Olympics

I can't believe I forgot to discuss my addiction to the Olympics in my last post! I have been really enjoying the summer games this year. I'm really fortunate to still be on maternity leave so I'm home during the day AND that we have a ridiculously expensive cable package, which gives us no less than 4 channels of Olympic coverage. Otherwise, I would still be oblivious to the wonders of the lesser known Olympic sports, such as synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline (any sport where a gentleman named Dong Dong wins a gold medal is a winner in my book), team handball (I don't know whether to be amazed or horrified that this activity that looks straight out of a high school gym class qualifies as an olympic sport. With medals.), and my personal favoirte, dressage (a/k/a horse dancing).

That's not to say that we haven't been enjoying the more mainstream sports, too. Ryan & I like the swimming, track & field, and beach volleyball. Baby Linn, for some reason, seemed to enjoy watching the rowing.

Watching the Olympics. He originally had on the red & white "Team USA" onesie that my mom got him for the 4th of July, which I thought was cute and patriotic, but he peed on it. Oops!

Of course, if you know Ryan and I at all, you know that we like to eat, and we especially like to eat in front of the TV while watching a big game. The Olympics are no different. I think I have proclaimed my love for The Pioneer Woman in a previous post. Her name is Ree Drummand, and basically she is a city (okay, suburbanite) woman who fell in love with a cowboy and now lives in the middle of nowhere on a working cattle ranch. She has a website - http://thepioneerwoman.com/ - and a show on the Food Network. Anyway, we made her Spicy Pop Pulled Pork recipe yesterday...it is so delicious and easy (even I could make it, even though I didn't):

INGREDIENTS:

2 onions, peeled and quartered

1 whole pork shoulder roast

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

11 ounce can chipolte peppers in adobo sauce

2 cans of soda (we used Dr. Pepper)

4 packed tablespoons brown sugar

A few cloves of garlic

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees

Start by placing the onion quarters in the bottom of a pot. Sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper, and then place on top of the onions. Pour the chipotle peppers over the top, and then crack open the cans of pop and pour them over the whole thing. Add the brown sugar to the liquid and stir.

Cover the pot, put in the oven and cook for at least 6 hours, flipping the roast 2 or 3 times during the cooking process. When it's done, the pork will be dark and weird and wonderful. It'll also be fork-tender. That's when you know it's done.

Remove the meat from the pot and shred completely. Then return the meat to the pot and keep in the juice until you need it. Divine!

Ryan's assistant brought him several cucumbers grown by her father, and he didn't want them to go to waste, so he made homemade garlic/dill pickles!



They are delicious - where was the pickle recipe when I was pregnant?!?!?

Anyway, we made sandwiches out of the pulled pork, coleslaw, and pickles last night. Amazing - I am so glad to have leftovers for lunch for the next couple days!

Making the pulled pork in the oven made me excited for fall, and the soups and chili and other comfort foods that I so much enjoy eating while watching football all weekend. I know it is only preseason, but the Eagles and Steelers play tonight and our fantasy football draft has been scheduled, so it's almost time!!!