Fall sports are in full swing at our house!
This means we are going non-stop from the moment the boys come home from school to the moment they go to bed. Dinner can be a stressful component of a busy night. Especially if the goal is to avoid fast food but stick to a budget.
I wanted to share some of our favorite slow cooker meals for fall. On the nights where we are strapped for time and sometimes eating before and after practice/games, the slow cooker can guarantee a warm delicious meal at any time!
First up, Slow Cooker Carnitas! I received a recipe from a friend a few years ago and put my own spin on it! I cannot remember for the life of me where the recipe came from, but I know it has been a hit ever since and my family requests this frequently.
You will need
Around 4 lbs. of pork shoulder
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1TBSP Kosher Salt
1 tsp Cumin
½ TBSP Chili Powder
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
½ tsp Cinnamon
1 light beer (I usually grab a Corona or Dos Equis)
Combine spices, salt, and pepper in small bowl.
Cut the pork shoulder into 2-inch cubes.
Coat the pork with seasoning mixture and all to sit on the meat for a couple of hours or overnight.
Add a bit of oil to a skillet and heat to med-high setting.
Remove pork from fridge and place in pan to brown. Once meat is browned on all sides, place into slow cooker.
Open the beer and pour into the hot pan to deglaze the bottom. Pour the liquid from the pan into the slow cover, over the meat.
Slow cook on high for 4-6 hours or on the low setting for 8 hours.
When done, remove the lid and shred the meat with two forks. It should fall apart.
Set the oven to broil. Place the meat on a sheet pan and place in the oven. Allow the meat to crisp up over several minutes and then remove.
Serve with tortillas, cilantro, and onion!
With the left-over meat, you can create taco bowls or quesadillas when needed, throughout the week!
Next up, is Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings. I just made this two nights ago and it was a huge hit after soccer practice. My boys could not get enough of the biscuits on top!
You can grab the recipe and shopping list from Spend with Pennies here!!
As a healthier option to the condensed soup blends. You can briefly sauté celery with onion and fresh carrots. Use 2 tablespoons of butter to sauté the vegetables and add 1-1.5 tablespoons of flour to the veggies before adding to the slow cooker. Then add your chicken broth.
Finally, are Slow Cooker Meatballs!
You cannot go wrong with these. To avoid an additional cooking step, we like to make a quick meatball sub with ours. If you have time, you can always boil some pasta and serve the meatballs on top!
You can choose to use frozen or pre-made meatballs OR you can check out this recipe from Dinner at the Zoo here!!
I hope these recipes take some stress out of your evenings during the hustle and bustle of fall!
Enjoy!
Wake Up!
I woke up this morning to a message from my sister-in-law. It was a news article, “Brink of a Fertility Crisis: Scientists says Plummeting Sperm Counts Caused by Everyday Products.” This was a forty year study done at Mount Sinai (article linked below). My first thought is, “We know this already.” We may not know the specifics that the study dives into, but we know this. Second thought, the people who care about this article are already aware of the harmful effects the products on our store shelves are having on our bodies. Why? Well, one, they have either encountered a health problem that required them to wake up, or two, the have been doing the digging on their own based on something someone told them. Third thought, “When are people going to care? When are they going to WAKE UP?”
Infertility issues were a wakeup call for me. First with food...the products came later. I have said it before. I could have accepted that Clomid or Metformin the day I was told about PCOS. However, I like to know why things are happening to me and asked why. If it were not for a nurse practitioner that enlightened me, I would have taken those pills on the spot and never known what I was doing to my body day in and day out.
Did I still need the pills? I did. I am incredibly grateful for them
. Medicine isn’t bad. Those pills brought helped me conceive two baby boys. Those pills weren’t taking care of my hormonal imbalances though. It went deeper than trying to conceive. There was a reason my hormones weren’t normal. Thanks to my nurse practitioner, my eyes were opened. When you start to notice changes in your body based on foods and products you are using, you keep doing better. You are enlightened to a deeper issue that pills aren’t going to fix. Feeling good and healthy is motivating. I also want better for my kids, so I am instilling what I know and learned in them.
. Medicine isn’t bad. Those pills brought helped me conceive two baby boys. Those pills weren’t taking care of my hormonal imbalances though. It went deeper than trying to conceive. There was a reason my hormones weren’t normal. Thanks to my nurse practitioner, my eyes were opened. When you start to notice changes in your body based on foods and products you are using, you keep doing better. You are enlightened to a deeper issue that pills aren’t going to fix. Feeling good and healthy is motivating. I also want better for my kids, so I am instilling what I know and learned in them.What we are putting in and on our bodies is having a HUGE impact on us and our children. Hormonal imbalance is just one area of impact. Why do people develop odd reactions, allergies, disorders, chronic conditions later in life? Well, we have pretty much our gut and liver through the ringer for our entire life. That is a lot of damage to undo! It requires patience and consistency which is something a lot of us do not have.
I just cracked open a book called Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine by Robert H. Lustig. This pediatric endocrinologist of 40 years emphasizes the importance of gut and liver health. I highly recommend it if you are looking to do better for your health.
What impacts our gut and liver? Everything we put in and on our bodies. Food is the hardest part of it all. The food we eat is a decision we are faced with multiple times a day. Here are some rules of thumb that we like to stick to when we are shopping and cooking in our home:
- If there is sugar, there must be fiber. That was a big takeaway I got from a documentary called “FedUP”. Fiber is a big factor in how our body processes sugar.
- Avoid “added sugars”.
- Keep things balanced. If we indulge in pizza or burgers, we balance it with some fruit or veggies.
- Wash your fruits & veggies! The unknown toxins and chemicals in soil and crops nowadays can linger on our produce. Let’s wash away what we can!
- Prep ahead. On days you feel motivated, going ahead a prep! You aren’t going to feel like doing it at the end of the day. Do all the chopping, egg boiling, and lunch packing ahead of time.
Products we use on our bodies and in our home are easy to swap, once you find clean products you love and trust. Is it overwhelming? It sure can be!
Here are some simple steps you can take to start transforming your home.
- Pick a room in your house to start with. Is it the kitchen? Bedroom? Laundry room?
- Make a list of products that you have in that room.
- Set a budget. How much do you have to spend on new product for that room?
- Ask for hacks or DIYS. The beauty of a clean product is the versatility!
- Rewards programs. Commitment is scary BUT when it comes to the products you use daily in your home, it is well worth the commitment. Rewards make switching budget friendly.
Let’s chat, what room would you start with? What is the item that you are having trouble letting go of?
