3 things

The top 3 things I have discovered in the 3 years since I last posted ...
 1- Hiking (pics and favorite hiking places coming soon)
 2- Eating better (how and why coming soon)
 3-camping (pics and places, you guessed it coming soon)
 and I'll through in a fourth cause its that important a good glass Bottle of Wine

Why is the blog named Saltpig?

I'm back after 3 long years and a TON has changed with the family, but I thought I'd start my fist blog post on the lighter side of things by maybe clearing up why this silly tiny blog is Named Salt pig and I don't have a real answer for why this blog was originally named Salt pig. I had a Salt pig I spent a ton of time in my kitchen and I guess I figured it was different. So there is the only answer I got. Stay tuned for maybe a few more interesting post. Like what I now do in my Free time, what happens in the kitchen, what happens outside of the kitchen and what the 3 gromments aka the kids are up to.

Kindle Fire Charging Station

We were very lucky this year for Christmas and the kids and I all got The Kindle Fire. We love them and I wanted to make a nice Charging station for them. So I re-purposed an old shelf I had in the Garage. It already had a grove in it for pictures, so my husband just drilled 3 holes in it for the cords and hung it on the wall super easy and it works great!

Brownies in the Microwave???

This week it was our turn to cook. but I am sure you could guess that from my last post. I had my sister and her family coming out to help get our lawn put in for Pinky's birthday so I decided to cook something that would easily feed a lot of people, that was easy and of course most importantly super tasty. So we decided on pulled pork Sandwiches,Macaroni Salad , and some House of Blues Corn Bread. I slow cooked the pork for about 9 hours and the hubby shredded it up and we used some amazing Guy Fieri Carolina sauce on it. It is peppery, and thin, and not too hot – but had a good dose of heat. II loved the Macaroni Salad, but my husband was not a huge fan since it was full of tomatoes and olives.lol The other thing I had planned was a deviously sinful dessert. I made rocky road brownies, and in the microwave. lol They turned out amazing and the perfect partner was some french Vanilla ice cream. click the links for the dinner recipes and take a look below the pics for the Rocky Road brownie.

Microwave rocky road brownie dessert

1 cup walnut halves toasted

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

16 large marshmallows

20 milk chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Vanilla ice cream (optional)

1. Coarsely chop walnuts. Place them in a prep bowl; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small batter bowl. Cut butter into pieces and chop unsweetened chocolate; place butter and chocolate into Classic Batter Bowl. Microwave, uncovered on high 1-2 minutes or until mostly melted, stirring every 30 seconds.

2. Add sugar and eggs to chocolate mixture; whisk until smooth using stainless whisk. Fold in flour mixture and 1/2 cup of the walnuts until incorporated using small Mix 'N Scraper. Pour batter into Deep Covered Baker, spreading evenly. Microwave, uncovered, on High 5-7 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and edges are firm. Carefully remove baker from microwave using Silicone Oven Mitts.

3. Meanwhile, snip marshmallows in half crosswise using Professional Shears. Top brownie with marshmallows, chocolate kisses and remaining 1/2 cup walnuts. Microwave, covered, on high 1-2 minutes or just until marshmallows start to soften. Remove baker from microwave. Let stand, covered 5 minutes. Spoon onto plates; serve with ice cream if desired.

**To toast walnuts, place walnuts in large micro-cooker; microwave uncovered on high 3-5 minutes until toasted, stirring every 30 seconds!

Jambasta????

Sorry for the late post,about our Wednesday night dinner. Time seems to be slipping away from me lol. So it was our friends turn to cook. Which is always amazing, its nice to know 2 times out of the month don't have to think about dinner. This time Jody Made "Jambasta" A supper yummy Rachael Ray spin on pasta and Jambalaya. It was so tasty, it had some heat and some great flavor. I am not a spicy person but this was just right. Just enough spice to awaken your taste buds and make you keep taking in another spoon full. If you like Jambalaya I really encourage you to try this unique twist on a classic recipe. EAT UP!!

Wednesday Night Dinner

Wednesday night dinner our turn.
So this week it was our turn to cook and usually we have a plan in mind, but not this week. At first I wanted to do enchiladas,then I wanted to do a Mexican Cob salad. We looked through a few cookbooks Tuesday night and decided to make a chicken Mojito Salad. Fast forward to about 1 hour before dinner and we look at the recipe again and I just wasn't' feeling the chicken Salad. You know how that goes,you have everything set up the day before your recipe planned your ingredients in stock, then the time comes to cook the dinner you just are not in the mood. So back to the cookbooks we go. We finally decide on some Ultimate Peppercorn Burgers and Grilled Romaine with Blue Cheese-Bacon Vinaigrette Click on the links for recipes. We choose to use Cibatta bread instead of onion bread. I put on some avocado and Jody and Brian added a little Serrano pepper from our Garden to the ground meat. It turned out so good and the salad was a little awkward to eat due to the size but it was delicious as well. Both recipes defiantly a for sure repeat.

We have a good thing going....

