Easter 2018 | Number One

Happy S P R I N G y'all!

It's been a little bit since I shared our life happenings, and really it's just been because we've been super busy and super tired after being super busy. :) It's finally SPRING too (!!!), so we've tried to squeeze in more outside time for Harper when the weather is nice. I absolutely love this time of year, and of course, Easter makes it special too. We had a busy Easter weekend, and I can't wait to share it with y'all over the next couple of days. 

We kicked off our Easter weekend on Saturday with a visit up to Cody's parents. We flipped our Easter visits this year, and hate that we missed the big family gathering on Easter, but we loved letting Harper spend time with her Gigi and DeDa. 

After looking for many cows behind their house in the pasture, Harper went on her very own Easter egg hunt and pretty much did great for the first half of it, and then became disinterested because #candy. It was still sweet seeing her excited and extra sweet spending so much time outside on a beautiful day!

Spring

Spring for us this year has been like a bad ex-boyfriend.

Showing up one minute, looking all hot and...pollen like. 

Falling in love all over again.

And then the next - gone. see ya. nowhere to be found.

Cold. Very, very cold. Ugh.

We really had to sneak in all the time we could get outside this past spring, because it was a rare one for us little peaches. Our delicate, southern skin was practically being tortured with the back and forth cold snaps we had. We spent this day in particular outside at Bear Hollow Zoo in Athens - one of our favorite (and FREE - holla!) places to visit with Harper. She loved looking at all the animals, but poor girl wanted to see her a monkey - and well, they don't have those. So, Harper had help climbing a tree like a monkey instead. Which is very fitting these days. :)

Valentine's Day

If I'm being completely honest, Valentine's Day is not a holiday I have typically looked forward to in the past. For no particular reason, but just not one of my favorites. And although I love my husband oh so much, we've just never been huge celebrators the day of Valentine's Day. This year wasn't any different - hello, it was a Wednesday. But I do have to say that although I haven't been a huge fan of it in the past, it's a lot more sweet and enjoyable when you have a little love bug to add into the mix.

I can't decide if her little heart sweater did the trick, or maybe her tulle skirt, but she most definitely made the day more fun. It might possibly have been the chocolate covered strawberries she sent me at work ;) (thank you my sweet husband) or all the sweet treats she brought home from school. Or maybe, it was watching her put together her very first set of valentine's for her class that put me in a lovey-dovey spirit. (I was most certainly way more excited about those than she was)

But either way, it was a sweet day with my two biggest loves.

Pork Carnita Tacos with Slaw

If you love Mexican food, then we should probably be friends.

I mean seriously, like best friends.

Mexican food is in our weekly meal rotations at least once a week, but let's be honest - probably twice. As much as I wish we could eat out at our favorite Mexican restaraunts every single week, it's a little more budget friendly and waist friendly to whip something up at home. Normally, we're big fans of chicken fajitas or tacos with ground chicken/turkey. But at our local grocery story that we shop at, the pork tenderloin has been on sale recently, so that's what we've gone with. Plus, it mixes it up from our norm which is fun too.

These pork carnita tacos are delicious - picky husband approved too. They're relatively healthy, depending on what you add to them and what side you choose also. I'm always needing a veggie for dinner, so this coleslaw is perfect. It's sweet and a little salty, and really - I could eat it every day. 

And speaking of everyday, this meal is super great to meal prep on Sunday, and is great to pack for lunches the following week. I've done this on multiple occasions, and let me just say - lunch is my favorite part of the day when this is packed in my lunchbox.

Pork Carnita Tacos with Slaw

Ingredients

Pork

2 lbs. Pork Tenderloin

*I buy peppercorn marinated pork tenderloin and OMG. EVEN BETTER*

1 TBSP Chili Powder

1 TBSP Cumin

1 TSP Salt

1 TSP Pepper

1 TSP Cinnamon

2 Cloves Garlic (minced)

1/2 Jalapeno (diced)

1 Lime (juiced)

1 Orange (juiced)

1 Onion (chopped roughly)

Orange Seltzer Water (1 can or 12 oz.)

*less sugar than orange juice!*

Slaw

2 C Coleslaw Mix

1/4 C Sliced Red Onion

1/2 Jalapeno (diced)

2 TSP honey

1 Lime (juiced)

2 TBSP Cilantro (chopped)

Cumin

Salt

Pepper

Optional Extra Toppings

Avocado

Salsa

Cilantro

Lime Wedge

Directions

1. Place pork tenderloin in slow cooker. Add seasonings over top of the pork (chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, cinnamon). Add minced garlic over pork, as well as diced jalapeno. Toss in roughly diced onion. Squeeze juice of one lime and juice of one orange over top of the pork. Pour can of orange seltzer water into the crockpot. Let pork cook on low for about 8 hours.

2. Before shredding the pork, mix together the cole slaw mix, sliced red onion, and diced jalapeno in a medium sized bowl. Add honey and squeezed lime juice over mix. Toss in chopped cilantro, a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and cumin. Mix until evenly combined. Let seasonings marinate together for 30 minutes to really bring the flavors together.

3. Remove the pork from the crockpot after 8 or so hours, and shred. Add over corn tortillas and top with coleslaw mix. If you want to be extra, add avocado slices, salsa, and another squeeze of lime if you wish.

Measurements

If you're really trying to portion out food - personally, I'm roughly rolling with the 21 Day Fix plan - then here are some helpful measurements below. I'm terrible with portions, so knowing how much I should eat of something to keep it healthy is helpful. Too many times I'm eating way too many carbs and not nearly enough vegetables...any carb lovers do the same thing!?

2 Corn Tortillas is equivalent to 1/2 C of carbs/starches (1 yellow)
3/4 C Pork Tenderloin (divided over the two corn tortillas) (1 red)
1 C Coleslaw (divided over two tacos, any extra can be eaten on the side) (1 green)
1/3 C Avocado (divided over two tacos) (1 blue)