Pork Canitas Tacos

This recipe is too yummy to not pass along.  My sweet friend (who just started a new home blog) shared this over the summer and I finally got around to making it the other night.  This is so easy to make.  All you need is a crock pot and the ingredients!  I must say that since I'm a stay-at-home mom it was torture smelling this cook all day.  As soon as the hubs came through the door we were all ready to eat.

Recipe:

1 1/2 lb pork shoulder (Boston Butt), cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 teaspoon salt

2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 large onion, cut into 4 pieces

2 garlic cloves

1 avocado - sliced

Fresh cilantro

Corn tortillas

Limes

**Toss pork in bowl of slow cooker with salt, pepper, oregano and cumin.  Place onion pieces and garlic cloves on top of pork.  Cover and cook on low setting for 6 hrs or until meat is very tender and fallling apart.

Discard onion and garlic pieces.

Using fingers, shred pork.

Serve pork, wrapped in warm tortillas, top with avocado slices, cilantro and tomatillo salsa.

Use lime wedges to garnish!

*I didn't cut the meat up, I left it all one piece when I placed it in the crock pot.

After I put all the spices on the meat I thought it looked strange because there wasn't any liquid in the crock pot so I reread the instructions but that's what it says.  I kept checking throughout the day and I noticed the bowl was filling with liquid as it cooked!  The meat was so tender.  It makes great leftovers as well.  What a nice change from your regular hamburger taco meat.

All dressed and ready to cook! (I forgot to buy an onion so I used minced onion)

Delicious!

Extra delicious with corn tortillas but I forgot to take a pic as we were eating too quickly!!

Enjoy :)

Cotton Candy

A few weeks ago we had a circus theme week.  One of the crafts we did was make cotton candy (non-edible).  My daughter had a friend over and they both enjoyed this easy craft!

We started the day off with a clown coloring sheet.

Rolling up the handle of the cotton candy also works as a telescope. :)

Spreading out some cotton.

Glue cotton balls onto the paper along with the handle.

Practice handwriting by writing "Cotton Candy" 

Ta da

To finish up the craft I served real cotton candy (found at Kroger).  

Starry Marshmallows

Need a fun snack idea for the kids for 4th of July?  How about Starry Fruit Kabobs!  I saw these marshmallows at Wal-Mart and knew I could come up with something cute to do with them.  All you need is some fresh cut up fruit, skewers and marshmallows.

Load up your skewers starting with a marshmallow, then piece of fruit, marshmallow...

Eat away!

Be warned, some kiddos might just eat the marshmallows and then tell you they're finished!

Happy 4th of July!!

Strawberry Banana Milkshakes

This week we're learning about fruits and vegetables.  We started off the week talking about vegetables.  My daughter painted a vegetable garden and we strolled through the produce department and picked out something new to try.  Today we switched gears and talked about fruit.  My kids love to eat fruit.  I wanted to make something fun with fruit today and since the little guy got his 2 yr shots I thought milkshakes would definitely cheer him up!  I gave them three fruit choices and they chose to make strawberry banana milkshakes which sounded delicious to me.  Did I mention it was 102 degrees here in Dallas today and it's not even officially summer yet.  Ugh!

What you need:

1 pint Vanilla ice cream

1/4 cup milk

1 cup fruit

1/4 tsp vanilla

Blend all the ingredients until smooth.

Enjoy!

What we're doing this summer

Summer has officially started at our house.  I knew I needed a game plan for my four year old daughter so that she is not a.) bored or b.) in front of the TV all day.  Thanks to the blog world I've found some ideas for our home.

Weekly Theme Calendar
On Clean Mama's blog I saw this idea.  I came up with something similar.  I have a theme for each week and planned some things for the month of June.  I'll plan July and August closer to those months.

I will say that introducing something like this with a few crafts and activities the same week I'm teaching and my kids are attending VBS was probably not the best idea!  Not only are we exhausted when we get home but there's just not much time to do much when the little guy wakes from his nap.  However, the VBS theme was "High Seas" so I thought "Ocean" might go well with that. :)

BINGO!

Along with a few other bloggy mommy's we are playing BINGO this summer.  We started it this week and it's been a lot of fun.  My daughter seems to enjoy it so far.  She keeps asking what else she can do.  I plan on changing out some of the squares each week.  I first saw the idea on From the Fence Post which takes you to Stacy Julian's blog where you can find the printables and make your own.  It's so easy!  I changed the rules and prizes to fit for my daughter.  

Bored Box

I also wanted to have something to pull from when she's bored.  I made a "Bored Box" from an old shoe box using scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.  First, we made a list together of fun things she'd like to do over the course of the summer.  Some of the things on our list are:

Go to the library

Go to the Arboretum

Play in sprinkler

Make ice cream

Make a book

Make cookies

Go to Farmer's Market

Go to ball park (this one threw me for a total loop!)

"camp out" reading

Make S'mores

Sidewalk chalk

Make a necklace

Computer time

Paint nails

Plant flowers

Have a sleep over

Invite a friend over

Go swimming at Grandma & Pop Pop's

The box hasn't been needed yet thanks to VBS.  I'm sure it'll come in handy very soon!

Linking to:

Strawberry-Orange Cream Pops

It's getting, I mean, it IS hot outside!  I have a feeling it's going to be a long hot summer filled with nasty humidity here in north Texas.  Yuck!  I found a recipe for Strawberry-Orange Cream Pops that looked delicious.  I was going to wait until after my daughter finished pre-school but decided we'd go ahead and make them this week.  We'll make them again for sure!  They are quite easy and you can play around with the ingredients and add different fruits to your liking (or whatever you may have on hand).

Ingredients:

1 container (8 oz) strawberry flavored yogurt 

3/4 cup orange juice

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups froze strawberries

1 packet sugar substitute

6 (7 oz) paper cups - or whatever you have!

6 wooden sticks

1 popsicle is 1 WW pt.  

I used a 6 oz container of Yoplait Light.

If you or your kiddos are anxious drink one as a smoothie!

Frozen and ready to eat!

Yummy!!

Perfect summer treat!

Linking to:

Somewhat Simple