Super Easy Carnitas

When I cook for a crowd, I usually serve Mexican food. Do-it-yourself tacos or burritos are delicious, kid-friendly, and easy to prepare beforehand. Tonight it was carnitas.

The night before your party, put a couple of pork roasts (buy the cheap stuff) in your crockpot and season them with salt, pepper, cumin, onion, garlic, and chili powder. Cook them overnight, then in the morning let them cool and shred the meat.

A few minutes before the par-tay, pour a few tablespoons of oil in a large skillet and fry the carnitas so they get kind of crunchy. Put out tortillas, bowls of avocado, sliced onion, cheese, and salsa along with some beans and Mexican rice (don't forget a pitcher of Margaritas) and let the fiesta begin!

Desert Island Discs

My tween daughter Elise spent her own money on a new iPod Touch and is now the queen of the app and princess of iTunes. I had loaded all my CDs on to my own iPod when I got it 4 years ago (first generation baby!) and done nothing more than hit the "shuffle" button since then.

Last night (with Elise's help) I finally figured out iTunes and bought a few old favorites. It made me think of that "Desert Island Discs" thing they used to do on the radio, where you'd send in your favorite 3 songs and then keep your fingers crossed that they'd play them and announce your name on the radio. Does it get any better than that?

Janet's Desert Island Discs:
1. Save a Prayer by Duran Duran
2. This Time by INXS

and, drumroll...Better Man by Pearl Jam, probably my very favorite song in the history of songs. Does my age show? Elise says my songs are lame but hello. Her favorite song is called "My Life Would Suck Without You."

What are your Desert Island Discs?

Vinyl Decal Decorated Cabinet

I have been looking for a cabinet that will fit the corner of my kitchen. It's a very narrow space between the window and the pantry so it couldn't be more than 23" wide or 12" deep and I needed drawers and shelves to hold my work supplies. I bought a tape measure to keep in my purse and every time I went into a store that had furniture, I'd look. And every week or so, I'd check Craigslist--nothing. For so long that it became part of my regular routine.

Can you spot the kitty?

Finally, FINALLY, I found this beauty for $40 on Craigslist. It was absolutely perfect, except that there is not a single piece of white furniture in my entire house. Luckily, my can of black spray paint is still warm from the last project I conquered.

Aah, better already.

Now to jazz it up a little. I used these vinyl decals but if your taste is not as quirky as mine, there are plenty of more classic options like birds or trees that are a little more understated.

Happy Zucchini Day!

If you don't already have today off, you should. August 8 is "Leave Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Front Porch Day." Since my yard is small and my thumb black, I was hoping to be a leavee this year, but no luck so I headed to the farmstand and picked up a few to make my favorite enchiladas. I got this idea from a health food restaurant but never ordered them and never got a recipe, so let's wing it together, shall we?


Janet's Zucchini Enchiladas
6 corn tortillas
oil about 1/2" inch deep in a small skillet
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup zucchini, grated coarsely
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 can (10 oz.) enchilada sauce

Heat the oil and fry the tortillas for just a few seconds, until soft. Drain them on a plate lined with paper towels. Pour about 1/3 of the can of enchilada sauce to cover the bottom of an 8x8 square baking pan.


Lay out a tortilla and put some cheese, onion, and zucchini down the center.


Roll it up and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat with the other tortillas, then pour the rest of the sauce over the top. Make sure all the tortillas get some sauce on them so they don't dry out.


Sprinkle with more cheese and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, until it's hot and the cheese is melted.

Janet's Notes: Be sure that the zucchini is grated coarsely. If it's too fine it'll get mushy and lose its texture. Also this would be good with green enchilada sauce but that would have required a trip to the store.

Childhood Summer Games

Subtitle: What were we thinking, and where were our parents?

If you're a parent, you've probably uttered following words to your kids at some point this summer: "You know, when I was a kid we didn't have (insert electronic device here). We played outside." We say it as if it were a much healthier and wholesome thing, as if we all went outside and laughed and everyone got along. But when I really think back, these games tended toward the brutal.

Here are a few outside games guaranteed to give your kids more than carpal tunnel on their video game arm.

