Pulled Pork Tacos

I love love Taco night!!!!

Have I mentioned that my husband makes the best Taco.

Plating wise I had to help him but everything was all him. 

I think my cooking is okay, but I swear he's the best cook.

Our weekends definitely has been a lot about homemade food, yummy drinks and just a lot of family time.

We don't know how long is this lockdown going to be. 

But, for now we are just going to enjoy all of this family time we have.

Anyways, this is a really good Taco recipe!

I prefer Pulled pork more than anything and hubby had the best idea for making it in the crockpot.

Let me know what you guys think!!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Tacos

Ingredients

• 3 pounds pork shoulder roast
• 1 onion diced
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• juice of one lime 1-2 tablespoons
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes

Instructions

• Mix together the chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, oregano and red chili flakes, set aside.
• Add the chopped onion and garlic to the slow cooker with the tomato paste, lime juice, and just 1-2 teaspoons of the spice mixture. Stir everything together until fully mixed.
• Sprinkle the rest of the spices all over the chuck roast, patting to help it stick to the meat.
• Place the meat on top of the onion mixture and set cook on low for 8-9 hours. Total cooking time will vary for different roasts.
• After meat has cooked, use two forks to shred the meat, removing any large pieces of fat or gristle as you find them. (If the meat is still too tough to shred, it needs to be cooked a little longer. Cook for an additional 30-60minutes and check it again.) Stir to mix well with the sauce. Cover and continue to cook on low for another 30-60minutes.
• Before serving stir well again to mix the meat with the sauce. Taste meat and season with more salt to taste.
• Optional Step: To create crispy carnitas, heat a heavy skillet (cast iron is best) over medium high heat.  When pan is hot, add 1 tablespoon of oil.  Add the carnitas in batches, careful not to crowd the pan.  Drizzle a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid from the crock pot over the meat as it fries.  Once bottom is crispy, turn the meat, until desired crispiness is reached.
  For the Tacos:

Ingredients

• 2 cups Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded pork Can be made ahead of time
• 8 small corn tortillas or flour tortillas, if you prefer
• Sour Cream

For The Cilantro Lime Slaw:

• 3 cups cabbage thinly sliced
• 3 carrots shredded
• 1/2 cup cilantro roughly chopped
• 1 japaleno diced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice about 1 lime
• ½ teaspoons coarse sea salt or to taste. Use half the amount if using regular table salt.

Instructions

To Make The Cilantro Lime Slaw

• Add all ingredients for slaw to a large bowl, toss together until fully mixed.  Set aside.

Assemble Tacos

• Optional step: Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Spray the tortillas on both sides with a little oil.  Heat the tortillas in a skillet until starting turn golden and a bit crispy.  Flip and do the same on the other side.
• In one tortilla, add about 1/4 cup of the Mexican shredded pork, top with cilantro lime slaw and sour cream.

It was on of the best Tacos I had!

So yummy!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Everyday

"Everyday may not be good

But, there is good in every day."

Easter Sunday

Last weekend we celebrated Easter at home. 

We usually just celebrate at home but the only difference this year is we had to do

Easter Egg hunt in or Backyard. 

I actually thought we won't be able to do it because even getting those plastic eggs

was not easy. 

But, I'm glad it worked out well.

Easter dress.

Easter Bunny came!

These boys are so happy.

We did our Easter egg hunt and I think it felt different for my first boy.

Because, every time we do it he had to fight for those eggs with everyone.

This year, he have all those eggs to himself.

So it was a calm but fun Easter Egg hunt.

It was a beautiful day!

While waiting for our Dinner to finish we played some Badminton.

We've been playing a lot of this to kill time and do something different for our workout.

It's fun.

I hope you all had a good Easter weekend.

Ciao, Ciao!

-Jen

31st Birthday.

31!!!

I'm officially 31. 

Definitely starting to feel old. haha

Last weekend we celebrated my Birthday at home since Italy is still on Lockdown.

It made me a little sad that we can't go anywhere.

But, Hubby made my birthday amazing.

..And the important thing is we are together, happy and healthy. 

that's what all matters.

I had an excuse to play dress up and put on my make up.

It felt so nice.

If you are also going to celebrate your birthday on a lockdown..

Don't feel bad for doing something good for yourself. 

Birthday only happens only once a year, it may be just another day

but it's YOUR day. 

Celebrate YOU even if it's just for a day.

I'm so grateful for these 3. 

They prepared everything for my day.

To decor, food, drinks and everything.

We had a dinner in the Backyard.

I'm glad the weather is cooperating this year. 

Every April here in Italy is always raining.

Hubby grilled some Lobster and Steaks. 

It was a Surf and Turf dinner.

If you noticed I love that kind of dinner. 

It was my request!

It was amazing!!!

It was such a perfect day with my loves. 

xoxo

-Jen

31

31 never felt so good. :)

Avocado Strawberry Spinach Salad

This week has been awesome.

Hubby didn't work all week and it felt like we are more active than usual during this lockdown.

We've been doing good with our own workouts, tomorrow we are going to workout together 

and this afternoon we played Badminton and it felt amazing!

We took a few days off from Homeschooling since its Spring Break.

So doing something different this week was amazing. 

...And with eating.

I think we are doing good too!

Today we let go a little bit and had a Chocolate Chip Cookies Ice cream!

