Pork Tacos

As part of my 101 List, I set a goal to try new receipes and review half of them here. This one is a keeper. Here’s the recipe.

Pork Tacos

• 1 can chipotles in adobo sauce
• minced garlic
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 tbs cider vinegar
• kosher salt
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 3 1/4 c chicken broth
• 4 lbs boneless pork shoulder, cut into chunks
• fresh ground pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick

*In a blender, mix the garlic, chipotles in adobo sauce, onion, olive oil, honey, cider vinegar, salt and oregano.

*Pour the mixture into a dutch oven or deep saucepot and add chicken broth. Simmer till blended well.

*Add the pork, bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Cook covered in a 350 degree over an hour and 45 minutes. Uncover and cook another 30 minutes.

*Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Shred the pork with two forks and season as needed with salt and pepper.

*Serve with warm tortillas and toppings.

Optional Toppings

• radishes
• scallions
• salsa
• queso fresco (crumbled)
• fresh avocado
• lettuce
• red cabbage and jicama
• tomatoes
• mangoes

Notes…

__This is a recipe from the Feb/Mar Food Network magazine. I changed it a little bit. I left out the ancho and pasilla chiles (couldn’t find them at the Publix) and increased the chipotles from 2-3 to the entire can (about six). Not the best choice. Much hotter than the kids could eat. I ended up taking the pork out of the mixture about halfway through the cooking time and replacing the sauce with crushed tomatoes to cool it down some. Worked like a charm.

__You can also do this in the Crock-Pot. Just put it all in the CP instead of in the oven. Cook on high for five hours.

__The magazine suggests ‘upgrading’ your toppings. The odd sounding toppings are from them. The more traditional, from me.

__I started Weight Watchers recently, and this recipe will give you eight servings at 5 points per serving. With the queso fresco, salsa, radishes, and tortillas, the whole thing is 9 points.

Our Thoughts…

__Mike gave it a 4 out of 5, saying it was a different taste (pork, radishes, spinach, salsa and queso fresco) but a good different.

__Griff and Eliza both gave it a 5, which is rare around here and which probably means they won’t eat it at all the next time I make it. But Griff ate his with with radishes & Eliza had her’s with spinach, so it was a good meal all around.

__Me… I enjoyed it. But it was a lot of work. Now, sure, my toe hurts & I mostly just told Mike what to do, but it seemed like he did a lot of work. But it was tasty, and it would be a nice alternative to the typical tacos every now and then.

__And I would have taken a photo, but we gobbled them up way too fast.

finding my morning…

As of this week, we’ve now been Florida residents for three years. In some ways, it seems like far less time has passed, and yet, in other ways, it feels like an eternity.

Three years. Griff’s attended two different schools, had three different homeroom teachers and one amazing gifted teacher, had surgery on both legs and learned that he’s stronger than he thought. Eliza’s gone from daycare to pre-k graduation, lost her first tooth and completely forgotten her life before Florida.

Mike has grown into this strong, capable, motivating professor. He has his own style and is comfortable in it. He’s serving on committees and hating it and missing his own faculty, but he’s so very good at what he does.

My three years were harder than Mike’s. Though now that I’m feeling better, stronger and more confident myself, I think that those first months, years, were just as hard on him as they were on me as he had to watch me struggle and suffer and flounder. And while we made the decision to move together, the move initially was far kinder to him than to me, and I was not too proud to mention that to him, more often than was necessary. He’s a kind man to have stayed with me when I was so miserable that I considered not staying with him.

But even then, all curled up in the bed, aching from the depression and homesickness, longing to go home, I couldn’t have possibly left him. He’s my anchor, and I’m deeply thankful for his kindness and compassion and patience.

Because today, I am happy here. Now, there are things we’re lacking - namely, a church home - but a lacking of our own making. But in general, I’m happy here now. Contented with my life.

A few months ago, I was driving home from work (I had already applied for the promotion but hadn’t been told that I had gotten it) and thinking that I was liking this life. It was really a lovely realization that we had come so far. And in that moment, I decided that if I got the promotion, I would do something permanent to remind myself that things will eventually even out, even after something so completely unsettling to me as the move.

