Crock Pot Beef Carnitas

Whatcha Making Wednesdays: Crock Pot Beef Carnitas

(Eat.Live.Run)

This recipe is seriously awesome.  One of the best crock pot recipes I've ever tried and definitely a new favorite BEEF recipe of mine!  My friend Lauren shared it with my sister and I  and we ended up making it for my parent's joint birthday lunch in September.  It obviously is now making regular appearances in the Wright household.  Try it, you won't regret it!

Ingredients:

2 lbs flank steak (I want to try this with a top round steak aka London broil....I have a few in my freezer that need a destination!)

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

for spice rub---

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

for serving---

corn tortillas

avocado slices

cilantro

your favorite salsa

limes

Directions:

1.       Mix together all spices in a small bowl. Rub the spices all over your flank steak---be generous here! Then, place your steak at the bottom of your crock pot.

2.       Cover the steak with the chopped onions, bell peppers and jalapeno pepper. Turn heat on LOW and cook for 8 hours.

3.       After 8 hours, remove meat from crock pot and shred with a fork. It should be incredibly easy to shred. You can either stick the shredded meat back in the pot for another hour or serve as is.

4.       To serve, heat your corn tortillas in a skillet on the stove. Spoon some carnitas on a tortilla then top with salsa, avocado, cilantro and a squeeze of lime.

5.       Enjoy with a margarita for best result.

Time:

active time--10 min

total time---8 hours

Play date at the "beach"

Throwback Thursday: Play date at the "beach"

Referring to our play date at the "beach" is a bit of a stretch.  Okay, a big stretch but we had fun anyway.  Our friends, Katie and Carson, hosted us for a mid-summer play date this past July.  HB is only two days older than Carson and they were both delivered in the same hospital.  If my memory serves, Katie and I actually  had the same due date.  I liked to refer to her as my pregnancy twin at that time.  It's fun to get together now since our boys are so close in age.

HB loved the water slide and sand table.  He ate so much sand that day I feared for his digestive tract.  No matter how many times I washed his mouth out with water he continued to go back for more.

Katherine was about six weeks old but I somehow failed to capture a picture of her on her first play date.  Truth be told though she didn't do much playing.  She napped on the patio table while the boys played and then napped some more while we snacked and played inside.  I also failed to capture a picture of Carson's cousins, Moses and Lancy, who stopped by with their mom Amy.  We love this whole family!  Thanks for a great time:)

Carson is trying to crawl up the water slide here because as I have learned with little boys, slides are meant to be crawled up.  Duh, mom.

It is seriously a feat to get more than one toddler to look at the camera at the same time and have them both look happy.

The awesome water and sand table I mentioned earlier.  Carson is showing HB how it's done.  Don't they look like two little old men?

HB is now getting his hands dirty along with throwing sand into Katie's beautiful lawn.  Sorry Katie!

Miscellany Monday

1.  I realized I haven't shared anything about our annual lamb sale...yet.  Kelly has been selling lambs he has raised for 20+ years but I'm not sure how long he has hosted a sale at the farm.  This year we sold 21 feeder lambs (feeder lambs weigh less than 100 pounds), four breeding ewes and three rams.  It poured rain early that morning - we were afraid it wasn't going to let up.  But it cooled things off nicely!  Here is a family picture, sans Katherine who was sleeping, with our Lot 1 lamb - we are pretty proud of him.

2.  I added an "About" page to La Ranchita.  You can check it out by selecting that tab which is right below the picture at the top of the main screen.  I am thinking about adding a Recipe Index page.  I didn't start my blog to share recipes but I've started posting them fairly regularly and cooking is definitely a passion of mine.  Thoughts?

3. I occasionally have a soapbox and I wanted to share this thought - I think the government regulates far too much including school lunch programs.  I don't even want to begin to imagine how much time has been spent debating how to provide (and fund) daily nutrition for American children.  As a parent I appreciate the concern, but do not think it is the job of the American government to provide breakfast and lunch, or even after school snacks for children.  At some  point parents should actually do their job.  I'm stepping off my soapbox now.

4.  If you are interested in what your child is being served in a public school lunch room, you may be interested in knowing that five new beef recipes have been develop and tested in schools and are now available.  To see more, including actual recipes, visit the newly updated Beef Nutrition website. Recipes include a beef wrap, chili, sloppy joes, Thai beef and rock and roll beef mash up.

