Pulled Pork Tacos

I. Love. Pulled. Pork. Tacos.

If I weren't married already, I would marry pulled pork tacos (sorry, honey!). I love the way they make the house smell when they are cooking, I love the way they melt in your mouth with their exquisite flavor, and I love that they make the best leftovers. They just get better with each day after they are made.

They might sound complicated to make, but they are one of the easiest things to make in the world, so there is really no excuse for you not to try them.

First, you need a pork shoulder. It's one of the cheapest pieces of meat you can by and you can find it at most grocery stores (I know this because I can still find it here in Kentucky). Since I am feeding 2 people most of the time, I usually buy a 3 lb pork shoulder, cut it in half, freeze 1 half and use it for another meal.

Place your roast in your slow cooker and salt it to your liking (I use kosher).

You will then need your weapons to dismantle that piece of meat. I use only 4:

2 cups fresh salsa
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa (yes, you read that right! It's my secret weapon... well, crud)
2 tbsp oregano

Mix up all the weapons!

And drench thy enemy before thy enemy knows what hath hit him!

But in all seriousness, just put the lid on the slow cooker and put it on low for 6 1/2 to 7 hours. Once the meat is tender, shred it with 2 forks, set the cooker on warm, and your meat is done!

I like to serve mine with extra salsa, sour cream, and fresh cilantro. The hubby likes to add fresh grated cheese and Tapatio to the mix.

Sooooo good! I was going to sprinkle cilantro on mine, which would've looked a lot prettier but in my sleep-deprived state this week I bought two bundles of Italian parsley instead of 1 parsley and 1 cilantro. Kroger-1, Mrs Grumpus-0.

The hubby was very proud of his plating of tacos as well. I think they look fantastic!

I highly recommend this dish. It will make your house smell so good and even picky Mexican eaters *cough (my hubby) cough* like this dish!

Comfort Foods

Cooking Light

So, that Cooking Light magazine that I got in the mail almost 2 weeks ago that I was going to read almost 2 weeks ago? Yeah, I got around to that last night. I told you I was a procrastinator! What is equally bad is there are only 2 reasons I got around to my Cooking Light last night. #1 being the hubby is working night shifts this week and #2 being I was without my eyes.

Yes, without my eyes. You see, I am blind as a bat. I wear contacts most of the time, but they get awfully uncomfortable at the end of the day, which is when I put on my glasses. My glasses are in the shop right now having new lenses put in the frames (while this was badly needed, there is never a good time for it). Whilst I usually watch a little TV before going to bed, this was impossible without my glasses. I could however, bring a magazine within a few centimeters of my face to read. Sexy, I know. Thank goodness the hubby was at work.

Anyhoo the point of all this was that one of the first articles I read posed the question,

"What's on Your Top 10 Comfort Food List?"

This, of course, got me thinking, "What is on my Top 10 Comfort Food List?". I think I have got it narrowed down.

1. Mom's Spaghetti- A couple of item's on this list are made by my parents. Food made by parents should be one of the many definitions of comfort food. It was always a good day when I was a child when I would return from school, and the house smelled like spaghetti sauce had been simmering all day.
2. Chicken Parmesan- I've had a love affair with this simple dish for quite some time. I'm making it tonight in fact.
3. Chocolate Chip Cookies- Nuff' said!

The classic, Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

4. Dad's Chili- My Dad's chili is quite unique, very Mid-Western. There's no tomatoes in it and it's served over macaroni and topped with fresh grated cheese and onions. It was tradition to have it on Halloween and serve it with crusty-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside Italian bread.
5. Chef's Special Chow Mein from Kin Tin in Corvallis, OR- If you haven't been to this restaurant, you wouldn't understand. This Chinese joint ruined all other Chinese food I have ever had, with this dish being over the top. Beef, chicken,  BBQ pork, shrimp, mushrooms, bok choy, baby corn, water chestnuts, and chow mien noodles all tossed in a delightfully salty sauce. It's making my mouth water thinking about it. And it's 2700 miles away :(
6. Filet Mignon- Who doesn't love Filet Mignon? The melt-in-your-mouth goodness. One of my favorite places to get it is Morton's of Chicago. Hey, if you are going to go out, go out with a bang!

Filet Mignon

7. Mom's Green Bean Casserole- One of my favorite's growing up and one of the dishes I requested the most for my birthday dinners (you know, the dinners where your mom says "What would you like me to make for you?"). A combination of ground hamburger, onion, and green beans in gravy, topped with mashed potatoes and grated cheddar cheese. Yum.
8. Buffalo Wings- This is no brainer. Anyone who knows me knows I go nuts for Buffalo Wings.
9. Clam Chowder- Such a comfort food. What could be better than a rich, creamy, hot soup sopped up with a crusty bread to comfort you?
10. Pulled Pork Tacos- Oh, how I love Pulled Pork Tacos. I could sing the praises of Pulled Pork Tacos all day. I could bury my face in Pulled Pork Tacos. Ok, that's probably taking it a little bit far.

