March 15, 2018

Slow Cooker Pork Tacos with Avocado Cream Sauce

Taco Tuesday! Is there any other Tuesday? I love tacos because they are simple to make, delicious, and you can switch up the ingredients to add a little more flavor to your week. We usually just stick with basic tacos using ground beef and taco seasoning, but my most recent trip to the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival had me CRAVING the most delicious pork tacos [side note: if you are local--gooo visit, and be sure to stop in Mexico for the pork carnitas, they are life changing and amazing], so I set out to find the perfect recipe to make at home. Hey, thanks again Pinterest! The recipe I found from Stuck On Sweet was easy enough to adapt to my family's likes and dislikes, and they were a big hit with everyone--including my semi picky husband.



Crock pot meals are a favorite around here, and I was pretty much drooling all day every time I would get a whiff of the pork slowly cooking. The 3 lb pork shoulder was rubbed with delicious spices which crisped perfectly on the edges. It always amazes me how much flavor can come out of the meat when you don't add any sauce to the slow cooker, a tablespoon or so was all that went into the pot before adding the seasoned meat. Although the original recipe didn't call for it, I added a sliced onion to the crock pot for a little boost of flavor, and I love cooked onions in my food!

After slow cooking for about 8 hours, I checked the tenderness and it was ready to shred. Using 2 forks, the pork shredded beautifully and I allowed it to sit and soak in the juices for about 20 more minutes before assembling our tacos and serving. Rather than doing this, you can take out the cooked pork before shredding if you want a less juicy taco. Again..so easy to adapt to your preferences.



All tacos need sauce, and I didn't change a thing about the sour cream avocado sauce in this recipe. It was just the right amount of tang to make this taco drool worthy. Now I am not a big avocado fan and neither is my husband, but it really didn't taste strongly of avocado and we both went back for seconds. And thirds. Possibly fourths. Who's judging? I also substituted the cojita cheese for goat cheese and my kids and I loved the flavor that it gave, my husband used regular cheddar cheese on his tacos.

Ingredients

Pork
  • 3-3.5 pound pork shoulder
  • 2.5 teaspoons salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3/4 teaspoon onion power
  • 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1.5 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • dash of cayenne pepper (original recipe 1/8 tsp)
Sour Cream Avocado Sauce
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 an avocado
  • juice from half a lime (I used lime juice I had on hand)
  • pinch of salt
Other Ingredients
  • Corn tortillas
  • Goat cheese (or cheese of choice, original recipe Cojita cheese)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Fresh Cilantro
  • Salsa

Instructions

  1. Mix together all of the pork seasoning in a bowl and rub onto all sides of pork. Place a tablespoon of olive oil into bottom of crock pot, and place the pork on top. If using onions, cut them as you desire and place them around all sides on the pork. Turn crock pot to low and slow cook for 8 hours. You will know it is done when the pork is easily shredded and falling apart.
  2. To make the Sour Cream Avocado sauce, place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.
  3. Assemble tacos and drizzle sour cream avocado sauce on top, then add cheese.
*Recipe adapted from Stuck On Sweet's recipe for Slow Cooker Pork Tacos.


And if you're interested, the next day we used the pork leftovers to make a taco salad. You could add anything you wanted, but we used lettuce, shredded pork, goat cheese, corn, and a bit of sour cream. BIG hit with the kids! Oh and my husband was actually asking for more of the sour cream avocado sauce, which is pretty unheard of...ha!





March 7, 2018

Life – Fully Dissolving Laundry Detergent Sheets

Laundry stinks, sometimes literally when you have two little kids and a husband who runs every morning. I am ALWAYS doing laundry it seems so finding a safe and gentle detergent is super important. We have a front loading High Efficiency washing machine, so we also must use detergents that are meant for HE washers. A lot to think about just to get our clothes clean! We typically use a liquid detergent, but I have also been switching it up and using these Life Laundry Detergent Sheets. Sheets, you say? Yep! A fully dissolvable laundry detergent sheet, which are so much safer than the pods I have heard so many horror stories about, that can get my clothes just as clean as any other detergent I have used. 


Life Laundry Detergent Sheets are Featured as:
plant based
low sudsing
biodegradable
economical
made with NO benzene
made with NO phosphates
made with NO chlorine
made with NO dyes or fragrances
made with NO optical brighteners
safe in all types of washers
great for travel


How They Work
Life Laundry Detergent Sheets are easy to use, and because you can use them in any type of washer, you don’t need to buy any other detergent if you travel. You can even use them without a washer if needed. Since it isn’t a liquid, you just put the sheet right into the washer drum. Depending on the size of the load you will end up using 1-3 sheets per load. Small and medium loads only require 1, where an extra-large load with heavy stains would require 3. The sheets will dissolve in hot or cold water, so you can use your favorite laundry preference and not worry about opening the washer to see a sudsy mess.

I used 1 sheet for my small load of laundry and the clothes came out clean and smelling nice. They didn’t have a perfume smell as there is no fragrance added, but they certainly smelled clean. These were also perfect to bring along on our vacation as we usually rent places with washing facilities, and rather than having to buy small packages of detergent once we arrived, we just brought our Life Laundry Detergent Sheets. The ingredients are gentle enough to use on the whole family’s clothes, and I know they won’t irritate my children’s sensitive skin. I was quite impressed with how well they worked.




