{C}atch Up Day

Reposting this carnitas recipe today {10.12.11} over at The Larson Lingo’s Crock-tober! These carnitas are healthy and great in tacos, burritos, over cilantro rice {recipe also on this post!}, on nachos or in a salad! Makes a TON so there are lots of leftovers or perfect for a party. Come on over and see who else is linking up and what they’re cooking up in their crock pots!

Mel shared a recipe for baby back ribs with a cherry mustard BBQ sauce ~ needless to say, they look amazing!

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Mondays are generally catch up days around here. You know…tidying up the tornado from the weekend, laundry, phone calls, cleaning, etc.

It’s been {c}old and rainy today, so I didn’t mind being holed up in the house doing all these lovely {c}hores.

I was up bright and early this morning getting my crock pot on. Jay found a {c}arnitas recipe here and I thought it’d be the perfect thing to cook away in my new, gorgeous stainless steel Crock Pot while we hung out at home today.

Here is the line up:

This recipe is soooo simple, but it takes 10 hours on low!

In at 7am…ready at 5pm!

In between the {c}hores, we played {C}hutes & Ladders:

…and put together a {C}urious George puzzle:

Rainy day movie of {C}hicken Little:

…and the tail end of a {c}artoon:

(gotta love {C}andace!)

Once the sun reappeared, the kiddos {c}hristened Emilie’s new swing set:

Sweet Baby Ryan:

We had a minor {c}ollision:

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I made some {c}ilantro lime rice to go along with the {c}arnitas. This recipe is inspired from my friend, Niki, in San Diego. Mine doesn’t turn out as well as hers, but it’s still delish.

Here’s the line up:

Tonight I made WAY too much rice ~ 2 cups with 4 cups stock! I think we could feed the whole neighborhood. I would suggest a cup of rice (2 cups stock) for 4 people or 1/2 cup rice (1 cup stock) for 2 people.

First, toast the rice and get the onion (I used a half, chopped) going in some olive oil and a little bit of butter for about 10 minutes stirring frequently:

Holy rice, Batman!

Next, add your stock depending on the amount of rice you’re making (1:2 ratio):

Bring to a rapid boil for a couple minutes on high and then turn to low and cover for about 2o minutes. Chop a handful of cilantro and stir in at the last minute and you will have this:

…enough rice to feed all of China!

The carnitas turned out perfect, but again, we could feed an army. Look at all this meat from a 2.5 lb. pork shoulder:

I got a bone-in shoulder and I was a little nervous, but the meat literally fell off the bone and I discarded it and then started shredding the meat with 2 forks. It was SUPER tender. I spooned a little of the juice over it to keep it moist.

Here is the final taco action on a plate:

YUM! Smokey from the cumin and citrusy from the orange and lime juices! I added a little peach pineapple salsa, a tad bit of sour cream and a squeeze of lime and it was delish. The recipe calls for corn tortillas, but I am a flour tortilla girl all day long. I found these mini ones at Super Wal-mart of all places and I love them because they are the perfect soft taco size ~ even smaller that the “fajita” size variety you see in the grocery stores. They come in a package of 20 for under 2 bucks!

Don’t forget a squeeze of lime on your rice!

Enjoy and adios! I am off to see {C}armen at boot camp!

Maybe I should take her a couple tacos and some rice…

XOXO