Stephanie's Recipes: Pulled Pork & Black Bean Tacos

Remember that time my husband and I bought a 10-pound smoked pork butt from a Knights of Columbus fundraiser? Here, I'll show you a picture I posted about 2 months ago as a reminder of this crazy/awesome purchase...

Let's just say we still have a bit of that big butt left in our freezer. The first time we defrosted a bag for dinner, I poured some water over the pork and threw it in the microwave. Turns out, that's not the best way to reheat frozen pulled pork. It was just kinda soggy and bland. No bueno. The next time we wanted a pulled pork dinner, I reheated it in BBQ sauce. That was a bit better, but still not awesome. So by the third time we decided to use our stored up pork for dinner, I thought really hard about how I could make it stellar. Somehow, within seconds, it just came to me to use a can of black beans to simmer and reheat the pulled pork on the stove. I'm not always this creative, but I knew we had a can of black beans on hand and the combo of pork and beans is just about as good as it gets. So I went with it. And the results were so mouthwateringly good!

I turned to google for a little help and found this recipe for jazzing up a plain ol' can of beans. I tweaked it a little, grabbed my favorite tortillas, found some taco toppings in the fridge, and the rest is history. I know I've talked about how awesome tacos are in the past, so it should be no surprise that I'm writing a blog post about creating a delicious taco recipe. But seriously folks, these things are gooooood! I don't feel bad about posting this on a blog that's supposed to be about infertility. Nope. Not one bit. They're just that delicious. I'm to excited not to share. And they bring me and my tummy (and my husband and my husband's tummy) so much joy. I hope they can do the same for you and yours. 

Mouth. Watering.

Pulled Pork & Black Bean Tacos

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 large green pepper, chopped

15 oz can low sodium black beans, not drained

1/2 cup water

1 bay leaf

few pinches of cumin

few pinches of chipotle chili powder (optional)

pinch of oregano

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)

12 oz pre-cooked pulled pork (preferably smoked)

8 corn tortillas (we prefer La Tortilla Factory)

Optional Toppings

salsa

1 roma tomato, chopped 

2 leaves romain lettuce, chopped

8 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

1 bell pepper, sliced and sauteed 

1 small onion, sliced and sauteed

1 lime, quartered 

Directions

Add oil to a medium-sized pot on medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and pepper to the pot and saute until soft, about 3 minutes. Add beans, water, bay leaf, cumin, chipotle chili powder, oregano, red wine vinegar, salt, and defrosted pulled pork and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover, simmer about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally (adjust water as needed). Taste for salt.

Spoon about 1/2 cup of black bean and pork mixture onto a tortilla, then add any of the desired optional toppings. Recommendation per taco: 1 tbsp salsa, 1 tbsp tomato, a bit of lettuce, 1 tbsp of feta, some slices of sauteed bell pepper and onion, and a squeeze of lime.

Serves size: 2 tacos. Serves 4, likely with leftover pork and bean mixture.

And it's a good thing the pork and bean mixture is even better on the second day, after the pork has had a nice long chance in the fridge to bond with the beans and all the yummy spices. Reheat in the microwave and make even more tacos orrrr go all Chipotle on them and make a burrito bowl - make some rice and top with leftovers and other yummy burrito-like toppings. The possibilities and pretty much endless. (Ok, so maybe not endless. Please don't try to make a dessert out of the leftovers. That would just be icky.)

Our preferred salsa is Arriba! Salsa, sold at most Krogers.

I hope you lovely readers don't mind if I post recipes from time to time. I do really love cooking and sharing good food with good people. I'm no professional food blogger or photographer, just here to have fun. Hope you enjoy! :)

Photo-A-Day Challenge {Part 1}

I'm currently about halfway through an August photo-a-day challenge on instagram. A friend from college, Mary, started hosting this photo-a-day challenge through her blog, Tall Mom tiny baby, a few months ago. I decided to jump on the bandwagon this month, and so far it's been fun.