Yummmmm

It's all about balance, right?

Anyways, I made this Salad tonight!

It's only a side though.

It's perfect for side or if you want to make it a main meal, It would

be good to add more protein to it. 

Whatever you prefer. 

Avocado Strawberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients

• 1 bag of fresh, organic spinach
• 1 carton of organic strawberries
• 2 large Hass avocados, sliced into cubes
• 1/3 cup of raw walnuts or slivered almonds
• 1/3 cup of crumbled goat feta or goat cheese
• 1 tsp of sumac to season

   Use your favorite Dressing or this:

 Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup of good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp of tamari sauce (GF soy-sauce)
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and pepper to taste

So light, so fresh, so good.

Enjoy!!!

xoxo

-Jen

Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein

Me and hubby loves Chinese food so much.

But, this Beef and Broccoli Lo mein that I've been making is our favorite.

It's definitely been a while since we had a good Chinese food.

It's good that I can make these when we are craving for some.

This was not hard to make.

The noodles was optional, you can eat it with rice. 

Taste as awesome with noodles. 

Let me know what you guys think!

Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein

Ingredients:
For the marinate:

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
-1 tsp sugar 
-1 tbsp cornstarch 
-1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce 
-1 tbsp water 
-2 tbsp vegetable oil 
-1 1/2 lbs flank steak, sliced into thin strips 

Other ingredients:

-1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce 
-2 tbsp brown sugar 
-4 cloves garlic,minced 
-2 tbsp flour 
-1 tbsp sherry (optional) 
-3 tbsp vegetable oil 

-8 oz dried egg noodles (cooked according to package)

-2 heads broccoli, crowns only 

-1 Red bell pepper, chopped

-1 cup mushrooms, chopped

Directions: 

-Whisk together the baking soda, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and vegetable oil in a large bowl. 

Toss the steak with the marinate to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. 

-In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, flour, and sherry until smooth. Set aside

-Meanwhile, cook the Egg noodles according to package, set aside.

 -In a large wok or saute pan, heat 2 tbsp of the vegetable oil over high heat until shimmering. Add the broccoli, red bell pepper, mushroom and saute for 3 minutes, stirring often. Transfer to a plate. 

-Reduce the heat to medium-high. Carefully add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the hot pan, Add the marinated meat and half of the sauce mixture and saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until meat is cooked through and no longer pink. Stir in the noodles, the vegetables and remaining sauce. 

Saute 1 minute more and serve. Enjoy!:)

Enjoy!!!

xo

Don't stop...

"It doesn't matter how slowly you go,

As long as you don't stop."

Grilled Salmon with Mango Salsa

Who else is ready for Summer??!!

It's definitely been so nice to have a nice weather these days and even though 

we can't do anything else outside other than being in the backyard.

Cooking something fresh and good like these makes me so happy. 

We always grill meat and for a change we grilled seafood!

Adding the Mango Salsa to it just makes it perfect. 

I highly recommend it!

Grilled Salmon with Mango Salsa

• Salmon:
• 
  
• 4 (6 oz) skinless salmon fillets
• 3 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for grill
• 2 tsp lime zest
• 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Mango Salsa:

• 2 Mangos, diced (ripe)
• 1/2 small Red Onion, diced
• 1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
• 1 Jalapeño, de-seeded and membranes removed, diced
• 1 bunch Fresh Cilantro, diced
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• juice from one Lime, (small)

Directions:

For Salmon:

1. -In an 11x7-inch baking dish whisk together olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste (a fair amount of each). 
2. 
   
   -Place salmon in baking dish, cover and allow to marinate in refrigerator 15 - 30 minutes, then flip salmon to opposite side and allow to marinate 15 - 30 minutes longer. 
   
   
   -Preheat a grill over medium-high heat during last 10 minutes of marinating.
3. Brush grill grates with oil. Place salmon on grill and grill about 3 minutes per side or until just cooked through (turn carefully as the salmon will be fragile)

For Mango Salsa:

1. Combine the mango, red onion, bell pepper, jalapeño and cilantro in a medium size bowl.
2. Sprinkle with salt, and the lime juice. (start with juice from 1/2 a lime first, then taste and add more lime juice as desired).
3. Stir to combine.
4. Allow the salsa to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes prior to serving, this gives time for the flavors to blend and the fruit and peppers to soften in the lime juice.
5. Store covered in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Every bite was sooo good guys.

Let me know if you tried it!

xoxo

-Jen

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pretzel Cookies

Happy Monday Friends!

How was your weekend?

Back to Homeschooling day!

I love having a ready treats for us at home. 

I miss being able to buy fresh pastries at the bakery by our house.

I guess for now I have to make homemade ones for a little while.

Remember this awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe? ( Chocolate Chip Cookies )

I added a twist to it an its so amazing!

The crunch that added to it makes it even better.

Let me know what you guys think!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pretzel Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cups pretzels (chopped)
• 1 1/2 cups pecans (chopped)
• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

• Cream butter, oil and sugars. Add eggs and beat until fluffy.
• Add remaining ingredients.
• Refrigerate it for 3 hours or overnight (This Is what makes it perfect)
• Bake at 350 for 9 minutes.
  
  
  
  

Have a great week ahead!

xoxo

-Jen

Inhale Hope...

"Inhale Hope

Exhale Fear."