Happy Halloweenie!

So, we haven’t had a “life” update in quite a while, because life just keeps comin’!

I was signed to a real live modeling agency recently, and have been able to score some pretty steady work out of them, surprisingly! I do promotions for Jack, SoCo, Jim, Jose, cigar promo’s, event hosting… Check them out by clicking here. They’re called PUSH Models and they’re in almost every state, and growing! I couldn’t be happier and I’m SO glad I listened to Boo when he told me, “I’m sick of people telling me how pretty you are and I have to tell them you don’t do anything with it. DO something with it.” Good advice, dear. Plus, I’m still doing my beer tubbin’ thang, which is, um, lucrative. Which is good, because my car payment is redic and well, I love shoes.

Boo got a new job, working with special needs students at a specialized school for children with autism, Asperger's, and other relatively severe special needs. He loves it. I have to say, the man’s got heart. A BIG heart. He loves what he does and I love him for doing it! So between that and working for Arizona State University, I’d have to say, my man’s days of pizza slingin’ are over! I respect a man that can don a hard hat or work in fast food and bust his ass for his family, but it’s just not the man I know Mo is. He’s better than that, he’s a college grad and he’s worked towards this for too long. I’m SO proud of him!

Anyway, onto Halloween! We bought this kid a little devil costume. We had it planned out that he was going to be the devil and we were going to be his little devil parents… Well he wouldn’t wear his costume (go figure) and I had about 15 minutes to think of what the HELL else to be. So I used the leftovers from Moses 2nd birthday party and we were all pirates! I think we turned out pretty cute!

We ended up trick or treating with my bff’s, their men and their kids around our neighborhood but are in for a change of plans next year! Earlier trick or treating, when we have more daylight, bbq after with a Halloween party for the kids too. We simply went too late this time and were left in the dark. Boo! As for grown up Halloween fun, we went to my tattoo artist and good friends house for a Halloween house party and reunited with some old friends on Friday and hit the town on Saturday going to both Tempe and Scottsdale because we were super excited to be back in the “city”.

I’m so glad his birthday stuff was lying around and we were able to throw together some last minute costumes to trick or treat with our buddies! And we both mentioned how thankful we are that we are here, where we can do this kind of thing, unlike last year where we hit 3 houses and went home because everybody in our neighborhood were being Hallo-scrooges.

Before I go, I wanted to throw out some ideas for your next Halloween, to “give back” before the holiday season. Right before Thanksgiving, when we like to give thanks for all we have, and Christmas, when charities are in your face and people are broke, it’s an opportune time to get a little charity work in…

I’ve done “Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat”, it’s an organization that donates the canned food you collect while trick or treating, to local homeless shelters and food banks, because grocery stores often charge per can or pound for food “donated” to shelters. If you don’t want to get involved, take a wagon around with you and explain what you’re doing, on Halloween before anyone is out trick or treating, since most people are at least at home getting ready to go out for the night, or setting up their candy situations. They’re usually stoked on what you’re doing and willing to give a can, or two, or three. I’ve done it before with multiple people and parked at the end of each block, unloading wagons and taking breaks because people are so generous. And any homeless shelter will take your food. If they won’t, a church will. Somebody will take canned food in your area.

If you are like me, and don’t give your child candy, (No, I’m not robbing him of a childhood, get a grip on yourself.) you can always donate it to shelters for battered women and/or abused children, children’s hospitals, food banks or a local organization that sends candy to the troops. All that info can be found online!

Also, it’s not exactly “charitable” but some dentist offices offer “buy-back” programs for your candy and pay cash. Check that out as well!

I hope everybody had a fun, happy and SAFE Halloween!

Macdonald’s Ranch Pumpkin Patch Trip!

What Halloween would be complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch? Not ours, so this year, being in the Big City, we were on a mission to find the coolest pumpkin patch we could. 

To North Scottsdale we went, in search of old Macdonald’s farm… Just kidding, it’s called Macdonald’s Ranch and I’ll have some info and links at the end of the post!

We parked and got in without a line, and of course, went straight to pet some fuzzy little creatures! They had a TON! Goats of all shapes, breeds, sizes, a mini horse, pigs, baby cows, peacocks, sheep, chickens… A whole flippin’ barnyard! Lots of area so it didn’t get crowded, no creepy attendants asking if you’ve ever seen a goat before. the baby loved it!

Next, it was off to pick our pumpkin! Like I said, the ranch is huge, so they have hay rides out to the pumpkin patch they’ve set up. I thought we were going to get to pick a pumpkin out of a real patch, but I understand they don’t just grow in this heat, so I’ll give up my authentic patch picking fantasy, for now. The hay ride, was cool. The scenery is beautiful, it was a short, yet bumpy ride and it really added to the experience! We hopped off, picked a couple pumpkins (they could have used a little more shade out there, just sayin’, it’s effin’ HOT during the day here still…) and were on our hay ride back! BUT… I managed to get some cool pictures out there…

As you can tell from that one picture, my son was throwing pumpkins around like that’s what they were put there for. I’m thinking about taking him somewhere to chuck ours off of something, but I don’t know what or where that’s ok to make a mess, but safe to let him stand to throw a pumpkin. I’ll figure it out. Sometimes, you just gotta get messy!

