2012 is Upon Us

Ok, I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I have blogged. Do we really need to talk about it? You know how it goes, New Year's resolution 2011 faded quickly. I could spend time listing a ton of excuses, but why bother?

Instead, I'll just post about 2012 and plans for this year. I know, I know, it may go just as it did last year and just as it does most years for most people. But, whatever, I'm doing it anyway.

So, while I was away from blogland, we added at least 2 more kids to our home. We are now the 8 is enough family :-) And 8 really is enough! In shocking news, we still ate out a lot last year, but I continued to try some new things and cook more than I had in previous years, so I'm taking that as a win. My absolute favorite recipe of the year was one I never posted. It was pork carnitas adapted from an allrecipes.com recipe. It was very, very good. Now, given that 2012 resolutions involve vegetarianism and other Eco friendly goodness, probably not the best timing for a Pork Carnitas recipe blog post.

But, who ever said my timing was good? They lied.

So, here it is: Pork Carnitas

Ingredients:

1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp corriander
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 (2lb) boneless pork shoulder
2 bay leaves
1 cup chicken broth

Mix all of the dried spices together and rub over pork roast, coating well.
Place bay leaves in bottom of crock pot, then seasoned roast on top. Pour chicken broth in crock pot around the sides, being careful not to wash seasoning off of roast.

Cover and cook on low for 10 hours. Shred with a fork, serve on tortillas with desired toppings.

I lightly spread butter on each side of a corn tortilla, then pan fried them until soft and pliable and a little browned.

I also carmelized an onion by slicing a medium onion thinly, coated a pan with cooking spray and cooked onions on med-hi heat for 1-2 minutes, then reduced heat to med-low, added a few Tbsp of the cooking liquid and let simmer for 10-15min until onions were carmelized. These came out wonderful. I have always cooked my onions at a higher heat until browned, but on a recent cooking show, they were carmelizing onions "low and slow". This was a method I had never tried before (maybe everyone knows this is how to carmelize onions), but they came out great.

I topped them with chunks of avocado and dug in! They were seriously awesome. And tasted so good for lunch the next day too. So, there it is, my favorite homemade meal of 2011. It will be archived for a while as I venture away from my meat eating ways. But for the rest of you carnivores out there, enjoy! It's fantastic!

Besides going vegetarian, here's another of my 2012 resolutions - Organization! I'm so original, aren't I?

Here's a peek at my first organizational project of 2012 - The Pantry!

I worked on it a little today and got the floor looking pretty nice (notice I didnt even include the floor in the before pic? It was really that bad, I just couldn't show you). See, you can share your resolutions with me. I'll never judge you :-)

Happy 2012 Everyone!