A Must Try Recipe: Pork Shoulder Ragu from Dinner: A Love Story

Source: Dinner: A Love Story

I found this recipe for Pork Shoulder Ragu over at Dinner: A Love Story and it was a no brainer. I've had a pork shoulder in the freezer for awhile and this just sounded delicious, I had to make it. Luckily, I was not disappointed. It was ridiculously easy, melt in your mouth tender and absolutely delicious. You should definitely give this a try.

A few notes about how I made the dish:

* I followed the recipe up until the point when you are supposed to put it in the oven, instead I dumped the whole mess into the Crockpot, turned it on low and let it cook for almost 8 hours. It worked like a charm.

* We didn't have papperdelle pasta so I used fettuccine which was good, but I might have preferred a penne or rigatoni instead. Also I would make sure to cook the sauce and pasta together a bit before serving.

Photo Friday: Crazy Hair

People laugh when I tell them that Audrey often wakes up from a nap with her hair sticking up, or out, or otherwise all over, but it is completely true. 

She definitely has some crazy hair. It starts out stick straight, but throughout the day gets increasingly more curly and generally out of control. Maybe at some point we will have to consider a haircut, or hairstyle, or a bucket of gel, I'm not sure, but something that will tame it, until then though, she will keep on rocking the crazy hair.

Happy weekend all.

Eleanor's Rainbow Busy Book

Update: I have received many emails and comments asking about a pattern, it's posted in a few places around the blog, but I thought I'd add it to the top of this post too to make it easier to find. I followed Simplicity 3709 for these busy books, with very slight deviations. 

The Shop's first official order was shipped out yesterday. This book is going to a little girl named Eleanor for her first birthday. Super cute name, right? Her aunt ordered it for her and asked for a rainbow of colors with graphic prints and a bit of a vintage vibe.

I hope she likes it as much as I do because I fell in the love with the colors and fabrics while making the book. I'll admit, I might even be a little jealous that this isn't Audrey's book.

It was pretty fun to get to package the book up and ship it off. The first order just seems a bit special.

Oh, and if you're wondering why the shop is currently empty, it's because I'm up to my ears in orders right now. As soon as I get this batch of books finished and shipped I will add more listings. I'm so thankful for all the support and enthusiasm I've gotten about selling the books. When I listed the first one I didn't know what would come of it, but to have all the listings sell out in just a couple weeks time blew me away. So thanks!

The Pumpkin Patch

How was your weekend? Good, I hope. Ours was mostly spent being lazy, napping, watching Toy Story 3, and blowing our noses... a lot. That's right, Audrey was a sweetheart and shared her cold with me. And although I do remember telling Bryce at one point that I was seriously dying, the worst seems to have passed and we were able to pull ourselves together enough to go to the pumpkin patch on Sunday with my in-laws.

I'm pretty sure that once your kid can walk the pumpkin patch is some sort of requirement, you know, something you are supposed to do. Similar to a visit from the Tooth Fairy when a tooth falls out, an Easter basket from the Easter Bunny, and sitting on Santa's lap (I'm still trying to gear up for that one, something about the long mall lines and the somewhat creepy Santa freak me out a little). I'm also fairly certain Audrey won't remember this trip to the pumpkin patch, but she did have fun, so in my opinion it was totally worth it.

Can you guess what was the best part about the pumpkin patch? I'll give you a hint, it had nothing to do with pumpkins. It was the animals. There was any type of farm animal you could want and much to Audrey's delight there was a whole pen with baby goats and a sheep that you could pet and run around with. She was absolutely beside herself. Please ignore the blurry pictures, she was moving fast!

Aww, look at that sweaty little head... poor girl, she gets it from her dad.

Of course there were also pumpkins. We found a whole "patch" with pumpkins just Audrey's size.
Now if I can be a bit cynical for a moment... when did pumpkin patches stop being actual fields of pumpkins? This is what I remember from being a kid, you go to a farm, walk a really long way out to a super muddy field full of pumpkins, find the one you want, cut it off the vine and carry it all the way back to the car and if you couldn't carry it you couldn't have it. Isn't that how a pumpkin patch is supposed to work? I'm not the grinch or anything, but when did everything become so commercial. To me the best part is that this farm doesn't even grow pumpkins, they have them shipped in just like a grocery store does. We are going to have a whole generation of kids that think pumpkins magically appear on beautifully mowed lawns each October. When Audrey is old enough to actually remember going to the pumpkin patch you better believe we are finding one where the pumpkins are still on the vine. Ok, enough said, cynicism over. 

I asked my mother-in-law to take a picture of Audrey and me to prove I was there. Twelves picture later and I'm still not sure we got a keeper. I'll let you be the judge.

 All in all it was a great day at the pumpkin patch!

Photo Friday: A Bit Under The Weather

We have been doing a little more of this than usual lately. 

Audrey has been a bit puny the last few days. 

Meaning her normal energy level of 15 on a 1 to 10 scale is only about a 9 now. 

I feel bad she is sick, but I can't lie, I love all the extra snuggling that comes with it.

Happy weekend (and stay healthy)!

Dilly Beans - My Canning Success Story

I'm so excited to report that my canning experiment was a complete success! I made Dilly Beans, something I've never had before, but couldn't resist because one, I had a ton of beans and didn't know what I was going to do with them and two, because I'm a sucker for a pickled vegetable. I used this recipe from food.com. 

After carefully inspecting the jar to make sure there wasn't any mold or funny business going on, we opened the first jar last week when we had company over for dinner. The beans were absolutely delicious. We polished off the whole jar in just one evening. These dilly beans were perfectly crispy and spicy. Surprisingly even the two little kiddos weren't turned off by the spice and ate a few too.

At this point my only regret is that there are just six jars left. I feel like we can only pop one of these open on a special occasion. I will definitely be making a lot more next year.

A Bit of Crafty Chaos

I've been busily working on a few orders for the shop these last couple of days and am constantly reminded each time I walk into my sewing room that I need to do a little picking up. The whole room is one big mess. I have piles and projects everywhere.

Scraps from a pink busy book that is in the works.

A sneak peek at a rainbow busy book... can I just tell you how in love I am with these fabrics?

These knits are ready and waiting to be made into dresses.

And of course these are all lined up on the window sill just waiting to be sewn onto the playmat for Audrey's little buddy. They are constantly mocking me. Oh my gosh, I have to finish that playmat.

 Even despite the chaos isn't there just something so beautiful about fabric. I could stare at it all day!