So I Sprained A Finger

I sprained a finger on my right hand and typing is painful. I'm still working but I'm keeping online time to a minimum. Griffin Handspun now has a Facebook page so please like it for updates and check out the Items for Sale album. It's much easier to type up a sentence or two there so for the foreseeable future this blog will be on hiatus.

Settling In

We now have less than a week 'til the in-laws are flying up to visit us and the house is.....less than ready. My office/workroom is by far the worst since it's been at the bottom of our list but I've finally started unpacking it. Last weekend Ikea had shelving units on sale for $9.99 so we made the (way too long) trip there and bought 4 of them.
When we got home Hubby put them all together while I nursed #2 down for a nap. Once he zonked out I started going through boxes of fabric. After sorting through a 3ft square box and 2 2ft square boxes it's already looking much better but there's still a long way to go. If I had a morning/afternoon to myself I could get it all knocked out but that won't be happening any time soon; even when Hubby takes #2 so I can get something done #1 insists on following me around to see what's in the boxes. So it might be slow going but eventually I'll have everything unpacked and situated so I can get back to work. If I can get my camera charged up I'll take a quick pic of the room tonight. Although I hate how much stuff I have I love that I can work from what I have for quite a while. For example, #2 likes to be carried but Hubby doesn't like using wraps or ring slings so I'm going to make a mei tei for him. We have everything I'll need to make it in my office already and I got it all on sale.

Buffalo Chicken

I'm cooking all the freezer meals we have prepped so I can clean up some room and reorganize my chest freezer. Saturday I cooked up the buffalo chicken and since I had a batch of pizza dough leftover I decided to make buffalo chicken ranch pizza. My son isn't a fan of spicy food but the ranch mix I used instead of pizza sauce canceled out some of the spiciness without lessening the flavor so he devoured his slice. Dinner can be a struggle with him so I'm always happy when I find something that we all like. We used the leftover buffalo chicken to make quesadillas for lunch the next day and they also turned out tasty.

Buffalo Chicken
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup buffalo sauce
Cook in a slow cooker on low 6-8 hours. Shred chicken, return to juice and let cook 30 more minutes.

Buffalo Chicken Ranch Pizza
1 pizza dough, broght to room temperature and shaped
1 cup shredded buffalo chicken
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 packet Ranch seasoning
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix sour cream, mayo, and ranch seasoning. Spread a thin layer of the mixture on the pizza dough; save what's left for dipping sauce. Sprinkle on the cheese and chicken.
Bake for 12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Carnitas Two Ways

I knew when I made the carnitas a few days ago that I was going to make carnitas pizza with the leftovers, but I had so much left after I made 1 pizza that I decided to make creamy taquitos too. I used a recipe from the CPK cookbook for the pizza dough and we loved it; I'm excited to try their honey wheat pizza dough recipe next.

Carnitas Pizza
Pizza dough (I made my own but store bought it
1 cup carnitas, shredded
1 cup shredded cheese, mexican blend or mozzarella
1/2 sweet onion, finely sliced
1/4 cup verde salsa
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook the onion until soft without browning it.
Stretch the dough into a circle.
Spread on salsa, cheese, onion, and meat.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Carnitas Taquitos
2 cups carnitas, shredded
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup salsa verde
1 avocado
tortillas
Smash the avocado with a fork, then mix in the sour cream, mayo, and salsa.
Add the meat and combine.
Put a 1 inch wide line of meat on the tortilla and roll it up.
These can either be baked at 350 for 15 minutes or fried.

The sauce I mixed up for the taquitoes can also be used as a sauce for the pizza; just double the salsa so it's not so thick. The taquitos freeze and reheat well so you could make a batch to freeze and then microwave for 30 seconds when you want one. Hubby likes to microwave and then pan fry them when he comes home for lunch.

Carnitas!!!

My mouth is watering just thinking about them. I feel like Homer Simpson thinking about a doughnut. Winco had pork carnitas on sale last week so I picked up a pack. Once I got home I looked for a recipe because I've never made them before. I found a few for carnitas tacos and it looked so easy (and sounded so delicious) that I went back and got 3 more packs. The recipes I found all called for the meat to be cooked MUCH longer than needed so I came up with one I thought would give the carnitas a nice crispiness without drying it out. They turned out great and now I'm going to make carnitas pizza to use up some of the leftovers.

Carnitas Tacos
Approx. 4lbs carnitas, cut into 2' chunks
1 cup orange juice
Juice from a handful of limes
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 Tablespoon cumin

Put everything in a cast iron dutch oven and add enough water to cover the meat.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and let cook until the meat is falling apart.
Once the meat is done remove the lid and kick up the heat so the liquids boil off.
Continue to cook, stirring when needed, until the meat has had a chance to fry in its own fat.

We served on tortillas (flour because it's all we had) with a little cheese and salsa.

Upcoming Recipes

Last month I ordered more diaper covers from Mom's Milk Boutique and when I got the package there was a caramel taped to the thank you note. It was the best caramel I have ever tasted. I got online and ordered more that same day. Now my mission is to replicate them. I will make celtic sea salt caramels that are so good you want to stop everything and enjoy while it melts in your mouth.
Bread baking is also on my mind. There are a few recipes I've been meaning to try: banana bread, brioche, pita, and pizza just to name a few. I got a dough whisk and I'm so excited to put it to use. The Bread in Five Minutes books look interesting so I might get a 6 quart food container to try those as well.
If the kids give me a minute of peace tomorrow I'll start on some bread. Mmm banana sounds good but I'm out of walnuts. Naan is great with just about anything. No, I think pitas would be nice. That would give me a reason to make honey chipotle bbq shredded chicken again. It is by far my favorite barbeque sauce and is really simple to make. There's a smoky chipotle flavor and it's not overly sweet.

Commisary Deals

The Fort Lewis Commisary has amazing deals on cereal right now.
Honey Bunches of Oats with Pecans are $1.08
Mini Churros are $0.89
Honey Mini Wheats are $1.08
Banana Nut Cheerios are $1.79 and there's a $1 off when you buy 2 coupon
I stocked up. 22 boxes of ceral for $24. We don't eat cereal often so that's enough to last us the entire year.

Also, they have the Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh lunch meat is on sale for $2 and there are $1 off when you buy 2 coupons on tear pads. That's the best price by far on those.

Those of you who do freezer cooking might be interested in checking out freezerware by Glad. They're designed to not get brittle when frozen like reglar gladware does. I've been using them for my slow cooker meals instead of zip top freezer bags.