I wanted something that would be a tangible reminder to me that the bad in life rarely lasts forever. For as long as I can remember, Psalm 30:5 has been one of my favorites.

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning. (New American Standard)

There’s something endlessly comforting to me about the notion that sorry and weeping and aching and longing and soul-searing unhappiness are only temporary. I understand that the time between night and morning can be a really long time. My Florida night seemed endless. But this morning, it is lovely.

One of my 101 Things in 1001 Days goals was to get a tattoo, and when I decided that I wanted something happy and permanent to be a reminder to me that joy will always come in the morning, I decided to get a tattoo.

So I asked my brother to design something for me, and he agreed. A couple of days later, he sent me the design. It was something I already had, something Aleece did for me years ago.

John told me, “I think I’ve got the right one for ya.  For years now, you’ve been chasing it.  Now, when we spoke the other day, it sounded like you’ve all essentially found it.

No WAY…

That was my response… uttered twice in disbelief, in fact… right before I burst into stunned tears. I’ve been working this job for more than two years now, hating most of that time. It was late last year before I really felt comfortable with what I was doing, like I really understood what I was doing. I’ve been in the Miami division (in name and work but not in geography) since January, and it’s brought it’s own struggle, mainly with the language barrier. Geez, I wished I’d taken a language in college.

But I posted (applied) for a promotion back in late March/early April. Getting a promotion at work was one of my 101 Things in 1001 Days goals. I didn’t expect to get it, and I was so delightfully surprised Wednesday when management told me I had gotten the job. I have four more days in this job I’ve hated (but been grateful for every day) before I begin training for the new position. I’ll do a week of training here at our offices and then spend two weeks of training at the corporate office. I have never been away from Mike and the kids for that long!

I have been blessed, though, with a really good group of girls who are being promoted along with me. If I could have hand picked the people who would go with me on this journey, I’d have selected most of these girls.

This is really exceptional for me. I am so humbled to have been selected, and yet, for once, I am absolutely certain that I got this based upon my work performance. I earned this. I am proud of myself for taking a job I had no training or aptitude for… for sticking with it when I felt so overwhelmed and unsure… for sticking with it when my supervisor didn’t so much enjoy me… for being willing to do whatever management asked of me and for trying to do it with a good attitude.

In the end, I am proudest of me for the way people seem to see me. My supervisor told me - before I knew I would get the promotion - that he knew management was considering me and that I was spoken of very well. That means a lot to me. I’ve had several random (well, they seemed random to me at the time) compliments from various individuals this week. I appreciate that people respond well to me, that they see me as agreeable and accommodating and accepting, despite the fact that I have struggled with this job, been discouraged by it, wished I wasn’t in it.

I believe that if people can see happiness in me, throughout all the difficulties of this job, then it must be Christ they see in me.

feeling all foody…

I mentioned that I would post photos of the veggie burgers and a review of the buttery radishes from Clinton Kelly’s book, so here goes. (And this is two toward my 101 in 1001 goal of trying and reviewing new recipes.)

I love radishes. I love that they’re spicy and crunchy. A little bit of salt & they’re perfect. And the recipe for these sounds amazing, improved by how simple they are.

Cut the top and bottom off the radishes so they’ll sit flat on the plate. Shmear butter on the tops and sprinkle with a nice, coarse salt.

I wanted to like these. I wanted to like them a lot. I didn’t like them. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good. They were just odd, frankly. The smoothness of the butter should have been a nice compliment to the spicy radish, but it seemed more like two competing tastes in my mouth.

That said, I’ll try this again. I mean, it’s not like it’s difficult to shmear some butter and salt on top of a radish. Maybe it’s an acquired taste. I’ll keep trying, though the kids, I’m sure, won’t touch them.

The veggie burger, however, is one that we’re going to keep having. I love it. And I’m finding that as long as you use the basic recipe, you can add in whatever veggies and herbs you want to change the flavor ever so slightly.

In the burger in the picture, I used lots of shredded carrots and topped the burger with diced tomatoes. Laughing Cow swiss cheese spread on the whole wheat English muffin just adds to the creamy mouth feel of the burger (thanks to the beans).