5.  I started a new (to me) Beth Moore bible study in August on the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul.  Through the study I have been convicted about the ways I am beginning to teach my children about Christ.  I have begun asking myself about the ways I bring Jesus into our day - what am I doing to talk about Jesus and how am I teaching my children to begin praising Him?  I started playing a children's worship CD on a regular basis - not only is it soothing when my nerves are frayed but it has also been a sweet reminder of many songs I sang in Sunday School as a child.  I would love to hear your suggestions on incorporating teachings about Jesus into the routines you have with your small children.

Blessings as you start this week!

Katherine's Birth Story

It was Monday, May 20 and I woke up with a laundry list of errands I wanted to accomplish in town since I had an OB appointment that morning.  Kelly was on the second day of his shift so HB and I had the day to ourselves; running errands would surely make it pass quicker and I had plenty to do before Katherine came.  At my OB appointment Dr. Fernandez asked if I wanted her to strip my membrane.  I had requested this in my first pregnancy with HB and after experiencing the discomfort and pain once, I immediately told her no.  I also used Kelly being on shift partially as my excuse.  She would tell me the next morning in the hospital that she had a feeling today was the day since my husband was on shift and it “always seems to happen that way when someone’s spouse is working a shift.”  She checked my cervix and I was dilated to 3 centimeters which was a definite improvement after not being dilated at all the week prior.  Dr. Fernandez left and I was expecting a call with my induction date sometime later that day. 

HB and I loaded back up and headed to Chick-fil-A to refuel before scooting around town.  I loved when the lady who took our order asked when I was due and I replied “In four days…”  She smiled and wished me luck.  HB and I love us some Chick-fil-A and had come to make lunch here after my OB appointments somewhat of an irregular tradition.  After we both finished eating I let him explore the play room and then we left much to his disappointment.  I’m sure he would have loved to play for another hourJ  We headed to Saba’s to buy Kelly’s birthday present, picked up our pictures from Costco and returned a few items at Hobby Lobby.  I was preparing to start and finish a small craft project for Katherine’s room the next day so I need to exchange a few things.  Little did I know that this same project would still be incomplete a month after her birth.  I guess I should have started much sooner!

After finally arriving home and getting HB down for an afternoon nap, I putzed around the house putting things away and trying to tidy up in general.  I was mentally going over all the things I wanted to accomplish on Tuesday (May 21) because a good friend of mine, Sarah Geiger, had offered to keep HB for the day.  I was really looking forward to the day because Kelly would be home, HB would be busy playing and I was planning on making one last productive push to get stuff done around the house before Miss Katherine came.  After dinner, finishing up chores outside and getting HB to bed, I sat down in the recliner to rest and call Kelly.  I told him that I was pretty tired that night and my body felt a little weird but I just thought that it was the toll of running errands and that I was having some cramps after having my cervix checked.  I went to bed shortly after our phone call ended.

It was 12:50 am and I woke up to go to the bathroom, or so I thought.  I had a huge gush of liquid come out as soon as I sat down.  As groggy as I was, I thought wow, that was weird, and almost instantly I realized that my water just broke.  I changed my jammies and as soon as I sat down to call Kelly I had another gush of liquid come out.  I was totally ignorant when it came to being prepared for having my water break.  Before I changed a second time I texted Kelly, “I don’t think we will mop the floor after all tomorrow because my water just broke.”  After getting situated, I was planning on sitting in the recliner with the heating pad on my lower back because I was a little uncomfortable and planned on monitoring contractions for a bit before alerting the troops.  Contractions started rolling in.  Seven minutes apart.  Six. Five. Four.  And that’s where they hung out.  I immediately got scared about having my baby at home, by myself, so I started calling people.  Kelly hadn’t texted back yet so I called him and he didn’t answer.  I called my mom so she could make plans to get on the road in the morning.  She commented that I sounded scared.  I said, why yes, I am a bit.  And I called my friend Emily Rovey who was going to pick up HB and keep him until my mom got into town.  Emily was on her way over when Kelly called back.  He mistook the sound of my phone call for the tones at work and thought they were for someone else.  He assured me that he would be home in an hour (that’s how long it takes to drive home for him).

Emily arrived and I was still rushing around trying to get HB’s food together.  I had all his clothes set out but for some reason I still hadn’t packed them in a bag.  I packed his clothes and shoes and started pulling out food, bottles and snacks.  Note to self for next pregnancy: pack much sooner than the week you are due.  Painful contractions every four minutes make it much harder to focus and be efficient.  We went and woke up HB; at first he was kind of like “this party at 1am is fun mommy” but this soon escalated into tears of grogginess and confusion as we loaded him into the car seat in Emily’s car.  This scene right here raised my emotional level about 10 times higher than it was.  I was sad to see my oldest baby (he was only 13 months!) go and on top of that cry while leaving.  I also realized this was the last time it would just be him and I and I got sad about that too.  Emily offered to drive me to the hospital if Kelly didn’t arrive home soon and to call her if I needed.

