Paleo Pulled Pork

January 31, 2012 By 4 Comments

I found this recipe from Everyday Paleo. It’s so simple and delicious. It has so much flavor, you wont even think about needing to add BBQ sauce. Best of all… I literally threw this into the crock pot during a commercial break. It doesn’t get much faster than that!

Quarter two yellow onions and place in the bottom of the crock pot. Cover roast with dry spice rub, work it into the meat a bit.

Pork roast

Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours and then turn down to low for another 3 to 4 hours, depending on the size of your roast (mine didn’t take quite that long), or until the roast is literally falling apart and easy to shred.

Cooked roast

Shred with a fork and put back into crock pot for a few minutes to soak up the cooking juices (I skimmed a little of the fat out first).

Pulled pork

Serve.

My (adapted from Everyday Paleo) rub recipe:

2 tbsps chili powder
2 tsps cumin
2 tsps onion powder
2 tsps oregano
1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tsps kosher salt

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

I Doubled My Salary by Quitting My Job

January 30, 2012 By 16 Comments

We are so very fortunate and thankful to be in the position that we are today. We are blessed with a growing business and a steady workflow that keeps us busy. My husband Jugglingis so knowledgeable and talented in his field that word-of-mouth from his past clients brings in as much work as he can handle. Him “hiring” me was the best decision we’ve made!

My W-2 from my old job came in the mail over the weekend. Last year I had worked away from home for exactly one month, my last day at that job was at the end of January. When I first opened the statement I was a little sad to remember that I used to bring home a paycheck that I no longer get. Then Jesse and I got to talking about what we have gained by giving up that paycheck…

First… time. We have more time together now than we ever used to, we’ve had time to take several trips this year that I wouldn’t have been able to take time off for, and we have more time to do fun things because our weekends aren’t packed with errands and such. Time is an extremely valuable resource that can never be replaced once it is spent.

Second… practice. We had hoped and wished that by the time we were ready to have/foster/adopt kids we would be able to afford to live off of one income. There were times, especially when the business first started up, that it seemed like that might never happen. As the right time started to get closer I figured that I might as well keep working right up to the time when we had a child to care for. However, I now believe that this in-between time of practice staying at home has been invaluable. I feel like I’m more prepared to take care of another person after learning how to better juggle my roles as wife and bookkeeper/assistant.

Third… money. As I finish up working on our business taxes for last year, we’ve realized that we really did make up the difference of my missing paycheck (which wasn’t a whole lot). There’s no doubt that some of the increase should be attributed to Jesse’s skills and network improving, but Jesse thinks it proves that I truly am contributing to our bottom line. Projects get done faster without the distractions of things like managing expenses and trips to the post office, not to mention stopping work early to make dinner because I didn’t used to be home in time. Together, we doubled what my salary would have been… that’s a nice feeling!

I know this choice isn’t meant for everyone, but for us it’s made a big difference in our lifestyle. Sometimes it takes a different point of view to evaluate if what you’re giving up is really worth what you get in return.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,

Thankful Thursday – Fingerprints

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It can be very easy to think about things that you want that you don’t have. But how about taking time to be thankful for the many things that we do have? On this thankful Thursday, here’s a few things I’m thankful for:

Thankful

1. Bible study group. Since our “real” life Bible study came to an end last month, I was really looking forward to my Good Morning Girls online study getting started. We are now two weeks into the study and I’m enjoying getting to know some of the girls in my group a little better. It’s nice to have people to check in with as I study and learn.

2. The grocery store. I’ve been making an effort to add some new recipes into our dinner lineup. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut and start making the same meals over and over. As a result I sometimes have specific or unique items on my shopping list. I’m happy that we live somewhere with a store that stocks everything I need. It’s hard enough to feed myself with all of my restrictions, I’m sure glad the shopping part isn’t another obstacle.

3. Fingerprints. Today Jesse and I had our appointment to get fingerprinted as part of our foster care application. We thought about taking pictures, but the lady who took our prints was super serious so I was afraid to ask. She was already having a hard enough time getting my prints because the machine was on a high counter (yes, I’m short) and my wrist just didn’t turn exactly like she wanted. It was a neat digital machine that scanned them right into the computer. I had to get fingerprinted back when I got hired at the bank, but that was with regular ink… this was much cooler. Yay for being one step closer!!

Hills Kids

What are you thankful for today??

Filed Under: General Tagged With: