Every now and then the hubby requests a certain meal, and very very rarely does he request something other than a juicy pork burger with cheese. But when the conservation goes like this:




“Hubs what would you like for supper tonight,”


“Oh I don’t care”

“Really just tell me you complain about so much pasta so just tell me,”


“Anything”


“Sure anything well besides meatloaf” (I just have a fear of meat formed into a loaf)


“Haha I figured that well I want pork chops with an orange glaze and broccoli no cheese on the veggies please”


“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh (this is my utter shock) ok I will do my best.


So when we have that discussion for dinnerI am so so so happy! He had a different type of orange glaze in mind; he was thinking more of an orange and honey glaze while I was thinking orange and balsamic, I guess we need to communicate a bit better, oh well at least we had that conservation. Anyway regardless we both really enjoyed this dinner.



Orange and Balsamic Glaze-

½ cup Balsamic

1 cup orange juice

A sprinkle of sugar (this is to your taste)

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and let reduce in half over medium heat. Baste chops with glaze and top them with it after they are cooked.

Pork Chops (use your own method if you would like this is mine)

½ in thick boneless pork chops

Season with salt, pepper, paprika, and a bit of cumin

Mix seasons sprinkle on top of chops (both sides)

Brush with glaze

Sear in a hot pan 3-4 minutes per side

Allow to rest and top with glaze before serving



Roasted Broccoli (super easy and one of my new favorites)

2-3 heads of Fresh Broccoli

Olive oil

Salt, Pepper, Garlic

Break heads of broccoli into small bite size pieces place on a cookie sheet, drizzle with oil and season with salt pepper and garlic. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. If you would like top with a bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese.



This meal is really easy and delicious, we definitely enjoyed.

Reese's Cake

Birthdays are a huge deal in my world; I truly believe that you should have the day off from everything when it is your special day. I know I live in a fantasy world if I truly believe that, but I do try to make birthdays special for my family and the people I work with well it happened to be my most creative co-worker’s birthday. Each year he tries to create a cake that he would like me to bake, most the time it is a cake with some form cookie or candy in it. This year he decided that he had a hankering for peanut butter and chocolate what does that equal a Reese cake!

 

1 Butter Cake Mix

1lb bag of Reese’s miniatures unwrapped and cut into quarters

1 cup Peanut butter

¼ cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 TBSP Butter

A batch of your favorite chocolate icing





Mix cake according to package directions, just before baking fold in two handfuls of the quartered miniatures. Bake according to package directions. In the mean time melt the peanut butter and chocolate chips together with the butter in the microwave for about one minute stirring every 20 seconds or so, until you reach a smooth consistency, this is the filling for the cake. Once the cakes have cooled place one layer on a cake plate of your choice, spread filling over the top and place second layer on top of the filling. Next ice the cake with your fave, chocolate icing and decorate with the remaining Reese’s candies. It is quite a rich cake, but I do thank Nick for the idea.

Here is birthday boy himself enjoying some cake!!!!!!!!!

Turkey Day!!!!!!! (A little Late on the Post!)

We have so much each year to be grateful for and on the top of my list each year is family. So I thought I would quickly share some pictures from a few of the Thanksgiving celebrations we attended.

A Great First Year!!!!!!!

A few weeks ago the hubs took it upon himself to plan a wonderful trip for the two of us to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, what a sweet gesture right! We headed out to the beautiful state of Colorado, for some skiing and site seeing. The trip was absolutely amazing with a few minor set backs along the way, from snow closing the road to a few extra passengers on the way home. I can’t tell you how amazed I was at the great trip the hubs had planned.

Check out all that snow this is in Evergreen, CO they had 24 inches of snow! Oh and check out that lovely dog yes we took Gabby along for the ride.

This was the biggest creature I do believe I have ever seen, this elk made the Hubs want to come back next year, not for another romantic getaway but to hunt. Oh well you can't win them all.

While in Rocky Mtn. National Park we (ok I) really wanted to take a picture for our Christmas cards. Luckily we stumbled upon a man who also was a professional photographer and he took some wonderful shots for us!

This is me just being overwhelmed by the view I couldn't believe all the snow and just how beautiful everything was.

And this is one of our extra passengers on the way home Pappy Paul, Gabby was welcoming him into the car!

I can't thank the hubs enough for the great trip it was amazing and a wonderful getaway for the two of us!

A Rude Awakening...

What do a pig a police officer and a butcher equal I might ask you?

Well in my world they equal a perfect disturbance to my morning of sleeping in.

Let me just start from the beginning, on Thursday evening my lovely husband deemed it necessary to wean a sow that we had out at my parent’s house. This was necessary so that we could rebreed her for her next litter to be born this winter. I remind you this is a typical practice around the farm not much out of the ordinary. Well the sow was going to be moved from my parents’ house to my in-laws house and since the houses are about thirty minutes apart the hubby decides he would just load her Thursday night and take her out to her new home on Friday morning. Well for the time being my dear husband and I live in town a very small town I mind you. Since he wanted to spend the evening with me he loaded the ole sow up on the trailer and brought her to town parking his truck and trailer outside of our house, not an uncommon occurrence.

Now back to my morning of sleeping in, I had taken the day off from work so I could spend some time with a very dear friend of mine in the big city shopping. But I thought that I would catch a few extra minutes of shut eye before I got up and made myself shopping ready. Well that is when I heard a knock at the door and the fun began at approximately 6:06a.m. A police officer and the local butcher shop owner were standing on my front steps informing us that our pig that was in the trailer was on the loose! And that they were going to help us find her. I think you can figure out where the butcher fits in.

I tell you this right now she sure went on a tour of town, from seeing the school, to walking down the main street, to trying to go to work at the local factory. Lastly she was decided to take a walk over to the city park and that is where she was found and safely returned to her trailer. Boy oh boy were we the talk of the town for the day. You never know what is going to happen next in our crazy piggy life!

No real pictures of this event were taken because:
It was dark outside
I was a bit busy herding a pig.
I was definitely NOT camera ready!

Enjoy my struggles!