Kelly pulled in the driveway about 15 minutes later.  My hospital bag was in the same condition HB’s bag was – empty.  Thankfully I managed to get everything packed before Kelly arrived because he was more wired than I was.  He came in the house and said “Let’s go babe” – I quickly asked him if he could load the hospital bag and car seat, you know, in case we needed a car seat to leave the hospital with Katherine.  J  All saracasm aside, hubby did great through this unexpected surprise in the middle of the night even after working a 48-hour shift and being up straight both nights.  I probably would have been a bit disorganized too if I were him.  We locked the house, loaded up in his truck and were off!  Okay, well, we were off to make a quick stop at Circle K so hubby could get some tobacco for his fix.  Now we were really off!  We were about 10 minutes away from the hospital when I asked Kelly if he could “just slow down a bit because he was scaring me.”  He informed me that he was just trying to get us to the hospital because he did not want to have this baby on the side of the road. 

As we pull up next to the Women and Infant Services entrance at Banner Estrella, my hubby notices a nurse preparing to enter the building.  This is a good thing because she could let us in this entrance! (Between midnight and 6am this entrance is locked and you have to enter the hospital at the Emergency Room…which is a bad thing because then you have a really long hallway between you and the maternity ward.)  He hollers out his window, “Miss!”  She does not hear him.  He hollers a second time.  Still no response from the nurse.  He puts his truck in park, part way has his head and upper body through his window and yells, “My wife is having a baby!” She turns and notices us – a couple of hillbilly’s trying to take the shortest route in the building.  I am a little embarrassed at this point and as he is yelling I was trying to gracefully exit the truck while mid-contraction.  Due to the contraction I was unable to ask him to refrain from yelling any more.  In retrospect though I loved my husband for getting me as close to possible as the building with as little walking as necessary.  The nurse, who was a labor and delivery nurse at that, not only let me in the building but walked me into triage and then went to let Kelly in the same entrance after parking so he didn’t have to go through the Emergency entrance.

After getting checked into triage, the nurse checked my cervix (I was a 4) and then tested the fluid to make sure it was amniotic fluid to confirm that my water had in fact actually broke.  I wish I could remember her name because she was totally cool.  And I feel totally like a 7^th grader saying totally cool but she was.  She made me feel comfortable and at ease even though the contractions were already kicking my tail.  We were officially checked into the hospital at 3:15am.  My super cool triage nurse moved us into a delivery room where my delivery nurse Jaime (nope, this is not a spelling mistake) immediately got me hooked up to some fluids so we could do my epidural ASAP.  Sitting still for this epidural was more difficult than with HB’s because my contractions were already rolling in every two minutes at this point.  Yep folks, I said two minutes.  In the two hours since my water had broke my contractions had sped up immensely.  It seemed very fast at this point because I had contractions for almost 48 hours with HB before delivering him.  After my epidural, I settled in for a short nap.  I think Kelly would have appreciated an epidural too so his hospital couch/bed would have seemed more comfortable.  At a little after 5am Kelly started sending a few text messages out to family to give them an update.  My sister told Kelly that she woke up thinking that I was having my baby – she was right!  I sent a mass text a little after 6am and made sure to tell Miss Sarah that we would have to take a rain check for HB’s little play dateJ  Dr. Fernandez was on call overnight so she stopped by at 6:45 to see how things were progressing.  I was dilated to an 8 but still not ready.  She had a c-section scheduled for 7 so she was gonna have to go.  Boo.  Two babies in a row I have had a different doctor deliver them.  Jaime said good-bye (the shift change happened at 7am) and Christina my new delivery nurse said hello.  She checked me and informed me that I should press the call button should I feel any more pressure in my bottom.  It wasn’t but five minutes later that I told Kelly I was thinking I should call Christina.  I’m glad I did because after she checked me she told me I was ready to push!  She called the doctor and she started prepping for his arrival.

The shift change had just happened so it was a bit chaotic preparing to push.  I felt like I had every nurse from Labor and Delivery in my room although there were only five extra people aside from Kelly and I – Dr. Johnson, who would deliver Katherine, Christina, a student nurse, and two sweet nurses who would care for Katherine once she arrived.  The room felt a bit small at that point.  But I was focused, and ready to push.  At this point I kind of lost track of time because I could almost taste the victory of having my new daughter in my arms but start to finish I don’t think I was in active labor for very long.  I guess in thinking about it, the shift changed happened at 7:00am and I delivered at 7:12am, so nope, I wasn’t pushing for very long at all!  I so appreciated this at the time because I was in active labor with HB for almost two hours.  The process of pushing this time was also much more relaxed to me, I felt more calm, more like I knew what to expect.  I guess I did since this was round number two.  Before I knew it Katherine was out wailing in Dr. Johnson’s arms and I was elated.  She was more blue than I remembered HB being but she was certainly breathing just fine on her own.  My daughter.  My daughter was here.  It felt so sweet to whisper that to her – daughter. 

