Terrible Tuesdays

Our family is busy just like every other family in America. We always seem to have one day of the week that is the absolute worst. Last year Thursdays really stunk. Think year it is Tuesdays. Here is what I mean:

Get up. Make coffee. Make breakfast. Gather Jack's backpack, water bottle, lunch, and coat. Tie shoes...double knots. Kiss my boys goodbye and send them off to work and school. Clean up kitchen. Pick up coffee cup and realize it is cold. Microwave coffee. Get ready and choose the outfit that doesn't require ironing because we should have left 10 minutes ago and Addie is still in jammies. Get Addie ready. Gather up Addie's backpack, lunch box, folder, Cuddles, ladybug pillow, my work bag, and my lunch. Realize we can't find Cuddles. Look for Cuddles for 15 minutes until finding her in a spot that I looked at three times already. Load everything in the car. Buckle seat belts. Realize purse and keys are still in the house. Get keys and purse and almost forget to put up the garage door before backing up because I was so frustrated. Drop Addie off at school. Go to work. Pick Addie up. Run home. Eat snack. Start laundry. Pick up Jack. Run home. Change out laundry and add the dry load to the giant mountain of clothes I have piled up in my room. Get Addie ready for ballet and Jack ready for basketball practice. Look through Jack's Tuesday folder. Go to ballet. Go to basketball practice. Get home at 6:45 STARVING.
And that is why, ladies and gentlemen, that Tuesday are for slow cookers.

Today I ordered Chrissy Gower's Paleo Slow Cooking recipe book. I am really looking forward to getting some variety in my slow cooker recipes. Today I threw a pork roast in the crock pot with some canned roasted tomatoes, onions, oregano, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder. It smelled soooo good all day. We made some sweet potato chips...ahhhhh, guacamole and salsa and served the shredded pork in a paleo taco shell...aka lettuce.

 I'm going to be really honest. This meat was lacking something. It wasn't bad just kind of bland. Next time I'm going to add green chilies and taco seasoning, and maybe some enchilada sauce?

This salsa was really yummy and not very spicy. I added to the food processor the following:
1 can of roasted tomatoes, 1 can chopped green chilies, 1 tsp. minced garlic, small handful of cilantro, chopped onion, salt and pepper. I have always added a tsp of sugar to my homemade salsa to help with the acidity of the tomatoes. This time I caramelized the chopped onions first to make them sweeter and I really liked the added flavor. If you like your salsa spicier throw in some jalapeno.

I never would have imagined I would have a Fry Daddy in my house. The fried food idea just has always seemed unhealthy. I have made baked sweet potato chips before but you can only fit about 20 or so on the cookie sheet at a time and it takes 20 minutes to cook. The Fry Daddy heats up completely in one minute. We used 2 jars of coconut oil but don't freak out...you can reuse coconut oil up to five times which is still expensive but a little better. We had a huge bowl of chips crispy and on the table in about 10 minutes.

 

 

This made a LOT of meat. We still had half the crockpot leftover. I plan to add some chicken broth, cilantro, taco seasoning, zucchini, green chilies, and avocado to make a Mexican soup for dinner tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow...it is the last day of our Whole30!!!!!! I am looking forward to finally posting about what and how things have changed for the Popes. Find out what we struggled with, what we didn't even miss, how we feel physically and mentally, and how we are going to celebrate 30 days of whole living.