Bubble Bubble

Yes, that's right I jumped on the band wagon and bought a bubble necklace. I bought this necklace in my favorite color...when I was younger my parents thought I was color blind because whenever they would ask me what color something was, I would reply with blue-green...I digress.  My only problem, ALL of my shirts are v-necks (I have clastrophobic issues...I feel like I'm choking just thinking about it), everything I tried it with didn't look good. I started searching my favorite fashion blogs and saw that a lot of people paired their bubble necklaces with button up shirts. I can do that. This is what I came up with, I think it's very business casual and perfect for the office.

Trying Outside the Norm

I'm wearing 3 different colors, well 5 counting the dots on the shirt and my shoe color. I *think* this works, but not completely sure. I didn't get any weird comments at work, or strange looks so it must be okay. I think it needs a belt or something, but have yet to find that perfect belt. Maybe in the near future.

Old and New

 I was in my brother's wedding recently and our gift and jewelery for the bridal party was this coral necklace. This dress I bought a long time ago, and I have no idea where I got it actually. Then the tank top under it is from Ann Taylor Loft. Whenever I used to wear this dress, I never wore any necklace with it, but since aquiring this necklace I thought it was the perfect compliment.

This is how I feel trying to come up with a pose...I never know what to do...Do you ever have that problem?

The Difference a Sweater Can Make

So I never wear this dress because *I* think it's too low cut for work, but adding this sweater makes it work appropriate. Love what a sweater can do.

Since I never got a close up of the beautiful necklace the Mr. bought me for my birthday. Inside the locked are Baby Fox and Mr.'s names engraved on a gold heart. If you want one of your own, go here.

Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas)

Happy Friday everyone! TGIF! Here's the last recipe for the week, so enjoy!

This recipe is really easy too, okay it has a lot of steps, but it really isn't that hard, and it's SOOO good! Definitely a crowd pleaser. Without further ado:

Ingredients:

• 1 3.5-4 pound boneless pork butt, fat cap trimmed to 1/8 inch thick, cut into 2 inch chunks

• Table salt and ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 small onion, peeled and halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons juice from 1 lime
• 2 cups water
• 1 medium orange

Garnishes (suggestions)

• Tortillas
• Lime Wedges
• Mince white or red onion
• Fresh cilantro leaves
• Thinly sliced radishes
• Sour cream
• Salsa
• Guacamole

Cooking Supplies You'll Need

• Large Dutch Oven
• Cookie Sheet with a cookie cooling rack that fits in it
• Slotted Spoon
• Spatula
• Knife
• Cutting Board
  

Advice: I will typically make a double batch, since you're going through all this trouble might as well make extra and freeze some. So I'll use about 7-8 pounds of meat. Then just double all of the other ingredients.

 Instructions:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. 

1. Combine pork, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, cumin, onion, bay leaves, oregano, lime juice, and water in large Dutch oven (liquid should just barely cover meat). 

     2.  Juice orange into medium bowl and remove any seeds (you should have about 1/3 cup juice).
          Add juice and spent orange halves to pot. 

     3.  Bring mixture to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. 

     4.  Once simmering cover pot and transfer to oven;  

     5. Cook until meat is soft and falls apart when prodded with fork, about 2 hours (the recipe calls
         for 2 hours, I typically will do 3 hours, we find that it turns out a little bit better, but if you're
         pressed for time, 2 hours is good too), flipping pieces of meat once during cooking.

     6. Remove pot from oven and turn oven to broil. 

     7. Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to bowl; remove orange halves, onion, and bay leaves from
           cooking liquid and discard (do not skim fat from liquid).

     8. If you are making a double batch, I pour half the liquid into another pot and do this in two
          pots, makes for more sauce. Place pot over high heat (use caution, as handles will be very hot)
         and simmer liquid, stirring frequently, until thick and syrupy (heatsafe spatula should leave
         wide trail when dragged through glaze), 15 minutes or so. You should have about 1 cup reduced
         liquid. 

 

  10.  Using 2 forks, pull each piece of pork in half. Fold in reduced liquid; season with salt and

         pepper to taste. I don't pull each piece apart into 1 inch chunks, I personally don't like making

         tacos with such large pieces of meat, as you can see from the picture, some are in chunks and

        others are shredded, do what works for you.

