jersey cows, goats, and ice cream

at the beginning of may, i joined a few ladies who were taking a trip to a dairy farm. young’s dairy farm, to be exact.

the first thing we saw smelled when we walked in were these goats.

to the left of the goats are these cows.  jersey cows, hence the post title.  now, i know that i am a true city suburb girl at heart.  but i’d like to think that i have some country in me.  after this visit, i KNOW that i am a suburb girl and ONLY a suburb girl.  haha.

i didn’t know what kind of animal this was and had to ask one of the ladies that i was with. first, i wasn’t really paying attention and second, see above. but i’m glad that i could be of some entertainment/amusement for her.

on the other hand, isn’t this cow gorgeous!?

haha…this goat was chillin’ like a villan while eating some hay. look at those blue eyes!

here are the lovely ladies that i went with.

a mama goat and a baby goat.

then the “feeding of the animals” commenced. these little girls were so excited to feed the goats. just look at the enthusiasm on their faces!

and this little fella, baby j, was hanging out looking all cute.

while i was falling in love with that baby, the goat baby decided to get drink some milk. it was pretty crazy. and so violent. but that’s how it works, i guess.

baby j and his momma fed one of the cows. which is where i realized, FOR SURE, that i am a suburb girl at heart. while taking these pictures the cow in the next stall started licking me and GROSSED.ME.OUT!

the girls wanted to feed the cows too!

when we walked out of the petting area, there was a seating area with this fun kodak moment cardboard cutout. the girls wanted to take a picture so their momma got in too.

and then they wanted to take a picture on this cow. when baby j saw them, he wanted in on the action too.

after playing outside for a while, we walked inside and got some ice cream. love the girls’ faces! and baby j passed out holding his own bottle.

we ended the outing with the best calzone i’ve ever had. i think the place is called benitos, but i’m not sure. mmm…sooooo good!

a few of paul’s favorite foods

every year for paul’s birthday i always make his favorites…shredded beef tacos, mashed pinto beans, chocolate cake, and sopa (for me). in addition to making it on his birthday i also make it a few other times throughout the year…mainly when i’m craving tacos.

haha. well this last time i made them i thought i’d take some pictures to share with you.

lucky you. heh heh.

first you start by cooking your chuck roast. *side note: when paul and i were first married i cooked the roast with a pressure cooker on three separate occasions. each time the roast was overcooked. since then i’ve been using my slow cooker and i haven’t looked back. we’ve been married for almost eight years now. and before i put it in the slow cooker i brown it on both sides.

when it’s done, you can either eat some as pot roast or get to shredding right away like i usually do.

i’ve gotten better and quicker at shredding. this is about 20 minutes after i started.

once the beef is all done, you can get started on the tortillas. normally you would flash fry them in oil but my mil taught me to just heat them up in a pan. much, much healthier.

then you place some beef on the tortilla.

and close it up with a few toothpicks.

i stack them by fours and get my oil heated. you can use canola or vege.

you’ll want to use a deep (but not too deep) pot so it doesn’t spitter-spatter everywhere.

then you let them drain in a paper towel lined bowl.

once they’re ready to eat, open them up and fill them with your choice of toppings.

now onto the beans. he likes pinto beans, mashed. they’re just like refried beans, but without the lard.

let the beans soak for at least eight hours before coking them.

to cook them, you’re gonna boil them in water along with any seasonings you like. we add onion and garlic. let it come to a boil and then turn the heart down to let it simmer for a few hours.

you can tell when they’re ready because the beans are softer and bigger, the skin peels off a bit, and they’ve lost their spots. once they’re done, you can add some more spices. paul likes, salt & pepper, oregano, and (sometimes) a few red pepper flakes.

then plop some on your plate and add some cheese.

sometimes i’ll also make homemade chips with the leftover oil.

ready to eat!

i’m thankful that my mil taught me how to make these. their not just paul’s favorite, they’re mine too. they can seem intimidating at first but once you get the hang of it you’ll be able to do then in your sleep. Lol.

try ‘em out and let me know how it goes! or if you do it a different way, let me know too! can’t wait to hear all about it!

edited with instagram

instafriday

Linking up with Life Rearranged.

last friday i met up with some ladies at potbelly’s and there was live music. even though i said “love music at potbelly’s” in my instgram feed what i really meant was live music. well, i do love music at potbelly’s too. but whatever. thought it was nice to have live music was my point.

i ABSOLUTELY LOVE watching fish swim. i really want to get a betta fish but paul doesn’t want to so i guess i’ll just have to keep waiting. p.a.i.t.i.e.n.t.l.y. what do you think? you think i can do it?

i apologize in advance for the many, MANY pictures of my peonies. i am just so excited for them to be growing! the first thing i’ve planted that hasn’t died. yet. and as i’m writing this my nano is playing hakuna matata. so i must hakuna matata and know that even though i’ve managed to not have anything grow or thrive up until now i will have no worrries about it. haha…i’m lame and i know it!

so i have been mowing our lawn every few days since the first mow of the season this year because our grass was super long. but last week i didn’t mow at all!! what the what?!?! so i finally got out there on sunday to mow it. it was quite long and all out of hand.

you guys, this peony is absolutely gorgeous!! well, i think it is and that’s all that matters. oh wait, you can’t tell since you haven’t seen it open. okay, nm. can you tell i’m excited?!?!?! open.open.open. do you guys remember that payless bogo commercial? that’s totally how i am saying it in my head.

keep a sproutin’ little ones!!

yay! see. gor.ge.ous!

this little lady is six weeks old and i’ve been trying to find a date to bring food over for her family but they are just so loved that i wasn’t given the chance until now. not only did i get to bring food over for them, but paul and i got to have dinner with them too. they are just the cutest little family and i heart them.

i mowed again this week bc the weather channel said that it was going to rain on wed night, thursday, friday, saturday, and monday which wasn’t gonna give sunday enough time to dry out for mowing. so out i went. it was quite warm but windy so it was okay. not too bad. i stopped to take a short break here before heading into the part i hate mowing the most. luckily it’s towards the end of mowing.

welp, that’s it. what did you do this week?

edited with instagram

pinspiration – numero veinte y uno

when i saw this recipe i just knew it had to be made.

cheese-yummy. quinoa-tasty. carrots and broccoli-veggie-y.

source: www.OnceAMonthMom.com via tricia on pinterest

i shredded some carrots (plus some more for future use) and minced some broccoli and sauteed them with garlic in butter.

following the recipe, i then added two cups of quinoa and mixed it around for the butter to cover. then i poured four cups of liquid (read: chicken broth) and let it simmer.

when it was done cooking, i added a few cups of cheese, some more butter, a bit of milk, and then mixed it altogether.

here’s a close-up of this dish.

this is definitely a repeat recipe. it’s like macaroni and cheese but healthy. super healthy. paul looked up quinoa and quinoa (3.5 ounces) alone has 14 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber. and if you don’t use all the butter that the recipe calls for it’s even healthier. i should know, i’ve tried it.

hope you try it. and if you do, please let me know how it turned out and if you like it too.

edited with instagram

weekly photo challenge: reflections

last year i participated in a weekly photo challenge through the daily wordpress dot com. i did pretty good about keeping up with the challenge until november. then i just fell off the face of the earth.

i made a photo book of the challenges and thought that i’d post those that i didn’t get done until just now. so…….

reflections could mean so many different things..

i didn’t want to go too deep so i just used the reflection of a mirror.

have you ever gone shopping (by yourself) and wanted to take a picture of your *newest* ensemble? it is so hard to take a picture with your cell phone! this was the best i could do.

edited with instagram