Crock-Pot Carnitas

This is it you guys, this is it. Officially my go to recipe for cooking for friends, party food, pot-lucks etc. Crock-pot carnitas are a zip to make, but totally bring on the wow. Not to mention they make a truck load, so it's a perfect way to feed the masses.

My mind and my stomach have been on a taco kick recently. One of my co-workers was recently sharing with me how she loves to make carnitas. She was going on about how easy, fresh and healthy they were. Okay, sold. Give me the recipe. So thank you Mel, this one is for you!

My pork butt was a little over 7 lbs. which is huge, but that was the smallest I could find! It barely fit in my crock pot. I think it made enough carnitas for the whole neighborhood. But really. Some for me, some for my roommates, some for sis and husband, and some for the freezer to pull out on a rainy day. Search your market and you can probably find a smaller butt. I was limited and hungry so just went with it. A pork shoulder is interchangeable for this recipe. You can typically find small pork shoulders in the grocery store!

That being said the measurements for this recipe are a little loosey goosey because your pork butt size may vary. Just go with it and trust your self, I promise you can't mess this up. 

Crock Pot Carnitas

Ingredients:
4-5 lb. pork butt roast or shoulder  (bone-in or boneless, either works)
cumin
chili powder
garlic powder
salt and pepper

Accompaniments: 
white corn tortillas
cilantro, chopped
avocado slices
lime wedges
chopped red onion, pickled onions, pico de gallo etc.

Directions:
Rinse and pat dry the pork butt. Put just about a 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of your crock pot. Season both sides of the pork with all of the seasonings. I did about one teaspoon per side (roughly 2 tsps. of each seasoning). Place in the crock-pot. Turn on low and let cook for 6-8 hours or until tender. My pork butt was a bone-in. The best part was getting to reach in and just slide the bone right out of the tender meat.

Using two forks shred the carnitas. Add more seasoning if needed. Warm tortillas on a griddle. Serve carnitas with some pico, cilantro, fresh avocado and a squeeze of lime! 

Perfect served as is, but I also can't wait to use the meat in taco salads or on nachos. Melanie said she uses her leftovers in quesadillas and as enchilada filling! I'm also thinking it wouldn't be half bad mixed with a little BBQ sauce for a take on pulled pork. 

I'm not sure what it is about this recipe, but when I was snapchatting while I was cooking, you guys were going crazy. Which I love. And these  carnitas deserve that kind of love because they are that good. So here you go my friends, crock-pot carnitas for your stomachs to enjoy! 

Annie

Happy Friendsgiving!

To be honest, I can't believe I haven't had a Friendsgiving before now. Friendsgiving has become pretty trendy in the past few years, but we all know I'm not afraid to jump on a trend bandwagon. Friendsgiving pretty much combines all of my favorite things. Friends, food and Thanksgiving. 

Our first Friendsgiving was a success. It was potluck style so everyone contributed something making it very easy on myself. All paper everything made clean up so easy. I had a little too much fun planning for this night, I'm already brainstorming next years...

My contribution was this Pumpkin Galette. This is a recipe I pulled from the archives of my Pinterest. I've had it pinned for so long waiting for an opportunity to make it!

Not that I thought the food wouldn't be good, but I was extremely impressed with what everyone made. I love how most people brought old family recipes to share . There was Kathleen's ham, Bailey's sweet potatoes, Alex's stuffing, Madeline's green beans, Katie's cheesy au gratin potatoes, Sarah's butternut squash salad, Sarah Beth's brussels sprouts, Katie's corn casserole, Coralee's caesar salad, Sister Schubert's rolls (the best) brought by Kenzie!

Lindsay's date cookies, my pumpkin galette, Kathleen's apple cider cheesecake, Maddie's cherry pie, Lauren's pumpkin cookies, Alexis's chocolate candies, Elaine's pecan pie, pumpkin pie from Lauren, and Katie's caramel marshmallow popcorn! Not pictured was all the cheese to start the night courtesy of Stacia, Betsy, Trinian and Taylor.

Morning of I was nervous there wouldn't be enough wine. There was wine for an army, and then some!

10 Friendsgiving tips:

1. Make it pot-luck. Create a menu of what is needed and have everyone sign up to bring something. A well rounded menu of apps, meat, veggies, sides, rolls and dessert.
2. Use paper everything for easy clean-up. I ordered these kraft colored eco plates and wooden disposable silverware from Amazon and then bought napkins from Target.
3. DIY your decorations. Keep it minimal because the food will do most of the decorating. I kept everything neutral and stuck with a kraft and gold color scheme, and little pops of fall flowers. I made a banner from glitter scrapbook paper and little signs for the dessert, drink and food table. I rolled out kraft wrapping paper over a white table cloth for the food table and used chalk to decorate. Throw it away at the end and clean up is a snap.
4. Have wine, lots of wine. The perfect thing for people to contribute if they aren't comfortable cooking a dish.
5. Have oven space, for those dishes that need re-heating. 
6. Make sure to have hot plates or dish towels to set the hot dishes on.
7. Have serving spoons and knives for the food and dessert.
8. Make a playlist. My Dinner Party playlist is my go-to for events like this. 
9. Purchase to-go boxes so everyone gets to take home leftovers. I ordered these boxes, and everyone loved it.
10. Once it's party time, don't stress just have fun. All the work is done!

