It turned out really yummy & everyone liked it. I left out the chili powder & cilantro. We are not big fans of cilantro & I bought medium salsa. We are not big fans of spicy food so the medium salsa made it plenty spicy for us.**

1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts
1 (16oz) jar salsa
1 (15oz) can black beans, drained
1/2lb (8oz) frozen corn
1T chili powder
1/2T cumin
1/2T minced garlic
1/2tsp dried oregano
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1/4tsp salt
cracked pepper, to taste
2 cups dry rice
8oz shredded cheese
1/2 bunch cilantro (optional)

1. Add everything except the rice, cheese & cilantro to the slow cooker along with 1/4 cup of water. Give everything a good stir and make sure the chicken is covered in the mixture.
2. Secure the lid of your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Near the end of the cooking time, cook the 2 cups of rice according to the package directions.
4. After 8 hours of cooking, carefully remove the lid of the slow cooker. Stir with a fork to shred the chicken. Build the taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, then the taco chicken mix, shredded cheese and fresh cilantro.

Crazy Hair Bath Time!

Homemade Pretzel Bites

I finished up the homemade pretzel bites while the kids took their naps. They turned out so good! I wasn't sure how well they would turn out (I have never made pretzel before) but they are awesome! I gave them to the kids when they got up from their naps as an afternoon snack & they ate them up! After Justin gets home from work & gives them a try, I am going to put them in a ziplock freezer bag & freeze them. I will pop them out as we want them.

Homemade Pretzel Bites
**I found this recipe at dineanddish.net. They were really easy to make & are a big hit. Perfect afternoon snack or for while we are out running around town. The recipe tells you to put them in the pretzel shape but I rolled them into bite size balls...much easier for the kids to handle.**

1 1/8 cup water (70-80 degrees)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 T brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 qt water
1/2 cup baking soda
coarse salt
melted butter

1. In bread machine pan, place the first four ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1-2 tablespoons water or flour if needed).
2. When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into eight balls. Roll each into a 20-inch rope; form into pretzel shape. In a saucepan, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Drop pretzels into boiling water, two at a time; boil for 10-15 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
3. Place pretzels on greased baking sheets. Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with salt.