   11.  Spread pork in even layer on wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet or on broiler pan 

       (meat should cover almost entire surface of rack or broiler pan).

  

       See how the meat is sort of "shredded/chunks"?

   12.  Place baking sheet on lower-middle rack and broil  until top of meat is well browned and

          edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes It looks burned but it tastes WAY better with a few

          extra crispy pieces. Using  wide spatula, flip pieces of meat and continue

 

      

       to broil until top is well browned and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes longer. 

See how easy that was?

13.  Serve immediately with warm tortillas and garnishes. We used flour tortillas because I'm allergic

       to corn, but this would be delicious with some corn tortillas.

Happy Weekend!  We're hanging out with friends, celebrating babies and eating lots of yummy food. Doing anything fun and exciting? Whatever it is, eat well and be happy, it's the weekend!

Chicken Salad Sandwich

I can't say that I've ever had a chicken salad sandwich, so quite frankly I have no idea what they taste like, but when I think shower food, I equate it to chicken salad sandwiches. I don't know, something about women sitting around eating salads and sandwiches comes to my mind first. I got this recipe from America's Test Kitchen. If you don't know what it is, google it, it will change your life. Okay maybe not really, but EVERY recipe I've made in this cookbook has come out fantastic. So without further ado:

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 2 Ribs of Celery, chopped fine
• 3/4 Cup Mayonnaise
• 2 Scallions, minced
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice (people kept noting the slight lemon flavor and how much they liked it, I wouldn't skip this part)
• 2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Side Note: The recipe does say that you can also add 2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon or basil

Directions:

1. Season t:e chicken with salt and pepper
2. Heat the oil in 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat until shimmering
3. Carefully add the chicken and cook until lightly golden brown on the first side, about 5 minutes
4. Flip the chicken over, cover and continue to cook until it is no longer pink in the center, about 5 minutes longer.
5. Transfer chicken to a plate and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
6. Cut the chilled chicken into 1/4-inch pieces and toss with the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Another side note: I baked the chicken, at 350 for about 15 minutes instead.

I doubled the recipe and then bought a package of croissants, cut them open, and then filled with chicken salad, then cut those in half, so that people didn't have to eat a whole sandwich. I just about used all of the chicken, minus maybe 1 or 2 sandwiches worth of salad.

And the result is:

 

Chinese Chicken Salad

This recipe we've been making in my family for as long as I can remember, I have no idea where it came from, but I hear that it's a somewhat popular salad. It's super simple, I know I keep saying that, but really, it is. Trust me, this is the recipe for you if you want to wow people with your culinary skills...okay not really, but it's super good.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oil
4 Tablespoons Seasame Seed Oil
10 Tablespoons Rice Vinager
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
Fresh Pepper (to taste)
Fresh Ginger (to taste, I like a lot of ginger flavor so I micro grate about a 2 inch chunk)
Top Roman (chicken flavor) - break apart the top roman into smaller chunks, I will typically break apart before opening package, you want chucks, don't break them up too small, bite size)
2 Small Heads Cabbage - shredded
Green Onions (To taste, I know I hate this term too, but if you like green onions, use a lot, if you    don't use a little, I typically will use 1 bundle ~ about 6-7)
Chicken (cooked and cubed, or shredded, however you want it in your salad)

For the dressing:
Mix the oil, seasame seed oil, rice vinagar, soy sauce, fresh pepper, fresh ginger, chicken flavor packets from top roman

For the Salad:

In a sealable contantainer mix cabbage, green onions, top roman noodles, chicken. Pour salad dressing over mixture, mix well. Let sit over night. Stir a few times. If you can turn the container over and let sit upside down. If not, then just stir every once in a while (once or twice will do)

Let sit for at least a day. I know the recipe is sort of fly by the seat of your pants, but once you do it once, you're going to realize how easy it is and you'll find yourself making this again and again. Holy run on sentence.

Enjoy!

P.S. Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the chinese chicken salad, it's the salad on the bottom right.