Getting Scared in 2018

Happy 2018 y'all!  I know it's February but I like hibernate in January and just relax a little more to recoup from the craziness that December brings each year.  Are you resolution people? or are you someone that like to just set goals to being a fresh new start to the year?  or are you the type of person that does this every day/ week no matter what month it is?  I do like January and the start of the new year to just refocus on my goals and what I want to accomplish, I don't think I really say that they are my "resolutions" but I do set goals based on my aspirations.

This year I have decided that this is the year that I am going to do something "scary."  I came up with this idea in November when I was playing a game with my kids and I overheard Piper tell Paxton that "remember what mom says?  She says you can do hard things!"  It was at that moment that I realized man they do listen, and secondly that I wasn't being a very good role model for them.  See I don't know about you but when I look back at the past couple/ five years, I can't really say that I have gotten out of my comfort zone.  Yes, my husband opened a restaurant, yes we had another child but to me that wasn't scary it was just a natural progression for career and family.  This prompted me to dig deep within myself and start making some "scary" goals that I have either dreamed of or wanted to do but the timing/ money wasn't right.  Do you remember when you were in high school/ college and you always had dreams/ goal of what you were going to do in 1 year/ 5 years/ 10 years?  I remember having them and writing them down to keep my mind clear on where I was going and what I was doing.  And while they changed throughout the years, I still knew that I was looking to better myself.  Somewhere between four kids, work, and life, I lost track of "what I want to be when I grow up" or "what I want to accomplish in this life." It's not a bad thing it's just a reality when life happens and it gets busy that sometimes you just have to hang on and enjoy the ride.

I then realized that 2018 was the year I was going to cross off one of my scary fitness goals and push myself farther than I have pushed it before.  This year I am going to compete in my first half ironman triathlon in Benton Harbor Michigan in August.  It's been almost 5 years since I have even completed a sprint triathlon so this should be interesting.  The race will include 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run all to be completed in less than 8 hours.  I told myself 2 years ago that I wanted to get back into triathlons and it just didn't work out,  it's funny how your mindset changes once you hit the "submit" button.  It's so easy to just say you don't have time or energy to do something but once you have set your mind to it than it's a lot easier.  No I didn't get some magical wish granted that made me have extra time in the day, instead I just made up my mind to schedule what's important in my life and make time for those things. Yes it means that I don't get to watch Netflix as much or sleep as much as I would like, or clean as often as I used to, but for now this is what is important and the goals that I want to accomplish this year.

So for now I keep my favorite quote imbedded in my head by Marianne Williamson, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest to the glory of God that is within us.  It’s not just in some of us; but in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated by our own fear, our presence automatically liberates other.”

So here's to getting scared in 2018, and being a good role model for my children that yes, even mom can do hard things.  When is the last time you scared yourself and did something out of your comfort zone?

Fall Pork Tacos with Apple Slawsa

This past Friday I was part of the Food and Wine Festival in Des Moines at Hy-Vee Hall preparing for a beer dinner.  It was a special 4 course dinner that I had created the menu for and then each course is paired with a different.  I prepare a little bit of the menu in front of them showing how they could do it at home, they get knowledge about the beer and why it works and they get to ask questions.  It's always a fun event that lets me be creative and think of all the foods that I love about fall and winter and put it into one menu.

The appetizer started with a glazed donut crostini, topped with brie cheese, cranberry sauce, bacon and arugula.  All I did for the donut crostini was cut a glazed donut in half lengthwise, roll it in cinnamon sugar, place it on a flat griddle, top it with a pan and put a weight on it to smash it down.  Grill it for about 2 minutes on each side and then remove from the griddle.  It's still a little soft but it does crisp up and is amazing!  

The main course was a little play on a recipe that started in my house as a street taco but evolved into an amazing entree.  It was gnocchi in a sweet potato sauce topped with spiced braised pork and an apple slawsa.  Yes that's not a typo, I like to call it a slawsa because I make an apple salsa mix it with some shredded cabbage that gives the dish a nice refreshing crunch to it.

As you can see this is the fall pork taco that started the whole inspiration for the menu.  It's similar but with a little bit of changes you can make a whole new dish.  I like to tell people that my food is very simple to prepare if you enjoy cooking and learning.  Food preparation doesn't have to be a chore but can very enjoyable and relaxing if you let it.  

So for today I am giving you guys the step by step instructions for the fall tacos that is so good and so fresh that will make you wonder how you ever made it through your day without this little bit of heaven in your kitchen.