Today I thought, "Why don't I share my loverly photos with my blogger friends?" I mean, it's an easy way to give you more glimpses into my pretty little life, right? So, here goes. For your viewing pleasure, I give you my first 14 days of August photos. Expect more as the month wraps up. And enjoy!

Day 1 - me

I'm on the far right, with my boy-ish bowl cut. (What was I

thinking?!) The rest of these cuties are my sibz. The littlest,

Jeff, would not stop crying during the photo shoot. Good 

memories. 

Day 2 - daily routine

Snuggling up under my fave blanket after a good day's work

and eating a tasty home cooked dinner. (Fish tacos, duh.)

Day 3 - black & white

My best friend in black and white. Note the new glasses.

Day 4 - something old

Hard boiled eggs, nothing new 'bout that. But

topping them with Sriracha and actually baking

them instead of boiling them... that's how I keep

things egg-citing.

Also Day 4 - something old

Our youth group seniors, who are actually college freshman

now! We celebrated their graduation at our youth group cook

out this evening. Gonna miss those goobers. 

Day 5 - happiness

Homemade black bean and sweet potato enchiladas. (recipe)

Day 6 - your sky

Love the sunset palette.

Day 7 - pretty

The groom and groomsmen holding the bride's and bmaids'

purses while they were off hammin' and glammin' it up for 

the camera. Thanks, boys!

Day 8 - reading

Love me some sight reading and singing. Spent the evening

singing with our church's contemporary choir during rehearsal 

for mass.

Day 9 - upside down

I found my favorite candy at Kroger! And then I went to town 

creating this gem of a self portrait featuring said candy. Btw, 

does it have an official name? Gummy slices?

Day 10 - makes me smile

Cruising 'round town in the new car, wearing my fave $15

sunglasses, drinking delicious tesote from Las Tortugas. 

Day 11 - full

Full tummies after froyo night with the youth group.

Day 12 - shadows

One of my favorite photos from our wedding: a late-night

shot of the back of my gown. My brother is a photography

genius.

Day 13 - music

Serenaded late at night by the hubs. Yes, please!

Day 14 - texture

Love me some juice - apple, orange, carrot, ginger. Look at

that yummy texture!

If you follow me on instagram, these pictures will look familiar. :) If you don't follow me on instagram, but would like to, find me @stephschweitz.

Friends, would you participate in a photo-a-day challenge if I hosted one? Thinking about starting one, but only if you'd play along. What do ya think? 

A Day in the Life

So, what does a Stephanie do on a daily basis? Since most of you either know me from a Catholic IF facebook group or in real life but live far away, I figured I'd give you a little snap shot of my life here in Memphis to help you relate to my story as this blog thing continues.

My husband and I live in a sweet little apartment outside of Memphis. It's very pretty. And hardly clean. But always "30 minutes to clean," as I like to say. So if you ever want to visit, we'll just need a 30-minute heads up, thank you very much.

The kitchen and dining area, complete with cooking husband.

I'm a late riser, so most days, I get up around 9am. I was not always so lucky to live a life of such luxury (teachers get up before the crack of dawn, eww). But now I have the best hours evarrr, so I'm allowed to snooze a little extra. I report to work at noon on the dot every day and wrap up around 4:30pm. This lady is NOT complaining 'bout that.

At work, I dibble dabble in random stuff that needs to get done. I send emails, lots of emails, to my youth group and their parentals. I coordinate outings (bowling and laser tag and snow cones, oh my!), and weekly meetings and plan big service trips. I also work hand-in-hand with some of the other cool ministries at our parish - the middle school youth group, the PRE program (aka CCD, at least when I was a youngin'), etc.

My youth groupies on a service trip.