Katherine Beth Wright was born on Tuesday, May 21 at 7:12am.  She weighed seven pounds four ounces and measured 19 inches long.  And she had a head full of beautiful black hair, just like her brother, dad and myself. 

After she was cleaned up a bit and wrapped up like a burrito, I could focus on the next most important task of the morning: ordering breakfast.  Both times I’ve checked into the hospital to have my babies I have thought “Crap, I should have stopped and ate something because they’re not gonna feed me until I have this baby.”  I was hungry BEFORE I really got deep into labor so I certainly felt famished after.  Kelly and I were glad our baby was here safe, and were eager to get some rest and finish up the rigamaroo involved in hospital requirements.  We had stayed two nights in the hospital when we delivered HB and we really only wanted to stay one night this time.

Gosh as I sit here typing this almost five months later I am wondering how to wrap this birth story up.  In general, I felt more relaxed about the whole delivery process and I think I enjoyed it more with Katherine.  I was also not experiencing near as much back and hip pain this time around so that naturally made it easier to enjoy.  I was so grateful for having a positive experience though and was so looking forward to going home.  My mom and dad took HB for four days so I can adjust to life with a newborn again and try to start learning the breastfeeding process all over.  I actually experienced some sadness when my parents brought HB home to us because he was no longer my “baby” and he seemed so big in comparison to his sister.  I also experienced some guilt towards him because I wasn’t able to take care of his needs as quickly.  Despite the craziness of it all, and the fluctuation of my emotions, life quickly adjusted.  With Katherine at about six weeks I felt like a new normal was coming and now at four months we have definitely hit our stride having two children.  I am in love with both of them and so grateful to be their mom and wife to their daddy.

Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches

Whatcha Making Wednesday: Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches
Kindly adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 12 whole Dinner Rolls Or Small Sandwich Buns (I used Rhodes frozen dinner rolls and "made" my own!  The sandwiches turned out to be more like sliders.)
• 1 pound Thinly Shaved Roast Beef Or Ham (or Both!)
• 1 pound Cheese (Provolone, Swiss, Mozzarella, Even Cheez Whiz...I used slices of whatever I had and needed to use up in my fridge)
• 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
• 3 Tablespoons Grated Onion (or 1 Tbsp Dried Onion Flakes))
• 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds
• 1 Tablespoon Spicy Mustard
• 1 Tablespoon Horseradish Mayo Or Straight Prepared Horseradish
•  Dash Of Worcestershire
•  Optional Dressing Ingredients: Sriracha, Hot Sauce, Dried Onion Flakes Instead Of Fresh, Garlic Powder, Pepper, Etc.)

Preparation Instructions

1. Slice rolls in half. Mix together mayo, grated onion, poppy seeds, spicy mustard, horseradish, and Worcestershire. Taste it and adjust ingredients however you wish.
2. To assemble, generously spread dressing on top and bottom buns. Lay on roast beef or ham, then one or two slices of cheese (I cut them to fit the small buns.) I ended up using a small slice of provolone and cheddar.  I liked the ooey gooey mess they produced together.
3. Wrap each sandwich in a foil square, and either keep in the fridge or bake right away. To bake the sandwiches, put them on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. The buns should be slightly crusty and the cheese should be melted.

HB and I made a test run of these bad boys the night before Kelly got off shift.  HB seriously devoured his and I may have devoured the three on my plate too!  I ended up making another batch of freezer rolls for round number two the next night when Kelly was home.  I made enough for dinner one night and then had some extra in the fridge because my husband is a snacker.  He loves to come in from working outside and grab a quick snack and head back outside - these fit the bill perfectly!

Miscellany Monday

I've had some serious thoughts lately and I feel compelled to share:

1. I love the wet foot prints my son leaves behind on the bath mat afterI lift him out of the tub.  These may be the cutest imprints ever.

2.  I've become a coupon nerd.  However I have made two foolish purchases including scented dryer sheets and spray-n-go lotion simply because I had a coupon.  The lotion is actually pretty awesome but the dryer sheets give me a headache and I decided to throw them out.  All in the name of saving some money.