Crack the whip: Everyone joins hands--how nice!--in a big line. This is where your mom pats herself on the back and then stops watching. The most popular (read: bossy) neighborhood child gets to be the leader, who proceeds to run quickly in the curviest line possible. Do not let go of anyone's hand! The people at the end become the whip crackees, and their necks are flung back and forth in a way that would make "Wipeout" seem like a walk in the park.

Red Rover: This game is for a large group of children, so we played it in school with credentialed instructors supervising us. Half the class stands on one side of the field, and half on the other side. Again, you all join hands and then one side chants, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send (one kid's name) right over!" That kid then runs as fast as he can and tries to break through the other team's wall of arms. The force of the running child will certainly break your hands apart, so you have to hold each other's forearms. This is guaranteed to break a radius, if not an ulna, but if you're the one to let Jimmy break through, your popularity on the playground will take a serious nosedive.

Mother May I: This game will not hurt you physically but someone will always end up with a bruised ego. The leader stands at the end of the driveway and everyone else lines up at the other end, with the goal of reaching the leader first. Then it goes something like this:

Leader: Best friend, take 10 giant steps forward.

Best friend: Mother may I?

Leader: Yes you may.

and then...

Leader: Little brother, take 8 baby steps forward.

Little brother: Mother may I?

Leader: No you may not. You may take 5 giant steps backward.

Little Brother: Mother may I?

Leader: Yes you may.

I won't even go into King of the Hill or pink bellies. What was your favorite "wholesome" childhood game?

Sour Cream Rhubarb Bars

Did you ever see the 30Rock when they were at that Congressional hearing for the KableTown merger? All of a sudden there was a big revelation and everyone gasped and started taking and then they cut to Rob Reiner who was murmuring "rhubarb rhubarb peas and carrots peas and carrots rhubarb rhubarb." It still cracks me up but maybe you had to be there.

Anyway, my kids asked what rhubarb was--they had never heard of it. Far be it from me to deny my offspring the rhubarb experience, so I bought some at the store today and searched for a recipe. This one, from a Web site called The Rhubarb Compendium looked the best. And go ahead, admit that you don't know what a compendium is; I didn't either.


Sour Cream Rhubarb Squares
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Mix sugar, nuts, melted butter and cinnamon until crumbly and set aside.

He's easily amazed.

In a separate bowl, cream together brown sugar, shortening and egg. Add flour, soda and salt to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Lastly, stir in rhubarb.

Pour mixture into pan and sprinkle with reserved topping. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes. Cut in squares and serve warm or cool. Makes about 20 bars.

Janet's Notes: I guess I expected these to be like cookie bars; instead, they were more like a rhubarb coffee cake. They were great though, and Max declared that he loved them.

Back of the (Giant) Bag: Rosemary Focaccia

I buy my bread flour at Costco in 25-lb. bags. I make pretty much all of our bread. Pretty lucky family, right, to come home to the smell of fresh bread and eat a piece hot off the loaf? Nope. The real treat is when I'm too busy to make hamburger buns or sandwich bread and they get to eat "store bought" bread. Grass is always greener, I guess...


So I was dumping my bag of flour into the giant storage bin I use to keep it, and noticed a recipe on the back for rosemary focaccia. We have rosemary growing as a ground cover and I certainly have enough flour--what the heck, I'll give it a try.


Rosemary Focaccia
3 cups bread flour
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. or 1 package instant active yeast
1 1/3 c. warm water
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. dried rosemary leaves
Combine flour, salt, sugar, yeast, water, and 2 Tbsp. oil. Mix until dough is pliable. Knead on floured board until smooth. Place dough in oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes. Coat baking pan with oil and gently press the dough out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Brush remaining oil over the top.


Make dimples in the dough (clearly, this is the best part).


Sprinkle with Parmesan and rosemary. Let rise 20 minutes. Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

Janet's Notes: I made the dough in the bread machine, decreasing the water to 1 cup. I added fresh (not dried) rosemary straight into the dough, not sprinkled on top. I also used 1 Tbsp. loose yeast instead of one individual package because, you guessed it, I buy my yeast from Costco as well.

You have to take a photo with olive oil next to it; I think it's some kind of Italian bread photography rule.