Full disclosure: It looks like it takes a lot of ingredients but it's worth it and each recipe doesn't take long at all to make.

First thing you want to do is in a small bowl add the salt, pepper, ground ginger and Chinese five spice and mix together to create a dry rub.  Take your pork butt roast, put it on a plate and rub the seasoning mix on all part of the pork.

 In a large skillet on medium high heat place the pork in the pan and brown the outsides of the pork.

**Note: I used a large bone in pork shoulder butt roast since it was an amazing price, and I have a big family**

Cook about 5 minutes on each side and set the pork aside.  

In a large crockpot, add the beef broth, soy sauce, dijon mustard and brown sugar in the bottom and add the pork butt.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

When it's finished, remove the pork to a plate, and shred with 2 forks, discarding any fat.  Put the shredded pork back in the crockpot to absorb all the juices and flavors of the au jus.

As you are waiting for the pork to cook, go ahead and start making your apple slawsa.  It will give the recipe time to meld the flavors together if you make it ahead. 

You can even make the apple salsa part the night before, but just don't add the shredded cabbage until the day of so that you still have the crunchy factor that makes the taco so fresh.

To make the apple salsa, clean, cut and core the apples and dice them into small pieces.  You can use any apple that you like.  I usually use pink lady apples since they are my favorite but this time I used the apples that I had gotten from my sisters tree.  

After you dice up the apples, dredge the apples in a little lemon juice and water to prevent from browning.  I usually take a cereal bowl add 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice and about 1 c. of water to dredge the apples in.  

Next dice up the green peppers, red onions, and jalapeños, nice and small.  I take the stem off, take out the ribs and seeds since that's where all the heat is.

When all the veggies are diced up, add them to a medium sized bowl with the cilantro.

Now it's time for the fresh ginger.  I know ginger can be scary to work with if you've never worked with it before but it's not that scary.  Also I know I used to not like adding fresh ginger to things and if you are that person please try it with it.  The fresh ginger gives the salsa a little bit of kick and a little added spice that makes this salsa unique.

So to use fresh ginger just cut off a small piece of the ginger to work with.    

I then take a spoon to remove the outer flesh of the ginger.  No need to use a knife, it will remove too much.

Then take a small microplane or grater and grate the amount needed.  This recipe only needs 1 tbsp.

Now add the ginger, apple cider vinegar, lime juice,

honey, and salt and pepper to the salsa.

All you have to do is mix it all up and

add in your sliced cabbage/ bagged coleslaw mix to complete the slawsa.  Go ahead and put the slawsa in the fridge to let all the flavors combine until the pork is ready.

 

For assembly:  Take a tortilla, add about 3 oz. of shredded pork, top with the apple slawsa, and top with extra cilantro if desired.

Enjoy the meal!  This is also one recipe that is delicious the next day or even days later.  It's a great meal prep idea that never gets old with such wonderful and contrasting flavors and textures.

Fall Pork Tacos with Apple Slawsa

Pork

1 Tbsp. Kosher Salt
1/2 Tbsp. Restaurant Black Pepper
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. Chinese 5 spice
2-3 lbs. Pork Butt Roast
1 c. beef broth
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. brown sugar

Apple Slawsa
2 c. diced apples, (honey crisp, pink lady, braeburn) dredged in lemon water to prevent browning
1/2 c.  diced green pepper
1/2 c. diced red onion
1 small fresh jalapeño, diced
2 Tbsp fresh minced cilantro
1 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. lime juice
2 tsp. honey
salt and pepper to taste
4 c. prepackaged coleslaw mix (no dressing) or thinly sliced cabbage

Also need tortillas for assembly

In a small bowl add the salt, pepper, ground ginger and Chinese five spice and mix together to create a dry rub.  Take your pork butt roast, put it on a plate and rub the seasoning mix on all part of the pork.  In a large skillet on medium high heat place the pork in the pan and brown the outsides of the pork.  Cook about 5 minutes on each side and set the pork aside.  In a large crockpot, add the beef broth, soy sauce, dijon mustard and brown sugar in the bottom and add the pork butt.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

While you are waiting for the pork to cook, in a large bowl add the apples, green pepper, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, ginger, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, honey and salt and pepper and mix all around.  Add the shredded cabbage mix to the salsa, mix, cover and put in the fridge to meld the flavors.

When the pork is done, take the pork out of the crockpot, and shred with two forks, discarding any fat  and put it back in the crockpot to absorb all the juices.