3.  I think my dog eats more dog food since we give her free choice.  I am considering limiting her intake to reduce the amount of the dog food we go through. 

4.  I uploaded close to 1,000 pictures from 2012 using my cell phone as our Wifi hub last month.  I received notice from Verizon when I was uploading the November pictures that we had used 75 percent of our data allowance and we stilll had two weeks to go.  I went without Facebook (gasp) for two weeks and only sporadically checked my email so I didn't have to sell my firstborn just to pay our cell phone bill.  Hubby and I both survived.  And I think we're better for the time spent away from Facebook.  Praise the Lord for the forced separation.

Pretty serious stuff, no?  Okay, here's one serious bit of miscellany.

5.  Hubby and I are fixin to lose an estimated $4,000 to $5,000 out of his paycheck next year due to higher healthcare insurance premiums caused by Obamacare.  I was devastated when I found out, and now I am mostly frustrated.  We are praying that God moves in BIG ways where our finances are concerned so that I can continue to stay home with our kiddos.  This quote from the September 5 Investor's Business Daily sums it up nicely: "Some consumers will have subsidies and may not pay these higher rates, someone will pay for the increased premiums, whether it is the consumer or the federal government. (Emphasis mine.) The reason for my frustration is underlined above.  I am really struggling to understand why the middle class is going to have to take a huge hit for the citizens (and yes, non-citizens) who apparently are "too poor" to pay higher insurance rates (oops, and too poor to pay taxes) yet are more than able to receive every benefit.  I continue to stand by the biblical teaching of no work, no eat.  (If you want the scriptural address for that, leave a comment.)  I realize I left the realm of Monday Miscellany and am firmly standing on a soapbox, but my ire has been raised.  If you are able to receive a benefit from the US Government (driving on public roadways, access to public libraries, enrolling children in public schools, fire protection from your city fire department.....) then you should be contributing to the cost of all these "free" benefits.  Oh wait, they aren't free.  People including my husband and I are paying taxes so others can utilize these "free" benefits.

Okay, soapbox vacated.  But for real, please be praying for our family.  This is a huge loss.  Please pray that we would remain confident in the Lord's provision AND plan for our family through this.  Please also pray that my faith would increase because I am straying constantly from trust and faith in the Lord that he will provide.  I know my worry and stress are not productive and will not bring any good about so please pray that I would re-focus my thought life and energies on the Lord.

3-and-4 month milestones

Who would have thought that my precious baby doll is four months old already?  Where has the time gone friends?  I now understand the absence of some of my blogger bodies after having an additional child - I am lucky to get the dishes done, most toys put away  and possibly a load of laundry at night before succumbing to sleep much less writing a blog entry.  Ah, but I found time for this one!  Finally!!

Katherine is rather serious in her 3-month photo but don't let her fool you folks.  She is a smiler, more and more everyday in fact.  She has the cutest chuckle - I wouldn't call it a laugh yet - and is very ticklish under her arms, over her ribs and under her chin.  Here is a small list of her achievements at four months old:

• She weighed 13 pounds 12 ounces at her 4-month old well check (50th percentile) and measured 25 inches in length (75th percentile). 
• She has just started grabbing items and bringing them to her mouth.  It was just this past weekend that she managed to get a set of plastic keys far enough in her mouth that she was gagging herself, repeatedly.  If that's not a milestone, I don't know what is.
• She also loves to grab her pacifier and try to re-insert it in her mouth.  She is not very successful at this yet but she has a mighty strong grip.
• I am still pumping four times a day so she can eat a hearty 3 1/2 ounces of milk roughly every 3 hours.
• Praise the Lord, she is sleeping through the night!  She hits the rack early though - 6pm - and wakes mid-morningish for a quick snack before sleeping in until 6am or so.
• She holds her head up rather well although she despises tummy time.  She loves to sit on my lap and watch her brother roving about as he lovingly destroys any semblance of order in our living room.



I almost captured a smile this time around.  Maybe next month.

HB continues to dote on his little sister bringing her toys and continually wiping her face and re-inserting her pacifier even if she does not want it.  He has brought new meaning to the phrase "temper tantrum" as of recent and is truly challenging my patience.  He continues to sleep great at night and eats almost anything I place in front of him.  He is a bit nosy and loves to watch everything going on around him.  And he is a lover of all things outside - dirt, sticks, livestock troughs, mommy's dog and all our livestock.  I take him outside each morning when Katherine goes down for her first nap.  We can be outside for an hour though and he still throws a fit when we come in.  Boys will be boys, right?  All in all though, he is a good natured, charming little guy that has stolen mommy's heart.

Loving on his sister in the swing.  He loves to lean in for a "hug"!