The Kalua Pig and a proud mama...a food story.

I've made this recipe three times so far. Kalua pig is so delicious, but it's hard to just up and roast a whole pig. This crock pot version is absolute perfection on a plate. It seems a little crazy to have it cook for 16 hours, but seriously it's worth the wait!!

Our roast ended up being about 6.5lbs, but still 16 hours was plenty of time. Here's a picture of a third of the roast and the bone, so tender that it fell out of the roast without any effort! In fact, I had to take the roast out in sections because it fell apart so easily.

 It didn't take anything to shred the meat. In fact, I had to be careful not to over shred the meat. Here is the whole roast, it all it's delicious glory!

I had all intentions of going to the store to buy some Kings Hawaiian rolls to serve as buns for our sliders. I even went into the store, and walked out remembering I had forgotten to get them. I was talking to my son about forgetting them, and we'll have to get them later. My four year old responds, "We could just make the rolls. That would be better than buying them." 

Super proud of my kids all the time, but for that moment I was proud of myself for teaching my kids that making things yourself is something to be proud of. I make a lot from scratch because I find the challenge fun, and it's a great way for me to make healthier food for my family. To have my four year old proclaim with pride that we can make it ourselves, and offer help with excitement, is truly a proud mommy moment. 

So off to Pinterest I went to find a sweet roll recipe. I wanted to work within my pantry, so a hawaiian roll copycat recipe was out, since most require pineapple juice and coconut milk. I stumbled across this recipe for Soft and Sweet Yeast Dinner Rolls. I had all the ingredients, but I wanted to make a little change. The oil that it calls for in the recipe I used coconut oil. 

Having a KitchenAid is such a lifesaver, and was always a dream of mine growing up. We got lucky last year, and bought the floor model at Lowe's and saved quite a bit of money. But anyway, yeast doughs are super easy with a dough hook! Check out the swirling bowl of doughy deliciousness!!

The recipe called for oil in the dough, and to oil the pan. I used coconut oil for both and it smelled amazing!!

The recipe was a little time consuming, but worth...every...step.

I also tried a new recipe for Apple Cole Slaw. I really only used the dressing part of this recipe, because  it was simple and I had the ingredients on hand. 

Looking purdy!

I added some celery seeds and cracked pepper, but it was still too much mayo flavor for my taste. 

Dinner done! I was so excited to try my pulled pork that I forgot to take a picture before I started eating, so excuse the bite. 

This meal I was excited to share with our friends the Rimke's and Joe(Thanks for letting us borrow him Amie!!). We fed a group of 9 easily, but I must say I could have eaten my weight in the rolls. Next time I'll be making a double batch! The coconut oil was just the Hawaiian touch we needed for our Kalua pig. 

One-dish wonder s'ghetti!

Lazy dinners before kids were anything that delivered, most likely pizza. We ate out a ridiculous number of times each week. It really wasn't until our first born was at the eating solids stage that I really started watching what I was cooking.

It's take a while to get a groove into making dinners, and not falling into the "don't wanna cook" mode. There's a list of things I grab at the grocery store that make up quick recipes to avoid me being lazy and grabbing the Del. Even better when it doesn't make a mess!!

This is my one pot wonder s'ghetti! I grab my dutch oven (get your minds out of the gutter!) but I'm sure this will work with any large sauce pan.

1lb ground beef or sausage
1/4 cup water
1 25oz can of spaghetti sauce (I love Fresh and Easy's sauce, no artificial junk)
Spaghetti noodles (I've used angel hair, and regular with great success)
Fresh spinach leaves

Preheat the pan a bit and start browning the ground meat with 1/4 water. This trick helps crumble the beef and distributes better in the sauce. If you prefer chunkier meat sauce, omit the water. When all the meat has browned dump in the whole jar of spaghetti sauce. Fill the empty jar half way with water (I close the lid and give it a good shake to clean all the sauce off the sides of the jar) dump in the water and stir. It's going to seem really watery, but this is perfect.

Take your noodles, however many you need to feed the family, and break them in half (so they fit in the pot). Make sure they are completely covered by the sauce. Cover the pot and simmer about 15 minutes. Check to make sure the noodles are done and give it all a good stir.

We used spinach spaghetti noodles, so excuse the green mess in there :)

To make the dish even easier, the spinach just gets thrown in the bottom of the bowl, topped with the hot spaghetti, it wilts to perfection! Add a slice of bread fresh from the oven and it's a done meal ;)