Sunday Dinner

Sunday night I had a few friends over for dinner before a larger group came to play games. It was a lovely meal with great friends.  Thanks to Aaron for making most of it.

The spread: Hawaiian sweet rolls, fruit salad, pork gravy, pork roast, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and blood orange drink with raspberries.

Aaron's fruit salads always look so pretty.

Pork roast was cooked in the slow cooker.  Was seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper with a 1/4 cup of water at the bottom of the crock pot (juices were used to make the gravy).

Tomatoes are from our garden!

I love artichokes!

Aren't they beautiful?  I like them best with melted butter, though I grew up eating them dipped in mayo.

Carnitas

Greg makes delicious carnitas (our version of carnitas anyway) and was kind enough to make it again last month.

Ingredients:

• 4-6 lbs boneless pork butt, cut into one inch cubes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbs cumin
• 1 Tbs coriander
• 1 Tbs oregano
• 1 Tbs salt
• 5-6 chipotle in adobo, chopped (Or half a 7 oz can, depending on how hot you like it.)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 quarts chicken broth

Directions:

1. Combine seasonings and place into a large stock pot.
2. Place onion, garlic, and pork into pot and cover with broth.
3. Simmer uncovered for 3 hours.
4. Once meat is tender and falls apart, transfer to a cookie sheet, put 2-3 Tbs of vegetable oil over the meat and cook in oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes to make crispy.  (We skipped this step.  We didn't want to wait another 10 minutes!)

Beautiful, yummy pork

Spanish rice

The chef (He didn't really want his photo taken.)

Aaron didn't want his photo taken either.

Final product.  

I do believe I can eat this meal once a week if he would make it that often.  First time he made it, he put a whole can of chipotle in and it was a tad spicy, but still delicious.  This time around he only used half the can. 

July Already?!

Where does the time go??  I can hardly believe it is already July! Time flies when you're in school I suppose, or just getting older.  I have to wait 'til January to take my last class to graduate so I have all the time in the world to be more diligent with this blog.  Here are some pics from the last few months.

Balsamic chicken with home grown basil over rice.

Pork chops with a raspberry balsamic sauce.  Accompanied by artichokes, strawberries, and cherries.  It was a 'berry' good meal.  ;)  (I can hear the groans already.)

I love my tacos.  We use ground turkey meat instead of beef.

Kitty has been with us a whole year now!  She is definitely spoiled.