Yum.

book review… the “Twilight” series

One of my 101 Things goals was to read a 100 books and to review half of those.  I can’t really see these books being reviewed one without the other, so I’m gonna go for the whole shebang. (Bearing in mind, of course, that I have no qualifications to review ANY book other than that I like to read. Is that enough?)

Now, you should know a couple of things first…

1. I was loving some teenage love long before this series came out. I was watching sappy teen love stories way before HSM. Whenever Disney runs some old made for tv movie, Griff says, “Oh, cool, a new one!” “Um, no. I saw that before you were born.”
2. I spent every Tuesday night for seven years watching “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” I own the box sets (most of the seven… I need to look into the others) so that one day, I can watch them again with Griff and then with Eliza. So I was confused a bit between the Joss Whedon vampire lore and the Stephanie Meyer vampire lore. I got over it.

One other thing… I hadn’t planned to read these books. But I’ve got a 10-year-old reading on an eighth grade level, and it’s an ongoing thing to find books for him to read that are both challenging and age appropriate. He asked me one night back in February if he could read “Twilight,” and I gave him my standard answer of “I don’t know. But I’ll read it and see.”

So I bought the first one on my trip to Arkansas to meet my niece, London, and I read it in a night. It was just so very sweet. Now, it’s not challenging. It’s not going to change your perspective on life, unless it encourages you to accept different people in different ways. If so, super. If not, so be it.

Griff asked me if I liked it and if he could read it. “Yes, and yes.” Oh, goodness, he was excited. I thanked him for wanting to read it because I wouldn’t have read it without the provocation, and I was very glad to have read it. And then he asked the most important question in his boy mind… “There were vampires, right? Was there lots of fighting? Lots of people die?” “Um, no. It’s more of a love story.” “A WHAT?! No, Mom. You got it wrong. It’s about vampires.” “Right. Vampires in love.”

I’ve now read all four, and he’s refusing to read any.

The first one is this lovely, tender love story between Bella and her Edward. I imagine it would be hard to dislike Bella, what with all of her insecurities and clumsiness and openness. And Edward, beyond Bella’s imagination, loves her completely. Isn’t that every teenage girl’s dream? To be loved beyond words by the most handsome, sophisticated, generous man imaginable? Come on, it’s that every grown up girl’s dream?

Now, the second book, “New Moon,” I didn’t love so much. I understand Jacob is important to the series plot, and I enjoyed Jacob in and of himself as well as his relationship with Bella. It’s an honest look at how friendships can go awry when one loves in one way and the other in another.

But, for me, the lure of the story was the dynamic between Bella and Edward, and there wasn’t much of that in the second book. (Luckily, it’s short, and you’ll soon be deep into book three.)

“Eclipse” was more of Edward and Bella, and it was more of what I wanted. As a mama, I appreciated Edward’s insistence that they keep their relationship at a certain stage physically. I didn’t care why he chose that route. If my kids are afraid of something horrid happening if they engage in certain acts too early, I’m ok with that, even if it might not be completely grounded in actuality. So sue me. I also sneak veggies into their muffins. I’m a mom. Work with it.

But, “Breaking Dawn” was where I really loved the characters the most. At that point, I’d developed favorites in the Cullen family, enjoyed various relationships outside of just Edward and Bella. And without giving away too much of the plot (go on… go to the library and put your name on the waiting list), the mama in me felt Bella’s choices. And I loved the final showdown with their enemies. Convincing and very true to each character.

Now, in Griff’s book reports, he has to give the book a number rating on a 1-10 scale. I’m not sure I like 1-10… too much free play for me. But on a 1-5, I’d give the series a solid 4. (And I won’t even say anything about how I liked the book because it was short. If I break him of nothing else this year, he’ll stop that.)

(And before you ask, I haven’t seen the movie yet. We’re having a DVD player mutiny in our house. One won’t spit out the DVD that’s in it now, and the other apparently sent its remote into exile. But yes, that sweet little Robert Pattinson is hot as heck, and I do feel a bit like a cougar thinking it. But to be completely honest, I said he was hot as heck back when he played Cedric in “Harry Potter” so whatcha gonna do?)

So, now. You know what I think. Tell me what you think.