Pulled Pork Tacos

I challenge you to think of the top 10 foods on your comfort food list! It will make you hungry!

20 Questions

This topic has been cropping up on a lot of the blogs I follow, so I decided to high-jack the idea for myself and do it on my blog. Here goes:

1. What was the last thing you took a picture of? The actual last picture I took was of my couponing haul for the week which you can find under the Weekly Deals section. But the one before that was a silly picture of Gizmo:

Gizmo has taken a liking to Haloti's baby bed

2. What is your favorite smell? Tie between Pulled Pork Tacos cooking in the crock pot and the baking of chocolate chip cookies.

3. What do you love most about yourself? How stubborn I am and how I refuse to give up.

4. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? How stubborn I am and how I refuse to give up! A close second would be my inability to give forgiveness a lot of the time.

5. If you were to win $10 million dollars, what would you do with it? Oh, I have thought about this way too much. First things first, I would buy a home. A new car for Jerame and a new car for me would be next. Obviously, we would give large sums of money to our immediate family members. Next would be large sums of money given to the Humane Society and a charity of Jerame's choosing. The rest would be invested wisely.

6. If you were given the opportunity to live anywhere else in the world, where would you live? I hate to say it people, but I would not stay here. I would have to say Canada (anyone out there surprised?). The culture up there is pretty similar to down here but Canada has universal healthcare, something the US sorely lacks.

7. What is/was your favorite subject in school? Geology. Not so much the mineralogy part, but my favorite course I took in college was Geological Hazards. My next favorite was a class glossing over the rock record (if you know the rock record, you know that it can't be completely covered in one class). 

8. What is your favorite food? Such a hard question! The answer my mind keeps coming back to is shrimp. So delicious and so incredibly versatile!

9. What is your favorite color? Purple (duh)

10. What is your favorite book? Gone With The Wind. I have lost count of how many times I have read this book. When I was younger, I used to read it once a year. I haven't read it in awhile, it might be time to brush the dust off of it and give it another read.

11. What is your favorite TV show of all time? 'Friend's. My husband often says he can't understand how I can watch episodes of 'Friends' over and over and over.

12. What is your favorite song? Wow, that's hard. If you were to look on my iPod to see what the number one song listened to is, it would tell you it's Hinder's "Better Than Me". That's definitely not my favorite song though. I am going to have to say All American Rejects "Move Along" which is on my Top 25 listened to on my iPod.

13. If your life was a song, what would the title be? "The Dance" by good ol' Garth Brooks.

14. Would you rather have the power to be invisible or the power to read minds? While it would be cool to be invisible, I think I would take the power to read minds. Yes, it would suck to know what everyone is thinking of you but you would also find out who your real friends are. Also, think how good this skill would be in business! How much easier would it be to strategize if you always knew what your opponent is thinking?

15. Would you rather have super strength or super intelligence? Easy, super intelligence. The super smart could always find or invent a way for them to develop super strength but there is no guarantee the super strong would also have super intelligence.

16. If you could be an animal, what animal would you be? I think I would want to be my dog. My dogs have it so easy and they have no idea! They don't have to worry about jobs, money, family, etc. The only thing they worry about is if I am going to take them for a walk or sneak them an extra snack. 

17. What is the most beautiful place you have ever seen? I don't travel a lot, so I would have to say Hawaii.

Kona 2007

Valleys in Kona

That's me! Looking out at the ocean in Kona, 2007.

18. What person in history would you most like to meet? I'd have to say Einstein. He was a genius but I bet he was weird as hell!

19. What was your childhood nickname? I didn't really have one but my high school dance coach used to call me "J-Rho". Lame, I know!

20. What is the biggest lesson you learned last year? Not to take anything for granted. Nothing is guaranteed so you have to enjoy and appreciate everything you have. That and 6 months worth of income in your savings is not enough!

Good Eats- Pulled Pork Hash

Earlier this week I made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. Inevitably whenever I make pulled pork there are tons of leftovers. For some reason, a 2 lb pork butt always seems to turn into a mountain of food. I usually will eat pulled pork sandwiches throughout the week but I still usually don't make it through all the pork. Jerame hates leftovers so I usually don't make pulled pork sandwiches again for dinner. I decided this time however I was going to use that pulled pork for something. I did some research via Google and I was able to come up with an idea. Hash! Even though my pulled pork was BBQ pulled pork, I decided to try it anyway. I cut up 2 large baking potatoes into wedges, tossed them with some garlic olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted them in the oven for 35 minutes at 450 degrees. They came out crisp and browned but still moist inside. I fried the pulled pork on the stove (just in a frying pan) until the pork was warm. I put Jerame in charge of frying the eggs. To serve, I plated the potatoes as the base, covered the potatoes in pulled pork, placed a fried egg on top of the pulled pork and dusted the plate with some italian parsley. I am happy to report that this was delicious! The potatoes and pork compliment each other perfectly and the richness of the egg and the pork together is quite appetizing. I highly recommend if you also have leftover pulled pork you aren't sure what to do with!

Yum!