For assembly:  Take a tortilla, add about 3 oz. of shredded pork, top with the apple slawsa, and top with extra cilantro if desired.  Enjoy!

Southwest Cabbage Salad

Do you ever get in a food rut on purpose because you found a food that you love so much that you just want to eat it all the time?  Well I'm sharing my food rut that I have had for the past 3 months.  Yes you heard correctly.  I have had some version of this salad every week or maybe multiple times a week for the past 3 months.  I will share in full disclosure that originally I started this recipe as a street taco for some fun appetizers for a class I was teaching and then it turned into a fun dinner for the kids.  Then because I was working out and not trying to be so carb focused for every meal it evolved into a salad that I loved so much that I eat it multiple times a week and am now sharing it with you.  A couple times over the summer I omitted the meat, mixed in the dressing to the salad to take to a couple potlucks for a new "southwest coleslaw".  Yep, obsessed I am!  But for good reason, it's fast, easy, full of veggies and totally customizable!  

I know not everyone likes cilantro and I used to be that person too, but tastebuds change and mine evolved into the cabbage loving, cilantro digging, black bean eating person that I am today!  If you are not that person, omit what you don't like, add in what you do like and make it your own.  

By the way if you are the person that likes to meal prep this is a great recipe to use as you just keep the meat, salad, and dressings separate until meal time, heat up the meat, mix salad with dressing and warmed up meat and you have your meal that tastes crunchy and fresh in less than 1 minute! 

See look how colorful it is!

First thing you need to do is get out a medium skillet and cook the meat over medium to high heat. Cook the ground beef for 4-5 minutes, season with salt, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder, and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes or until browned and no pink throughout.  Drain the grease and set the ground beef aside.

You can use chicken breast, ground chicken or even ground turkey in this recipe depending on your tastes.  I have done chicken breast sliced thin with the recipe, just make sure you use a 1 Tbsp. of olive oil when cooking it.   All the meats are delicious it's just that I had the ground beef this time.



After the meat is cooked or even while the meat is cooking, cut up the peppers.  You can use yellow, red, green or orange.  I personally like the sweet peppers better lately and had some delicious peppers from my sisters garden.  I first cut the top and bottom off the peppers, take out the seeds and slice the peppers very thin. 

Next I take the peppers and add them to the already pre chopped coleslaw mix, that is store bought, in a large bowl or tupperware container if you are making this for later use.  Yes you can chop your own cabbage and more power to you.  I personally like the fact that the package has purple cabbage, and shredded carrots in it that is less than $2 a bag.  My philosophy in cooking is that if there is a product that will make your life easier and make you cook more than use it, hence my love of bagged "coleslaw mix".  I don't use ALL convenience items but when I find a good one I roll with it!    

After I mix the peppers with the coleslaw/ cabbage mix, I add in my rinsed black beans and cilantro leaves.  

Again if you are meal prepping, just keep the coleslaw veggie bean mixture separated without the dressing the salad.  This will leave everything fresh and crunchy for you to eat at a later use.

If you are making this recipe and eating it right away then once you have the salad put together, divide it onto 4 plates, top with ground beef or meat of choice and drizzle 2 tbsp. of Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle dressing.  Mix it all together and devour at once!

Hope you all enjoy this salad as much as I do and it you decide to get crazy and switch it up, this is a delicious as a taco as well!

Southwest Cabbage Salad

serves 4

1 lb. Ground Beef

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder 

1 (16oz.) bag Hy-Vee Coleslaw Mix or 8 c. Shredded Cabbage

1 c. thinly sliced red peppers

1 c. thinly sliced yellow peppers

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 c. Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle Ranch Dressing

1/4 c. fresh cilantro leaves (garnish)

Directions

In a medium skillet over medium to high heat cook the ground beef for 4-5 minutes, season with salt, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder, and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes or until browned and no pink throughout.  Drain the grease and set the ground beef aside.  In a large bowl or tupperware container add the coleslaw mix, peppers, and black beans and mix until all incorporated.  

To assemble the salads,  divide the salad mixture onto 4 plates equally, top each salad with 1/4 of the meat mixture, drizzle 2 Tbsp. of Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle Ranch Dressing on top and garnish with cilantro leaves. 

Everything Fall and Crockpot Applesauce

I just love everything about fall!  The weather, the food, the activities.  Last Monday the kids had off for Columbus Day from school and we decided to go to the Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge, Iowa, which is about 30 minutes from Des Moines.  I always look forward to the "no school day" in October so that we can take full advantage of discount weekday pricing at the pumpkin patches/ apple orchards.  Yeah I know I'm cheap but with a family of 6, it's totally worth it.  Plus this year I found a coupon online for even further discount pricing.  MOM WIN!