So for about a year and a half now, we have been getting together will our friends once a week for dinner. Our Friend Jason started it he would have some friends over to watch Sons of Anarchy and they would cook dinner, then it turned into we switched houses, still watched SOA and still cooked dinner. After the season of SOA was over we still cooked dinner and switched houses. After over a year it has turned it to one of the things I look forward to all week.SOAs new season still hasn't started yet Jody and I sure do miss Jax lol. More important then the TV show though is the great company we share. Jason, Jody and Jason's daughter


are not only our good friends but have become part of our family. The kids love them and so do we. It is so fun to get together and share a great meal and relaxing drink. It sure breaks up the week and makes the second half a lot more bearable. So I decided to start posting our weekly Wednesday night dinners on here with the recipe. Our dinner last night was at Jason and Jodie's house and we had her yummy meatball subs. They are so delicious,and as she showed me really easy to make, so easy in fact that I plan on making a ton of meatballs and freezing them for some quick and easy meals.

A lot time has passed....

Wow its been a long time. A lot of things have changed while a few have stayed the same. My last post was us making Lemonchello, well unfortunately we never finished it lol oh well maybe we will try again another time.
I don't know why I stop blogging so much, I feel bad about it. I got really wrapped up in my Pampered Chef business and put a lot of time into that, its sort of my way to get totally obsessed about something lol I still don't know if that is a good or bad thing. While I am still a Pampered Chef consultant I have been able to find a good balance between office work and home life. I also stopped blogging as much because I stopped sewing and quilting and didn't really think I had anything interesting to blog about. Lately my life pretty much consists of just trying to run the house and take care of the kids. I will have to figure out what my blogging niche will be. I am thinking Most of my posts will consist of home projects,recipes,family,books,great shopping deals,and a few Pampered Chef posts. so look for more posts soon. Don't want to squeeze too much in one day lol

Limoncello Part 1

What Do you do when you have huge bag of Lemons given to you?
Why Make a batch of Limoncello of Course!
A friend of mine Gave me a huge bag of lemons and they have been rolling around in the back of my car for a few days. Then I saw a blog post fromSonnet of the Moon. and my mind flashed back to last summer in Montana, where I had my first experience with the wonderful Italian lemon liquor.
Limoncello takes from 40 to 80 days to prepare so if you want to have some ready by August, you should start a batch now. Don't let the long time frame fool you...you have fairly little work to do along the way. And what work there is will be well worth it. Served straight from the freezer, limoncello is a light and refreshing treat on a hot summer evening.


Ingredients for Step 1~
-One .75 liter bottle of 100 proof vodka (you will need another bottle for Step 2 so you can buy them both now if you wish)
-14 fresh lemons. Look for lemons with thick, healthy, fragrant skins
-A one gallon glass jar with lid
-MicroPlane Zester( I of Course recommend the Pampered Chef microplane Zester it will zest your lemons perfect and it will help avoid getting to the Pith)

Pour one bottle of vodka into your freshly washed and dried jar.
After washing and drying all your lemons, zest the skins directly into the vodka. Avoid zesting the white pith as it is bitter and will affect the taste of your limoncello.

When finished, screw the lid on the jar and swirl all the zest into the vodka. Your zest will take up most of the space in the vodka and will turn it a cloudy yellow. Place the jar in a cool, dark spot for 20 to 40 days. Swirl your jar every few days if you can remember.
Check back for Step 2!~


Say Hello to my little Helper!!

Update

May is almost over and we are headed into summer with no school and lots of fun!! Life has been hectic and crazy and moving right along.
Matthew has turned 5 and will be starting Kindergarten in August. He won the Lottery to get into our Charter school. I am so excited for him, the charter school is a Montessori based learning program, where the focus is on the learner and how they learn best. Its very hands on learning and really geared toward teaching the child about responsibility and accountability in there own learning process.
Delaney will be starting preschool 2 days a week in August she will be going to So-big were Matthew went, and I will be the 2 day Vice-President I will be in Charge of the Field trips and the Parents Work Schedule. I am really looking forward to being super involved in her school days.
Also I am relieved to announce that Riley will be starting in a special Day class in 4th Grade.He will be getting more help with his APD ( auditory Processing Disability) and his VPD ( visual processing disability) I don't' know how many sleepless nights I have had worrying about Riley and his 4th grade school year. I am constantly second guessing all my decisions I have made for him since he started preschool, but I have to keep telling myself that I made the best decision I could at that time. I can't change the past I just have to keep looking toward the future and try to just keep thinking about what is best for Riley and what will benefit him the most.
I am looking forward to summer and am hopping to keep the kids busy and hopefully keeping my sanity int he process. lol
As for me I am still doing Pampered Chef and loving every min of it.Please Check out my website, it has an online Catalog, recipes tips and an outlet section. I get the sense of accomplishment that I use to get when I was a working mom, but I still get to stay home during the day with my kids and am able to stay really involved with them.
I have been really slacking on my quilting and sewing, but I have a few projects that I have ahead of me mostly baby quilts and birthday shirts for Delaney and Riley. I was able to do another super cute Birthday shirt for Matthew he loved it and I really liked how cute it turned out!
Well I Hope every body has a safe and fun Memorial Weekend!!!
Hello Summer time can't wait to hit up the sand sun and sip summer drinks and watch the kids run through the sprinklers. :)