Cherry Coke Pulled Pork

Here’s another easy-peasy crockpot recipe.  I have to say, it was so delish, I almost fell over!

I’ve never made pulled-pork BBQ, but I’m a big fan.  We have a local joint that makes really good pulled-pork, but it gets kind of pricey.  While I don’t know the exact amount, I think this recipe cost me a total of $14, which was a little over $3 a pound.  Much cheaper than ordering out!!

Anyway, like I said, I’d never made pulled-pork, but I just went for it.  I got the recipe from Crockpot Girls.  Aren’t those ladies amazing?

It’s so easy.  All you need is this (plus the pork roast – I used shoulder without the bone; about 4.5 pounds):

Mix a cup of light brown sugar with some cherry coke.  Add it to the crockpot with the pork shoulder roast.  Then pour enough of the cherry coke over to cover the top.  Y’all know I couldn’t wait to make this recipe because that 2-liter of cherry coke in my pantry was driving me nuts!!!  If you’re lucky, like I was, you’ll have enough cherry coke left for this:

Awwwww yes!!  Turn your crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.  After it’s cooked, drain the roast and shred it with two forks.  It’s so tender, it just falls apart – super simple!!  Then squeeze that bottle of BBQ (make sure it’s Sweet Baby Ray’s ‘cause I’ve heard it’s the best!) all over the shredded pork and stir it in.  You can leave it in the crockpot on warm until you’re ready to serve.

Pair it with some coleslaw, and maybe some tots, and you’re ready to go!!

Eat it with coleslaw on it (a la hubs):

Or coleslaw on the side (a la me):

Either way, you won’t be disappointed.  I love to support local restaurants, but with how delicious this was (and not to mention cheap – about $6 cheaper per pound!!) I probably won’t be going back.   Sorry guys, this one’s just to easy to not make myself!  Besides, what's more local than making it at home?  :)

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Cherry Coke Pulled Pork

1	cup brown sugar
1	pork bottom or shoulder (about 4 lbs)
1	bottle cherry coke enough to cover pork
2	jars sweet baby rays BBQ sauce

Set on low for 6 to 8 hours. Remove pork shred with fork and add BBQ sauce (your favorite flavor).

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The Box Fort

Shew!  What a crazy weekend!!  But it made me appreciate the life I’ve been given so much more!

So I headed out on Saturday for a funeral and a friend’s baby shower.  Yep.  Funeral then baby shower.  Kind of bittersweet, right?  One life ends, another begins.  It was all so overwhelming, but I think I handled it all pretty well.  The most overwhelming part was that my dear sweet friend is only 9-10 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy, and this was her last (LAST!?) baby shower.  As in, she’s done.  Everything.  UGH!!!  I haven’t even started!!!!  I’m not registered, I haven’t signed up for birthing classes or interviewed pediatricians.  I haven’t registered with the hospital.  The nursery is packed full of boxes and two twin beds – what the heck!?

And then, I knew what I was coming home too…. A huge mess.

I’m so thankful for my dear sweet husband and his amazing friends.  They took it upon themselves to have a “work day” at our house on Saturday while I was gone.  The short of it is, we moved into a new (to us) place over the summer.  Yes, the SUMMER.  I hate saying that.  Here we are well into WINTER now and we still didn’t have everything moved out of our old place.  So yep, you can guess it.  TWO house payments.  We want to rent out our old place (we’ll lose way too much money if we try to sell) but it’s impossible to rent, if it’s still chalked full of crap we don’t need anymore.

So those dear men spent all day packing up… pretty much junk and hauling it either to storage or our new place.  I just knew that when I walked in from the day’s festivities, the house was going to be a wreck and I was going to be terribly overwhelmed.

Truth is?  They did SUCH an amazing job!!  It’s so nice to finally have all our furniture now.  And the boxes of junk they plopped in the middle of the living room floor?  They were nicely packed, and well labeled.  Aaahhhhhh men after my own heart!!  Some of them even had cute little comments that made me giggle.  Like this drawing:

I mean, seriously.  How could that not make my day?  [get it – the stick girl is preggers, like me.  Hehe]

Anyway, hubs and I came home from church on Sunday and had enough time to unpack quite a few boxes before the BIG game.  So we ended up watching the game from our couch.  I thought it might be a little cramped with all the boxes, but it wasn’t bad:

And you know what was the best??  We got rid of our coffee table when we got the smaller living room.  So all these boxes lined up – hello!  I had a foot rest, pizza box holder, and drink holder, all within reaching distance.  I mean, surrrisly.  What football-loving, pregnant woman wouldn’t want to watch the Super Bowl like that!?

