First of all the winner of the $10 Walgreen’s card is Lacey!  Woo!  High competition right?  ;)  I’ll get that in the mail to you shortly Lacey.

Second- my friend Laura has requested my Sweet Smothered Pork Burrito recipe.  It’s my go to recipe to feed a crowd and is ALWAYS a hit- except of course with my oldest daughter who hates them.  Not sure where she came from.

Sweet Smothered Pork Burritos

Ingredients (measurements all depend on the size of roast):
Pork Roast- I usually get whatever cut is cheapest.
Diet Coke w/lime (or dr. pepper or pepsi…)
lime juice
Garlic salt
brown sugar
Green Enchilada sauce- I like the Macayo Brand because there isn’t dye or MSG- you’ll need a couple big cans.
Jack Cheese
Tortillas
black beans
cilantro

The morning of I pour a little soda in the bottom of the crock pot, put in the roast and then pour the rest of the soda over the top. Then I pour some lime juice over the roast, sprinkle with garlic salt.  Pat some brown sugar on top of the roast.  I usually pat it to a 1/4 inch thick so that it caramelizes on top as it cooks and soaks into the meat.
Set crock pot to high and cook until dinner. It’s done when it shreds easily.  It should literally fall apart as you try to pick it up out of the crock pot.  After it’s shredded  add some of the crock pot juice to it.  Then comes the ‘harder’ part for some people.  Add garlic salt, enchilada sauce and brown sugar ‘to taste’.

Preheat oven to 350.

Chop your cilantro (after a thorough washing) and drain and rinse your black beans.  I usually use at least two cans of black beans- but you can use more or less to taste.  Now some people like to add the black beans and cilantro to each separate burrito- but I usually just dump them in with the meat and stir them all together.

Pour enough enchilada sauce on the bottom of your pan (you probably need several pans)so that the burritos don’t stick.  Fill the tortillas up with your filling and add some shredded cheese roll and fold tucking in the ends.  Fill your pan and then cover the burritos with the rest of the sauce. Make sure all the parts of the tortillas are covered so they don’t dry out.  Cover with cheese. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for about 20 minutes, remove foil and cook for another 10-15 minutes (until cheese is all melty and the sauce is bubbly.)

Serve with sour cream and chopped tomatoes.  Enjoy!

At our house we try to avoid ingesting chemicals whenever possible.  That means that we avoid artificial food dyes and artificial flavors.  Our current step is eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup.  This makes buying medicine for kids difficult. I’ve taught my 5 year old how to swallow pills so that we have more options.  So when I was invited to attend a Local Community Hot Spot event to learn more about a Natural Cough Syrup I was excited to learn more.

From zarbee’s lunch

ZarBee’s All Natural Cough Syrup is made from buckwheat honey. We talked to the creator of ZarBee’s Dr. Zak Zarbock who told us about the natural antibiotic properties of honey.  Dr. Zarbock is a father and a pediatrician who saw the need for a cough suppressant after a recall of children’s cough medicines containing Dextromethorphan (DM).  The Buckwheat honey soothes sore throats and coughs and the zinc and Vitamin C boost the immune system.  They’ve also created a night time version that contains melatonin to aid with sleep- which all parents of sick kids can use! My favorite part?  No chemicals, No dye, No high fructose corn syrup.  It’s also gluten free.

From zarbee’s lunch

Then we tasted the syrup. It comes in cherry, grape and coming soon Lemon for Grown ups.  I’m apparently not a grown up since I didn’t like the lemon.  I did like the grape and the new and improved cherry though.  I’ve taken some myself this week for a scratchy allergy throat and it’s worked great. It soothes my itchy throat but doesn’t make me sleepy or ‘fuzzy’.

From zarbee’s lunch

From zarbee’s lunch

Zarbee’s also has a twitter nurse ready to answer your questions about your kid’s health.

