Here's Something REALLY Easy to Cook... because Kids are Hard to do

Hey there! How was your summer? I didn't do much really, just spent a few months being pregnant and the last three trying to keep my head above water with a newborn and a two year old. People tell you it's hard going from one child to two, and I expected it to be. What I didn't expect was for the newborn to be the easier part. Sure, babies cry and mine wanted to nurse every two hours for the first 8 weeks (I'm pretty sure he was hiding a stop watch in his crib), but what was hardest in our world was trying to manage the big changes that the baby made in our family life & L's routine. Three weeks in she realized that when I was nursing I couldn't get up and stop her from doing things. A week after that I figured out how to run while nursing. This is life now. Constant one upsmanship... With more wine.

We are hungry.... feed both of us. NOW. And again in an hour.

I won't make some big announcement like "I'M BACK! LET THE BLOGGING FLOW!" I'm just saying here I am today. And tomorrow everyone in my house might get a cold and I"ll be gone for a month, but maybe I won't be. Maybe I can learn how to have conversations with adults again. Maybe I can sing and dance soon without someone telling me that it is their turn to sing and dance and I am not allowed to. Maybe I can finally get the Caillou theme song out of my head and MAYBE, if I'm lucky, the characters on Sid the Science Kid will start to be less annoying. The last three months of nursing have been brought to me by PBS Kids (and Endless Alphabet on the iPad). If you have any programming questions, please direct them my way. 

I had to blog today because I found something SO EASY to cook you pretty much have to make it as soon as possible. I cannot stand it when someone tells you they have an easy slow cooker recipe and  it starts out like this: "chop your meat into 40 pieces that measure exactly one inch square. Get out a pan and brown the meat for 90 seconds on each side. In another pan mix together these five ingredients." If you tell me I am making an EASY slow cooker recipe, I want to put some things in a slow cooker and press a button. Not half cook an entire meal and THEN put it in the slow cooker for 8 hours. Let's minimize the dishes here. 

I follow the blog 100 Days of Real Food in my facebook feed and sometime last week a recipe for Pork Carnitas popped up. The woman who runs the blog only eats non processed food, so she makes her own tortillas and salsa and I think that is wonderful. I read it for inspiration. I don't have time right now to go out and buy a tortilla press and make my own salsa. These days if I put in my contacts and take off my yoga pants I'm really proud of myself. Here is her recipe that we used and made a few minor tweaks to. When I get used to this whole "having two kids" thing, I will definitely go back and make her salsa and maybe even make my own tortillas. Someone send me a tortilla press!

I didn't take any picture of our actual carnitas, but they looked exactly like this.

 Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

• 2 to 2 ½ lbs pork shoulder or Boston butt roast, cut into 5 or 6 small pieces (Have your butcher do this for you to make it extra easy)
• 3 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt (we used 2 teaspoons of kosher salt)
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 onion, cut into 6 or 8 chunks (I used three small onions)
• 3 garlic cloves, whole (I used 5. We love garlic)
• 2-4 Limes
• 1 recipe tomatillo salsa (or you can buy some in the salsa section of your store. Our salsa was bad so we didn't end up using any. Still delish)
• Corn Tortillas
• 2 avocados, sliced
• Fresh cilantro

If you are getting your pork shoulder from the butcher, ask him to cut it into five or six small pieces FOR YOU. They will do it and it's one less step for you. The butcher is your best friend, use him. 

Mix up the oregano, pepper, salt and cumin in a bowl. Coat the pork pieces with the seasoning and put them in the bottom of your slow cooker. 

Cut the onion (or onions) into chunks and drop them on top. Peel the garlic cloves and put them on top. Put on the cover and set the timer for 6-8 hours on low. We did 7 hours and left it on warm for another hour after. 

When you are ready remove the pork from the slow cooker, discard the onions and garlic. Shred the pork with two forks (or with your fingers if you don't mind getting messy). 

We warmed up the corn tortillas in a pan on the grill, sliced fresh avocado from our Farmhouse Delivery and chopped some cilantro to go on top.

When I opened up our Tomatillo Salsa I noticed there was mold on the cap. Things like this happen when you have tiny children who require shortcut taking in other areas. In place we cut some limes into wedges and squeezed them on top of the tacos. SO GOOD. 

If you are using store bought corn tortillas I recommend doubling up. Two tortillas per taco. It holds the food better and tastes better in my opinion.

Seriously, this recipe meets the golden recipe trifecta: 1. EASY  2. INEXPENSIVE  3. DELICIOUS.  And the added bonus of making your house smell amazing while it cooks.

Here's to food and kids! Kids need to eat food so they kind of go together.

-RT