And as for tonight.  I’m thinking about building a fort before hubs comes home from work.  You know you remember that episode of Friends:

Chandler: Isn’t this a woman’s hat?
Joey: Stop talking crazy and make us some tea!

Taco Soup

Mmmmm… what’s better to warm up on a harsh, cold winter day than a big pot of soup?  Nothing.  Here in the South, we’ve yet to see one of those days… but I still couldn’t resist the soup.

Taco Soup!!  This one is so quick and easy and foolproof.  Not to mention YUMMY!!  I usually use all store bought products for this one.  But since the budget is tight and the grandparents were generous enough to pass along some home-canned goods, I thought I’d use as much from my pantry as I could.  I think it turned out even better!

Thanks to Grandma for canned tomatoes, corn, and some of the best salsa I’ve ever had.  Seriously still trying to get that recipe out of her  ;)

I wasn’t kidding about the supper easy part.  Add this:

(I crushed up those whole canned tomatoes using a potato masher.  You could just buy a can of crushed tomatoes from the store).  And this:

And add some browned beef and onions:

(Mine is actually deer burger – again, trying to use what I already had!).  Put it in the crockpot on low for a few hours and WOW!!!

Serve with just cheese (aka the wife way):

Or with sour cream (aka the hubs way):

Delish!!!  And please, do me a favor – try this one.  Even if you don’t like beans.  I swear.  I hhha-ate beans!  But these taste so different when they’ve been simmering with all the seasonings.  The texture is even good!  :)

Also, this doesn’t have to be done in a crockpot.  You can just cook it on the stove until everything is heated.  I chose to use the crockpot because after a long day out shoveling snow (or in our case … mowing the lawn?  In winter??) who wouldn’t want to walk in and smell/see this?

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Taco Soup

1	pound ground beef
1	chopped onion
1	can pinto/kidney beans
1	can northern beans
1	can corn
½	jar Taco sauce/salsa
1	package taco seasoning
1	can Rotel tomatoes
1	large can crushed tomatoes
1	package Ranch dressing
	tortilla chips
	sour cream
	shredded cheese

Brown meat and onion. Drain grease. Add canned ingredients, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing seasoning. Heat and simmer to blend flavors. Serve over tortilla chips with sour cream and cheese to garnish.

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what's in a name?

What’s in a name?  Well, I’ll leave that up to Shakespeare to decide.  But for my blog, it was simple.

We’re long time fans of the show Green Acres.  Ever seen it?  Yes, it’s older than my husband and me … combined.  (wait, no.  that was a stretch.  Darn it!)  It’s crazy cute and absolutely our favorite.

For those that may have missed it, it’s a silly little show, where a lawyer from New York, Oliver Wendell Douglas, and his spoiled, beautiful wife with an incredible wardrobe, Lisa, pack up their fancy belongings and move to a rundown shack in the country, in hopes of starting a farm.  Almost our story.  …okay, not even close…

Source: maggiore.net

 

We’re not from the city.  We both grew up in the country and have a love for the land – although we didn’t really get our hands too dirty in our younger years.  But it’s our hope to now.  We really want to start a garden – maybe just a patio garden like OWD had in NY, for now.   Just something.  Anything.  That’s home-grown, tastes oh so yummy, and saves us some $$$

Eventually we want some Acres of our own.  Nothing too big.  Just something to take care of, grow some veggies, and let the kiddies run around.  We want a garden, lots of fruit trees, some herbs.  Hubs really wants to start beekeeping, and I’m all for vermicomposting.  In our minds, we’re regular green thumbs! 

So what about the “Queen” part of our Acres?  Well that’s even easier.  It’s our last name.  :)

So come along with us!  Watch us learn, laugh at our mistakes, or share your advice!  I can’t wait to see what Queen Acres will become!

And I promise you.  My husband won’t be gardening in a three piece suit.  But if I can get by with a knee-length dress, pearls, and gorgeous cat-eyes like Lisa while I’m tending the crop, you better bet I will!  ;)

Source: sharetv.org