You can buy Zarbee’s at Walgreens and Associated Food stores.   Zarbee’s was nice enough to send me home with some samples and a $10 gift card to Walgreens- I’m going to pass the gift card on to one lucky reader! If you want to try out Zarbee’s at your house leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win the gift card so you can try some risk free! Drawing will be held on Tuesday March 15th.

I’m laid up.  I tore my MCL (2nd degree tear) in my knee about 3 weeks ago (yes, in belly dance class).  I got sentenced to 6 weeks of recovery (brace, staying off of my feet as much as humanly possible, physical therapy).  I’m halfway there.  The first day or two was a blur (thanks to pain pills) and the first week I watched most of what there was to watch on Netflix instant play and Hulu.  I’ve had a hard time convincing myself to blog because I’m afraid it’ll be horrid and depressing (here’s to hoping it’s not).

I’m not one to depend on others.  I’m not a ‘receiver’ I’m a ‘giver’.  It’s my nature and my pride.

I’m trying to convince myself that ‘it could be worse’ by playing the ‘at least’ game.  Hopefully it won’t sound as whiny that way?

-At least my kids are big enough to clean themselves, dress themselves, feed themselves, walk themselves to school and follow directions.  Heck, they can also cook and do dishes.

-At least I’ve got a network of friends who’ve collectively brought 8 dinners to my family, taken me to or from 9 different doctor’s appointments (it’s my right knee- I’ve just started to drive), cleaned random parts of my house, done laundry, brought me sodas, come over just to visit and keep me company, brought me books, called etc.

-At least between friends, Han Fei, Steve, Ashley and even Megan I didn’t cook for almost three weeks.

-At least I only had 4 cakes to do in that time period.

-At least I finished my Christmas goodies and had them ready to deliver before hurting myself and my mom was willing to deliver them.

-At least I’ve got a husband who came home from working all day to feed kids, get them doing what needed to be done, starting laundry, and then would come and lay in bed with me and watch movies.

-At least I’ve got Netflix, a laptop, a Nook (and a billion books to chose from instantly) to entertain me.

-At least it’s dreary January rather than June or July when I’ve got stuff to do and fun to have. The only thing it interrupted was new year’s resolutions.

- At least I can wear pants to church without any guilt (although I do miss my nursery kids terribly).

-At least I can offset Christmas spending by just not being able to go to the store in January.

-At least I get out of shoveling the driveway for a month.

-At least I know better what I can do for people now when they’re in a similar situation. I can be a better giver when I can give again.

It doesn’t happen very often.  But every once in a while I pull off an amazing mothering feat.

Feat number one.  I didn’t cry. I didn’t lecture.  I didn’t yell.

Megan did this to her bangs…

Feat number two. I made her look respectable for school.

Now if I can manage to get my house ready for company I’ll feel like wonder woman.

About a week ago I got a call from a woman in Hawaii who was looking for a gift basket to be delivered to her parents- who live about a mile from me.  We talked a bit and it turns out her dad is very sick with cancer and they had just started hospice that day. She was trying to figure out something to send to them that would convey her love across the miles.

As we talked it brought back a flood of memories to when I got that final call that the time was getting close and that we needed to come up if we wanted to see Dad one last time. Sitting in the house that seemed to get fuller every day and be filled with tears and laughter- and neither seemed quite appropriate.

I shared my feelings with this stranger who lives 3,000 miles away and told her that I could understand how she was feeling. I made zucchini muffins and a loaf of whole wheat bread and filled at basket with homemade blackberry jam and some fruit and delivered it to a house filled to the brim with a grieving family.  I had a hard time not crying as I delivered what seemed like a completely inadequate way to say, “I love you and I wish I could be here” but at the same time warm bread seems to transfer love in a way that defies logic.

Tonight she called again.

“He’s not eating, I want to send him something that he can eat.  What did your Dad eat at the end?”

The question took me back to my sister Hannah feeding my Dad a root beer flavored popsicle.

I shared this bit of information also.

Tomorrow I’m delivering root beer popsicles, a warm loaf of bread and love from 3,000 miles away.

It was such a bittersweet time, but as the years roll on it seems more sweet than bitter.