I'm so thankful for these friends, Friendsgiving, and a new tradition!

Annie

Bites of My Life

One week down with the new site design up! You guys probably aren't as obsessed with the new site as I am because it's a little weird to be obsessed with a website, but I still hope you love it. Thank you thank you thank you for all the sweet notes and compliments about the new site. This was a long time coming, so to finally see it in action is extremely exciting. Besides getting a fresh new look, this was just the motivation I needed for all things blog related. 

After the excitement from the new blog launch, my week went running downhill pretty fast. Nothing extravagant just several little things that built up to have a few crappy days in a row. Brushed it off toward the end of the week. Made a little extra cash turning my trash into others treasures, spent Friday night on the couch with Scandal on the DVR and an Irish coffee in hand, had the most fun with a packed house and full tummy on Saturday, and finished the week with a Thunder game!

-Monday morning the new Take A Bite went live and it was a hands in the air all day kind of day.
-First bite of the site was this recipe for Upside Down Pumpkin Crumb Cake. 
-Mushroom spaghetti squash with parmesan and herbs. On repeat for dinner twice last week and can't wait to make it again. Seriously so good and satisfying. Adapted from this recipe.
-With all the new happenings with Take A Bite, I threw it back to a super old recipe. Can't wait for leftover Thanksgiving turkey to make this again. 
-Did you catch my review of The Homemade Kitchen last week, as well as the recipe for some killer jambalaya?
-My favorite kind of lunch is easily a version of sweet and salty toast. This week was avocado toast with a poached egg and pumpkin butter toast with granola sprinkled on top. 
-Finally made it into Provision Kitchen. Stopped in for their Thanksgiving tasting and got to catch up with my favorite employee/best friend.
-After showing up Sunday to see they were closed, Dad and I redeemed ourselves with lunch Friday from the new sandwich shop in town!
-Hoestesses with the mostesses.
-Two words, Baked Havarti. My favorite dish out of all the cheese options to choose from.
-A full spread to celebrate a big birthday and an OU win! 
-It's not a true birthday celebration without a little cake. Skillet baked chocolate cobbler served with lots of ice cream. Used this recipe but baked it in a skillet instead!

Annie

Snacks and Apps

After having a little get together at my house last week, I realized I like to entertain even more than I thought. I've watched my mom entertain with grace over the years, but never thought my control freak side would be able to manage it. 

When a friend asked me to host a jewelry trunk show at my house, I immediately thought of it as an opportunity to get good friends together and serve good food, so I quickly said yes! 

I did as Ina has always taught me, and made half of the appetizers and bought the others. She always says your guests won't have any fun if you are running around trying to take things out of the oven and can't enjoy the party. So, for my snacks and apps, I made pumpkin dip served with apples and graham crackers and dried fruit mascarpone crostini. I also bought little cherry tomatoes and olives for people to snack on.  

I've been eating this dip around the holidays since I was little. I updated it a bit, but it tasted just like the original. It's super simple and a huge crowd pleaser. 

Pumpkin Dip
*adapted from my mom's recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup cool whip (I used lite)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 granny smith apples, sliced
graham crackers, quartered

Directions:
Fold together all the ingredients for your dip in a medium size bowl using a spatula. And that's it! Serve with sliced apples and quartered graham crackers. 

*Mom's recipe called for sour cream, but I love the healthy swap of Greek yogurt instead!

Next up, my dried fruit and mascarpone crostini! These were equally a hit. I got several "Annie! What is this spread?" My fiends were very intrigued with mascarpone and loved it even more when I let them know it was basically italian cream cheese. 

Dried Fruit and Mascarpone Crostini
yields about 32 crostini

Ingredients:
1, 8 oz container of mascarpone (if you can't find it in your grocery store, just plain cream cheese will work too!)
2 thin baguettes
any kind of dried fruit (I used cranberries and figs)
honey

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice your baguettes at a diagonal into 1/2 in slices. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 4 minutes on each side or until crisp without being too brown. Spread a nice layer of cheese on each baguette. Sprinkle with dried cranberries or half of a dried fig. Drizzle with a small amount of honey!

Also as Ina would say, "How easy was that?" Now enjoy these foolproof  appetizers, perfect for holiday parties coming up!...Okay my Barefoot Contessa references are over. 

Happy entertaining! 

Annie