Dinner Parties

We're finally making progress on our house! After almost three weeks, we have finished the entire main floor, and are just about finished in the basement. By finished I mean painted, trim up, all outlets on the walls, decorated, and not a cardboard box in sight!! I still have to decorate the basement and put up the trim I painted, so it's almost there. It's truly a wonderful feeling to just look around and know that you put your own work into a room, and watch it evolve from a concept in your mind to a put-together space.

We're working on finishing the master bedroom, which has taken a lot longer than the other spaces. There was one textured wall, which neither Jeff or I was very fond of, so we removed it and had to drywall, tape, mud, sand, prime, and now paint it. Whew! We are just about finished painting, and I'm so excited to see how it looks when it's done. I also have to finish the bathroom and the hallways, and some of the trim needs to be painted still. I will be posting pictures soon so I can proudly share what I've been spending so much time and effort on in these past few weeks, I'm just not sure when that will be.

So far, being engaged has been a lot of work!!!

Now that we have our 'grown-up' table all set up, we've been having a lot of people over to share some food and conversation. Which I love :) I LOVE to cook and entertain, and since the table at our apartment barely fit just the two of us, it's really nice to have space where people can comfortably enjoy a meal I've prepared.

That being said, I'm going to do something here that I've never done before - and that's share a few of my treasured recipes. I've been pretty adventurous lately in the kitchen, and I'm excited to share my latest creations here!

Recently, I've made pulled pork, waffle brownies with homemade caramel sauce, crab dip, peach crisp, homemade lemonade, and grilled pineapple.

The recipe for my much-loved pulled pork is extremely simple and amazingly delicious. I got it from Jeff's dad and stepmother, so I can't take credit! :) I did make some modifications based on what I tend to carry in my spice cabinet to reduce the cost. This recipe is a true crowd-pleaser and I'm always surprised when there's rarely any left for later, even though I always make it thinking "well, Jeff can always easily take it to work and eat the rest for lunch".

Slow-Cooked BBQ Pulled Pork:

1 boneless pork shoulder
1 and 1/2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 small/medium onion, chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
3 to 4 cups of water
BBQ sauce, use as much as desired

Directions -

1. First you need to mix the dry spices (paprika, thyme, etc.) together in a small bowl. Unwrap the pork shoulder, remove any strings, and cut off any excess fat from it. Place it on a cutting board, take the bowl of dry spices, and evenly rub them on every side of the pork shoulder. After it's been evenly coated with all of the spice mixture, place the shoulder in the slow-cooker.

2. Chop the onion, mince the garlic, and add these ingredients with the water to the slow-cooker, and set it on low heat.

3. Cover with lid, and allow to cook for 6 hours, or until the meat will fall apart with a fork. I like to turn mine over at least once if I'm able to, and on days when I'm really ambitious, I turn it every hour to ensure that the pork gets cooked evenly and that the top doesn't dry out (as the water doesn't quite cover a larger shoulder).

4. After 6 hours, remove pork from the slow cooker, cut off any fat, and shred it with a fork. Pour out the water and onion mixture from the slow-cooker. You can keep the onions if you want to eat them with the pork, but I choose not to.

5. Place shredded pork back into the slow cooker and mix in as much bbq sauce as desired. When I'm feeling particularly motivated, I'll make my own bbq sauce, but that usually doesn't happen (oh well!). Set slow-cooker to warm, and serve!

I meant to take a picture, but I've been so busy I forgot! Oops!