Pulled Pork Chili

B and I went to a truck pull in the fall and had the most amazing chili of our lives at this little stand there. It had pulled pork in it, which would be my last meal if I ever had one, so I was all over this chili. I had to recreate it. As my first recipe on the blog, I figured it needed to be something epic. Its the recipe that gets the most compliments and it won first place out of about 20 other chili recipes in a cookoff!

Ingredients:

1lb of ground beef 

1 tub of pulled pork (its in a red tub, in the freezer/fridge section where the mashed potatoes are. Homemade pulled pork would be better im sure, but I havent mastered that recipe yet)

1 Chili Seasoning packet 

1 small can of diced jalepenos or green chilis 

1 small can of tomato paste 

1 small can of baked beans 

1 can of black beans

1 can of cannelloni beans 

1 TBSP of onion powder

1 TBSP of Season All

 

Directions:

1. Brown ground meat in large pot. 

2. Add everything else to the pan (drain and rinse the black and cannelloni beans). 

3. Let cook for however long you want, I recommend at least an hour so everything can mix together. You might need to add some water or chicken broth to thin it out as it cooks so its not too thick. 

 4. Serve with cheddar cheese and sour cream. I've also been eating mine with fritos instead of a spoon. Dont judge.

Some things I should note: I have a weird thing about textures, which is why I dont cook with onions, only onion powder. Real onions would be just as good in this recipe. I also hate tomatoes, but a can of diced tomatoes would also be excellent. Also, the baked beans seem a bit weird, but the sweetness goes so well with the pulled pork. The glory of chili is that you can put anything you like in it, its so versatile! The pulled pork though is crucial, so I highly recommend leaving that in. Enjoy!

What I Do

Happy New Year! I'm not one to make resolutions and have never been a huge fan of celebrating big on New Year's Eve. That's not to say I don't like the holiday, its just not my thing.

I thought I would write a post about what I do for a living. Its a pretty huge part of my life and in the summer, it consumes my life (consume is an understatement actually). So here it goes!

I went to college and graduated with my degree in Special Ed. It is my passion and I absolutely love kids! When I met B, I got sucked into the world of bounce houses. At the time, he was renting bounce houses pretty low key, 1 or 2 a weekend, but by the second summer we were together, things were getting a little crazier. Fast forward 5 years and here we are, running a pretty successful inflatable rental company.

The first thing people say when we tell them we own a bounce house company is, "Oh! That must be so fun!" I can see how an outsider would think that. How is renting bounce houses and water slides NOT fun?! Although the job has its perks, it is extremely stressful. Now I know that there are jobs that are much more stressful and high risk (medical field, military, etc.), but people underestimate how stressful our business can be. Most customers have no idea what goes into getting them their inflatable. There is a tremendous amount of planning that goes into every rental, and it seems that in the area we live in, many people wait until the day before their party to order, causing some serious headaches on our end. Imagine trying to deliver 20 inflatables, all about 15 min. driving distance away from each other all before 11am. Nightmare. Summer months are chaotic to say the least and I often forget to eat, let alone sleep. So why is it even worth it you ask? Well, we have learned a lot over the last 5 years and have put many systems in place to at least try to make thing run smoothly. The other major perk: We get to live in FL for 6 months (our off season). So working 80+ hours a week seems worth it while we sit on the beach in the middle of January.

Our business has tested me in so many ways. Customers get under my skin more than I like to admit. I take it personally. I helped build this business, so when we get someone who is rude or mean to us, I have a hard time not falling apart. We have also given up our summers. While everyone has BBQ's and goes on vacations, we almost never even get a day off. I have a bunch of friends who are planning to get married this summer and while I will make the weddings (barely), anything scheduled in June is impossible, meaning I miss bridal showers/bachelorette parties. I always get the feeling from friends and even family that they just don't understand that I cant take a day off like normal people. June is a 30 day period where I absolutely cannot leave. There is simply such a high volume of parties, which inevitably means problems and I am usually working over 100 hours a week in June. This is always hard. People almost never understand that I cant leave and I just cant explain it unless you spend a week with me.

To add to it all, I run this business with my boyfriend. It's his company, but at this point, I manage it, make the big decisions, he mostly fronts the money. Running a stressful business while starting and maintaining a relationship is hard. Like really hard. We have been in some seriously trying time together, but our relationship is rock solid because of it.

Phew! Glad to get that off my chest! It sounds like I hate the business and at times, I do. But I love what we do, and am SO proud that we built this business from the ground up, all by ourselves. I NEVER thought I could run a business. It has been such a huge learning curve for us.

Post Christmas Depression

Before I start this post, I figured I should probably include a disclaimer: I am so so grateful for all of our family and friends and all the gifts we got this Christmas. We are very lucky to come home for Christmas and to give and receive some wonderful gifts.

With that being said, I am having a hard time getting out of my Christmas slump this year...I always get extremely sad on Christmas night that its all over. Not even that there aren't any more presents to open, but that the christmas music isn't on the radio anymore, the lights get taken down, and all the stores immediately switch to Valentine's Day (Target definetely lost a few points in my book for that one). It's always rush, rush, rush for the big day to get here and then afterwards the days just drag. This year was extra emotional for me because B and I have been discussing not coming home for Christmas next year. I am not looking forward to telling my mom about that one. This is completely devastating for me, but it is so expensive to travel (especially with Bentley) and it's just getting hard splitting our time for the holidays between MA and FL. It makes a lot of sense, I'm just not ready to let go of family Christmases (you're talking to the girl who still wanted to sleep at home this year so she could see the tree with presents under it in the morning). My dad is probably the biggest fan of Christmas you will ever meet and he's about the only person that shares my love for Christmas in such a big way. I feel like without him around, I won't be able to enjoy it as much. Also, it is so not Christmas in FL when its 85 degrees. It's always been hard for me to get into the true Christmas spirit while there.

So my question is how do you handle spending Christmas away from families? I need coping mechanisms for the emotional turmoil I'll be going through next year. I am excited that we can start our own traditions, but it's still a hard transition and not one I thought I would have to make this soon.

Merry Christmas Blogworld!

I think I have committed a cardinal sin in blogging by not blogging in over a week. Yikes! A lot has happened in a week and the only way I can keep this to a minimal and not turn it into a book is a list. Here's whats been happening lately!

-Bentley made it safely home on the plane! Mama had a slight panic attack at the airport, but he was a trooper and it didn't even phase him!

-Bentley also experienced his first snow and LOVED it! We have determined that he likes the snow better than sand, go figure.

- Our housewarming/christmas party Friday night went great! The tacos were a hit (and super easy).

- I managed to do all of my christmas shopping/baking/wrapping in three days. Record? I think yes!

- We had a great christmas with both my family and B's. I am so thankful for our time with each of them and they all loved their gifts! B also got me some great gifts, which I will post later!

- It is now the day after Christmas and I have officially settled into my post-Christmas depression. Is there such a thing? There should be. I used to cry when I was little on Christmas night that it was all over. I wont lie, I wanted to cry last night too. There is something so upsetting to me about lights coming down, Christmas music no longer playing and taking the tree down. I miss it all so much already. Can it be Christmas all year long?

Merry Christmas blog friends! I hope everyone's holiday was merry and bright!