When projects slow down, I try to learn a little more about my Catholic faith while at work. For example, I'm currently working my way through Pope Francis's recent encyclical, Lumen Fidei... which is pretty enlightening (bahaha! cheesy pun!). I'm also working my way through the Youcat (an easier-to-read youth version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church), so that's neat. AND, when I've reeeeeally got nothing to do, I find hilarious Catholic Memes on facebook and post them to my youth group's facebook page. Cause I'm cool. And I'm trying to convince the teens I'm funny. And that people can be funny, cool, and Catholic all in one. It's a hard sell, but I think I'm slowly making progress :P

A silly from Catholic Memes

When I'm done with work, I like to Jazzercise, but only about twice a week. I've tried a bajillion different forms of exercise (step class, ellipticals, jogging, bikes, body pump), but find that my favorite is exercise that involves some sort of spastic dancing. Zumba is another one of my faves. If I've gotta do this thing that's good for my heart, I might as well shake my bon-bons while I'm at it. It's fun stuff and it (mostly) passes the time quickly.

During the hours and days that I'm not working or Jazzercising, I mostly enjoy being lazy or adventuring with the husband. However, this only works when he's not working. Ya see, his schedule is a bit non-tradish. He's a pediatric hospitalist and he works 7 days on, then 7 days off. When he's on, he's gone. He leaves the apartment by 6am and doesn't return 'til 8 or 9pm. He'll get home, kick off his shoes, eat the delicious meal I've prepared for him, then go to bed to do it all again the next morning. It's not my favorite, BUT I do love it when he has 7 days off.

About to head out for his first day of work!

Hanging out by the pool, trying new recipes, eating our way around Memphis, catching up with friends, jamming out on ukulele and guitar, clothes shopping, watching movies... these are the types of adventures we like to have when he's not working. And they're usually pretty darn great.

I'd say our favorite recipes to cook are usually tacos. Any kinds of tacos. Ok, but mostly fish tacos.

More like taco EVERYDAY

Taco date in the park. We're serious.

When it comes to finding new places to eat out, I obsess over Yelp and restaurants' websites and find places with mostly positive reviews and interesting menus. Sometimes, while we're out to eat trying a new place, I'll spend more time on Yelp finding another place to eat for the future or I'll find a restaurant that would have been better than the place we're currently eating. I know, it's silly. But it's me! Some of our fave cuisines include: Greek, Ethiopian, fancy pizza, fancy hot dogs, authentic Mexican (I mean, we did live in Houston for 3 years), sushi, and any kind of fro-yo, duh.

Trying adult beverages in a fruit? Sure, why not?

Clothes shopping happens when there's a sale at J. Crew. We. cannot. resist.

Movies are usually rom-coms or nerdy action movies (Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter, Back to the Future, etc.). I know what you're thinking... she likes the rom-coms, he likes the nerdy action movies. Well, you'd be kinda wrong if you thought that. We both like both equally. Cute, right? Oh, and we love animated movies too, specifically Pixar movies. But who doesn't love Wall-E and Buzz Lightyear and Ratatoullie? Amiright?

We also get addicted to TV shows, even though we don't have cable. We watch 'em after the fact on Netflix or Hulu. Shows we love include Friday Night Lights, Arrested Development, and Downton Abbey.

Oh, and we also spend a lot of time thinking and talking about being parents. Truth. Obviously there's a  bunch of medical stuff going on, now that we're working with a NaPro doctor, so we discuss that a bit. We also talk about adoption. And all the other "what-ifs" that come with infertility.

For the most part, we're just two kiddos in love, out in the world, trying to make the best of things while we wait for God to help us make the next step happen. As my husband likes to point out, we've got to be joyful with our lives in the in-betweens. We can't just live our lives mostly being excited about the next big step (finishing college, getting engaged, getting married, going on trips, having babes). We've got to find a lot of love doing the little things. So that's what I'm working on. Finding love in movie dates and new foods at new restaurants and being a Youth Minister and holding hands at the park.

Don't mind us, just being reeeeal cheesy.

What do you do in your in-betweens that makes life worth it?

Up next... the story of how John & Steph met and were married. Stay tuned.

Glamorous.