Since we typically only make it to one apple orchard/ pumpkin patch each year, we tend to switch up each year since they all have different things to offer.  This year since we were able to go during the week, it wasn't as busy so we were able to take in all that the orchard had to offer.

Of course the corn pool is always a favorite.  We had to get the annual picture of the kids in the corn pool!

Cyril running at me to "splash" me with corn!

No waiting for the tractors was a nice surprise!

Paxton loved the new slide!

After we took the tractor ride to ride their train, and go through the corn maze we headed back to eat, jump on their jumping pillow, play on the spider ropes, feed the goats, and race ducks.  

After 4 hours of being at the orchard playing we decided to stop at my sister house and pick apples in her backyard at her apple tree.  We've never really taken advantage of her wonderful apple tree in the past years but this was the third time we had been there this year.  I guess I am baking more and with Finley eating a lot of purees I just felt like this is the year to take advantage of it more than usual.  Apple picking is so much fun when you get to use the apple picker and since the kids are finally big enough to use it, it's always more fun to pick your own apples.  

Even Finley got an apple to suck on!  No teeth yet, so it was more of a toy, but I guess edible toys are the best toys.

Now that we had a lot of apples we can move onto the crockpot applesauce recipe.  First I washed the sink and then washed all the apples to get the grime off them.  I just fill the sink with water, add 1 c. of vinegar, add in the apples and then let it soak for about 45 minutes.

After all the apples were washed I set up my work station.  I ended up putting an additional step in that I typically haven't done in the past but I decided to dredge the cut apples in lemon/ water mixture.  I now realize after doing it that this is a not need step, but wanted to let you know since the red bowl is in most of the pictures and not in the final recipe. 

First step is to peel all the apples.  Now if you are fortunate enough to have an apple peeler this is a fun step that takes no time at all.  Since I do not have one of those, I peel all the apples with a pairing knife.

Cut the apples into fourths, and cut out the core and seeds.

After all the apples were cut I threw them in my crockpot

adding in the water, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice and mixed.

Cook it on high for 4 hours

and viola cooked apples!

We don't know the types of apple tree that my sister has but we know it's a baking apple so all I had to do with the apples was stir it with a spoon or whisk and it was pureed enough for our family.

Oh man I wish you could smell this picture because the smell of fresh hot applesauce is just AMAZING!  The kids and I ended up having a bowl for an after school snack before dividing it and freezing a lot of it for later use.

** Recipe note:  I used about 20-25 small apples, but if you buy some at the store use about half as much (10-12) as the recipe calls for since they tend to be a larger than one's you get from an orchard or tree.

I hope you all try this recipe as it's way better than any applesauce you can buy in the store.  Don't let the peeling the apples discourage you either as it only took me 30 minutes to peel them all.

Enjoy!

Crockpot Applesauce
Makes about 7 cups

20 small or about 10 medium/ large apples, peeled and cored
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Peel all apples, cut the core out of the middle and cut into quarters.  Throw all the apples in a medium to large crockpot.  Add in the water, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice and mix around.  Cook on low for 4 hours.  Stir or mash and serve or cool for later use.

Goodbye Summer

 As Labor Day is coming to a close, I get to reflect on what a great summer we have had.  It's been busy, full of fun, laughs, and emotions but we made it through and boy am I tired!

Every summer we do a summer bucket list and this year was no exception.  The list consisted of doing some smaller family vacations where we could get away from our everyday norm and enjoy the scenery from around Iowa.

First trip we took was to Okoboji.  It's always great to get to go back where you grew up and experience with your kids.  

 Even though Okoboji was unseasonably cold when we were up there, we still had a lot of fun walking by the water, buying sweatshirts and candy from the Sugar Shack, checking out Barefoot bar and showing the kids how to belly up to the bar, and lots of indoor swimming at Cutty's.

We had to get our annual photo of the kids on the steps in our loft room.  We even got grandma in there since Finley couldn't sit on the ladder.

I got to catch up with some friends and have a girls night out on the town and try out some new bars that I have been wanting to try.  Piper even let me borrow some pretty fancy glasses to take on the town.

