PORK CARNITAS AND A LIL' SUMPIN' SUMPIN'!!!

Okay, I think I had the best Valentine's Day, EVER, this year! I made a wonderful pot of Wild Rice and Kielbasa soup for dinner, a fantastic and from scratch Lemon Cake with Glaze for dessert, and sent Big Daddy a pretty plant for his office, where all living things go to die.  In turn, Big Daddy came home from his day bearing gifts, and since there's nobody else living in this house except me and the dog and cats and the spiders, I suspected they were all for ME ME ME, and boy was I right! Big Daddy did a little shopping, it seems, while he was away on business last weekend--he gave me a bottle of my favorite perfume (Donna Karan's "Delicious"--the bottle is shaped like a darling little apple!), and the biggest surprise of my life. A camera. A "real" camera--a Nikon L110:

I'm over the moon, because he knows how much this little blog means to me, and how frustrated I was with my piece of #*@T digital camera. So now, after I've kissed his face about a gazillion times,  I really have my work cut out for me--hopefully by next week I'll be up and running with more professional looking photos. It's gonna take me that long, because the user's manual is about 45,823 pages long, and kinda technical looking. But I"m a smart girl, and a motivated girl, so you should be expecting something great!

SPEAKING of something great--I made one of my favorite and easy crock pot recipes last week, my Pork Carnitas Tacos. You simply cannot find an easier recipe, and all you have to do before you eat them is shred the meat with a fork, and maybe throw together a side dish (I served mine with refried beans) and some "fixins". Big Daddy LOVES this recipe, Card-Carrying-Mexican-Food-Loving-California-Boy that he is:

See that--he's shoving his face full, then licking his fingers! If you want to lick your fingers, too, then make these Carnitas for supper. Here are the ingredients you'll need:

Just throw all the ingredients in your crock pot (well, gently place them in, actually, and NOT the tortillas!), first thing in the morning--it'll look something like this, before cooking:

Cook on "low" for 10 hours, then shred the pork with two forks:

The flavor of this pork is INSANE, and so very tender! I serve mine with shredded lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes and cheese, and let everyone put their own tacos together at the table:

Like I mentioned, I served mine that night with refried beans, but some Spanish rice would be good, too. And before I forget, this recipe makes a lot of cooked pork, so I usually freeze what we don't use and use it later in Tortilla Soup. I'll be sure to share that recipe with you, soon. Here's the Pork Carnitas Taco recipe:

PORK CARNITAS TACOS

Serves 6-8

2 lb. pork tenderloin (or, you can use a less expensive 2 lb. boneless pork roast)

1 10oz. can Rotel tomatoes, drained

1 4.5 oz. can chopped green chilis

1 16oz. jar green salsa

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tblsp. chili powder

flour tortillas

Serve with: shredded cheese, cilantro, avocado or guacamole, tomatoes, shredded lettuce and sour cream, if desired

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on "low" for 10 hours, or until pork shreds easily with two forks. Serve using a slotted spoon in flour tortillas. Serve with desired "fixins".

TOP 3 THINGS I'M GRATEFUL FOR TODAY:

1. I'm grateful that my wonderful husband of 23 years encourages my creativity.

2. I'm grateful that our daughter received her Valentine's Day care package ON Valentine's Day (instead of after!), and that NONE of the delicate cookies broke.

3. I'm grateful that our "handyman" Marc, who will be spending the next week or so in our house for some necessary construction, is so easy to be around, and so neat! He even asks to mop up his snowy footprints!