Information about the pumpkin patch, and all the other activities and things they offer at the ranch, visit the Macdonald's Ranch website by clicking the link.

I hope you all enjoy your Halloween, stay safe and as Moses says, “Appy Awwo-WEEN!”

Roasted Garlic & Herb Biscuits

 

Biscuits!

These are to die for, just sayin’.

Let’s get to them biscuits!

INGREDIENTS:

Baking mix, any kind, but I like buttermilk
1 head of garlic, roasted then mashed into a paste
Rosemary, thyme, cayenne, parmesan (grated or shredded)

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare the biscuits according to the box, mix in the garlic paste very well. Grease a cookie sheet and plop large tablespoon size balls onto the sheet. Sprinkle with the last 4 ingredients and bake! Easy peasy!

 

 

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chipotle Carnitas Chili

 

As promised, here’s the chili recipe I mentioned in my last post, you can find it here.

This chili is freezable, of course, done in the crock pot and will stay good, long past when you’d think it’s gone bad…

I used canned beans for this, because I needed to make it quickly. But normally, I would have used the frozen beans I have, in the amounts you would get in a can, instead.

 

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 of your leftover roast from the post I mentioned above. Or 1-1.5lb of pork cooked as mentioned in that post.
1 cube of chipotle marinade, again, in the above post.
8-10 Roma tomatoes, diced roughly
2 cups red bell pepper, diced
2 cups celery, diced
2 cups white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 tbs chile powder
1 tsp red chile flakes
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs thyme
salt to taste


DIRECTIONS:

In your crock pot, on high, put the meat, tomatoes, marinade and beans. In a large stock pot, heat a little olive oil and start your garlic on medium-high heat. After about a minute, add the onion and celery and cook until they start to get soft. Add the bell peppers, cooking for about 3 minutes to soften the peppers, then add the mixture to the crock pot along with seasonings.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until it resembles something irresistibly delicious. About 3 hours.

I’ll post a recipe to some absolutely amazing biscuits that go with this all too well, very soon. I’m WAY busy getting ready for Halloween, struggling with my usually smooth freezer meal day and having what’s turning out to be freezer meal week and dealing with a teething, oddly pooping toddler and having to put the brakes on potty training completely right now. Not to mention, he’s out grown half his clothes in the last week alone, can destroy a house like nobodies business these days and insists on riding the dog, EVERYWHERE…. I feel a “life” post coming on soon….

Enjoy this chili, or whatever you end up making. If you read this far, thank you. I, for one, have typed this one eyed and dirty handed while whipping up a batch of pasta sauce for the freezer out of 7lbs of tomatoes, peppers and onions. I’m TIRED. Idk how you Pinterest bishes kill 46 meals in one day… You must repeat meals on the regular or have school aged children because my toddler hates everything I do in the kitchen and rains on my cooking parade whenever possible.

Good night!

Crock Pot Carnitas Tacos & Chipotle Marinade

I promised a follow up to the pork loin recipe with more ideas for these massive pork loins I’ve been finding on sale and hopefully, you have found some AMAZING deals as well!

These carnitas tacos are delicious, easy, they taste authentic, they freeze well so you can use the leftover meat in something else, like chili or soup. My next post will be the chili I made from the leftover meat from this recipe!

First, I have to say I made my own marinade for this recipe. It’s no secret. I usually use chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for most any red Mexican dish I made. They add a distinctive spice and the smokey adobo is unique and delicious. I hated buying a can of peppers in the sauce because I’d use one or two peppers, a little sauce, store it in the fridge for who knows how long and end up throwing it away.

So, I made my own!



Like I said, there’s no secret.

Go buy a can or two, or three, of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, throw it in a food processor with a little squeeze of lime juice and cumin, portion into an ice cube tray, lined in plastic wrap and freeze!

To use, just melt the cube in a little warm water or broth, add some vinegar, maybe some beer or tequila and marinate that meat!

Back to the carnitas.

INGREDIENTS:

3lbs Pork loin, thawed or frozen, again, this can be done with frozen meat, since it’s being shredded, the toughness of the meat doesn’t matter.
1cup Green bell pepper, diced. I keep mine frozen, which saves a ton of time.
1cup White onion, diced. Again, frozen for me.
1tbs Red pepper flakes
1/2tbs Rosemary
1tbs Thyme
1/2tbs Cumin
1/2tbs Ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

In a crock pot, combine above ingredients, with enough water to almost cover the meat. Start on high to get the heat going and lower to low after about an hour or two. Leave until cooked through.

Then, I cut mine in big chunks and set it aside to cool, shred and add back to the crock pot. I then cooked the meat until the liquid was absorbed. (I used a little liquid when I made the refried beans, my fiance said they were the best beans I’ve made so far… Just a little hint!)

What was left was tender, deliciously flavorful, spicy but not TOO spicy, carnitas. I made tacos out of it, then froze half for later! It’s an all day affair with your crock pot, this one… So it’s feasible to leave this cooking all day while you do your thing…

Enjoooooy and have a great weekend!!