 

Then the end of June, we were fortunate enough to have my parents watch the four kiddos while Carl and I got to have a night out on the town and go see our favorite ginger singer, Ed Sheeran.  He was AMAZING!  I can't say that I have ever went to a large concert where it was just one person on stage doing his thing.  It was great to see a one man show that left us in awe of his talent. 

 Our new tradition is for our whole extended family to go to Adventureland on the 4th of July.  Contrary to what people might believe, 4th of July at Adventureland is the best time to go.  We usually go out there around lunch time and go on some rides, make our way to the waterpark for a few hours and then finish off our time with the rest of the rides.  The best part about it is that we rarely have to stand in line which is pretty amazing with little kids.  Plus at dusk, they have their own fireworks so it turns out to be a pretty amazing day full of fun.

As many know Iowa legalized fireworks this year.  I can't say I went out to buy some crazy fireworks but I will say that the second set of sparklers that I bought (the first batch were duds and none of them lit) were a little crazier than we are used to.

We then made our next little family trip to Dubuque, where Carl is from.  We got to visit some of his extended family, take in some time at his aunt and uncle's farm and show the kids what happens in the country.

We were then so close that we made a little trip to the Maquoketa caves and just hiked through all the 13 caves.  This was our first experience so I can't say I was the most prepared mom by only bringing 1 bottle of water for all of us, and no flashlights, but it was still fun.  Worth the trip for sure!

This summer was very hot in July so we found ourselves looking for indoor fun.  Luckily the Warrior Lanes in Waukee participates in this amazing program where kids bowl free all summer.  Here's my fashionista sending the ball down the lane.

We also got to cheer on our neice/ cousin to an amazing 3rd place finish in her triathlon.  It's so great seeing kids do what they love to do, and you could tell Kendra was serious and loved participating in her triathlon.

 

We took our first little trip to Prairie City to a cute little place called "Goldie's" and boy was it worth the 30 minute drive.  We heard they are known for their tenderloins and ice cream, so we all shared a tenderloin and their ice cream was delicious.  We will be sure making this a tradition and putting this on our bucket list again next summer.

After Goldie's we found a new little park in Altoona and it was great.  Not many of these old school merry go rounds exist at playgrounds anymore so we spent the majority of the time spinning on this.  I may of gotten on there to relive the fun elementary times but I quickly realized I'm not that young still and got really dizzy.

August is always a very busy time in our house, so when it hits, we just know that summer is coming to close.  This year it was extra special because my parents took each of the 3 older kids on their own special day date.  Paxton got to go out and see Camp Dodge in Johnston and experience something he has never even seen before.

 Cyril went out to Bass Pro Shop and got to drive cars with grandpa and go out to eat.

And Piper picked going out to Kum N Go fresh market to eat and going to the Pella Sweet Corn Festival where she got to jump on some big bouncy houses.

In the middle of August it's always "Birthday Week."  While everyone else goes to the fair, we celebrate 3 birthdays within 2 days.  We tend to celebrate them all week since they are all so close that we want them to know how each of them are so special.  This year the boys wanted to go up to Ames, eat pizza and play games at "Perfect Games."

Carl then had a couple days after their birthday that we choose to give them "experience gifts" this year instead of toys.  We went up as a family to Minneapolis and took them to the Mall of America to ride rides at the Nickelodeon Amusement park.  I will tell you that they still talk about how much fun they had and all the fun rides they got to go on.  I'm so happy we decided to go somewhere instead of giving them more stuff.

The kids trying to find the eclipse in their homemade eclipse finders.

Finley has gotten a lot bigger over the summer and even got to start playing at the playground in the baby swing.

Ohhhh I'm sure they will always get along like this, right?!?!?!?!?!?!?! HAHAHAHA yeah I know better!  But for now I will love this picture and remember the sweet times.

And if we didn't have enough to do in August already, we decided to liven it up even more and get Finley Baptized. 

Finley with what we call her "Fairy Godmothers."  So happy to have these two in our lives!

 And to top off the crazy summer Paxton decided to make it a little more interesting and this weekend he was climbing a large evergreen at my sister's house when he lost his footing and fell from the tree. He landed on his arm and smacked his head and ended up breaking 2 bones in his wrist.  He's our little climber and loves to climb anything.  I wish we would of make it past 7 to encounter our first broken bone but I'm sure it won't be our last.  Luckily he was a trooper and is making the most of his situation.

Paxton was climbing the tree on the left when he fell.  He was about 1/3 of the way up when he fell.

With all these pictures I now know why I've been tired for the past week but I'm so glad we made the most of our summer.  Here's to a just as busy and fun filled school year!