Ingredients
Sodium Laureth Sulfate (cleansing agent: low-moderate hazard - 3)
Lauryl Hydroxysultaine (low hazard - 1)
Laureth-5 Carboxylic Acid (cleansing agent: low hazard -2)
Alkyl Glucoside (low hazard – 1)
Xanthan Gum (low hazard – 1)
Protease Enzyme (low hazard)
Compound Enzyme (low hazard)
Water
Citrus Paradisi (Grapefruit) Peel Extract (low hazard – 1)
Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Seed Extract (low hazard – 1)
Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Extract (low-moderate hazard 1-3 depending on usage)

*hazard ratings from EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database 


Packaging/travel
Life Laundry Detergent Sheets come in a small box with 40 fully dissolving sheets. This makes it the perfect size for travel as they will fit conveniently in any suitcase or bag. Because they are small sheets, you could count out the number your trip would require, and place them into a water tight bag rather than packing the full box.

They are currently available on for prime on Amazon for $7.99 (list price of $9.99).



I received these samples for free in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.



 


March 4, 2018

Don't Wash It Now, Wash. It. Later.

I know I’m not the only parent out there who is constantly spraying their kid’s clothes before washing them, only for the stain they forgot about to not come out. Am I right, or am I right? On a serious note, I am lucky to have two boys who actually aren’t THAT messy. They like to get into things from time to time, but they really don’t like having messy hands or clothes. The first time I introduced my oldest to finger paints it was almost as if I was sticking his hand into hot lava, he wanted nothing to do with squishy hands. Not all messes can be avoided though. Falling outside in the mud, coloring with markers and forgetting the lid is still off or eating messy meals.

I almost ALWAYS remember (I said almost) to bring both of my kids a change of clothes whenever we leave the house, whether it be out to eat or out to a theme park or just to the in laws…I know that messes and accidents happen. My biggest issue with this though is when I change them, I end up sticking their soiled clothes into the diaper bag—most likely wrapped in a grocery bag of some sort, and the mess just sits and soaks itself into the clothing. If we’re staying overnight somewhere where we don’t have access to a washing machine, those dirty clothes will stay dirty until we get back home to wash them.

When I found Wash. It. Later, I was totally intrigued and of course asked myself…why didn’t I think of that?! I knew that this product would be the newest parent go-to for on the go messes and a diaper bag must have. Wash. It. Later. is a brand started by a mom, Hannah, who is no stranger to messes. She wanted a better option for her kid’s soiled clothes rather than throwing them out or sticking the mess directly into her diaper bag, and she found one!
What is Wash. It. Later.? 
Wash. It. Later. is a solution to those awful set in stains that kid’s clothes get while out and about. They are soak and save bags that allow you to toss in soiled clothing to start treating stains right away. Each bag contains a small all-natural soaking pod (the website states that they are free of harsh chemicals and are hypoallergenic as well), that is activated once water is added. The bags are water tight, and I gave mine a good shake and it didn’t leak at all.

How do they work?
If your child spills something while out to dinner and you are worried about a stain setting in, you place the soiled clothing into the soak and save bag, pour in the necessary amount of water--which is 1-3 cups, carefully seal the bag by folding down the top, and then roll the top of the bag down and secure with the reusable tape. The seal at the top of the bag is permanent, meaning don’t accidentally fold it wrong because you are not unsealing it…the bags are made to be water tight and that they are. Once you have done all those steps, place the bag upright into your diaper bag and wash the garment whenever you get home.
Does it work? YES! The spots were BARELY visible after removing from the wash…so much so that I didn’t bother washing it again, it may have even been my imagination that I thought I saw a bit of red still. I did spray with Shout before washing because keep in mind, this isn’t a stain remover, it just pre-soaks making spots easier to remove.

Because my child is all into bibs these days and won’t eat without them, I experimented at home when all of his bibs were “dirty”. My kids LOOOOVE spaghetti or any other pasta, so I brought out the red sauce for this one. To my delight, my youngest was an absolute mess after eating. It was in his hair, on his face, all the way down to his toes. He clearly knew I needed something good to work with. Before even cleaning his face, I took off his shirt and placed it into the soak and save bag, added 3 cups of water, sealed the bag, and placed it into my diaper bag. In true mom fashion, I brought the diaper bag inside and then completely forgot that his soiled shirt was inside. I remembered the next day and cut open the bag (remember, that seal is forever!) and poured out the water. You could still see the sauce on his shirt, but it wasn’t as bad as it was when I placed it into the bag. I sprayed the visible spots with Shout and put his shirt into the wash with the rest of my kids clothing and to my surprise, the sauce stain was practically gone!
For big messes, I would suggest rinsing the garment first because no one wants to dump out a bag of watery poop the next day. But really, I can’t even imagine how many onesies could have been saved in my kid’s newborn blowout days if I had had these. I would definitely recommend this product to all new parents and all seasoned parents, and they don’t have to just be limited to babies and kids, adult clothes can fit too! You can purchase your own Wash. It. Later. Soak and Save Bags in a pack of 3 for $10.99 on the website HERE.
  

I received this product for free in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed are my own.