Slow Cooked Green Chili Pork Tacos with Fresh Corn and Olive Salsa

There's a lot of preparation that goes into this meal - at least for the salsa - but it is totally worth it. These tacos were out of this world! Definitely a new addition to the regular rotation!

Tacos
2 pork tenderloins
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T salt
1 t pepper
1/2 t garlic salt with parsley
3/4 can of green salsa

Place all but the salsa in the crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours. When the meat is cooked, remove the liquid, shred the meat, and add the salsa. Cook on warm until ready to serve.

Salsa
3 ears of corn, corn removed
1/2 c sliced black olives
1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 T diced red onion
salt
pepper

Combine all ingredients and serve with tacos.

Avocado Mash
2 avocados
1 T lime juice

Combine and serve with tacos.

Original recipe source: http://www.picky-palate.com/

Chicken and Biscuit Casserole

Oh my goodness, this was spectacular. I think this may be a go-to for my next meals on wheels delivery for my moms' group!

1/8 c butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c chopped onion
1/4 c chopped celery
1/4 c chopped baby carrots
1/4 c flour
1 t white sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t dried basil
1/4 t pepper
2 c chicken broth
1/2 c frozen peas
2 c cubed chicken (olive oil, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning)
1 tube refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 9 baking dish with Pam.

In a skillet, saute chicken in olive oil, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. When cooked through, remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm. In the same skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook and stir the garlic, onion, celery, and carrots in butter until tender. Mix in the flour, sugar, salt, basil, and pepper. Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, boil 1 minute, reduce heat, and stir in peas. Simmer 5 minutes, then mix in chicken. Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish.

Place nine biscuits over top chicken mixture in the baking dish.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the biscuits are cooked through.

Your 1st Day

On Syd's first day of school, I received a small gift bag with some tissues and some Hershey's kisses inside. On the outside was the following poem:


Your 1st Day


I wonder what you're doing right now, and if everyone is treating you kind. I hope there is a special person, a nice friend that you can find.


I wonder if the teacher knows just how special you are to me. And if the brightness of your heart is something she can see.


It's hard for me to watch you grow and have to let you go. Because it seems like yesterday you still had blankie in tow.


Your first big day of preschool is such a special time, but I'll be back to pick you up and once again you'll be mine.



I mean geeze! If I wasn't crying because I was dropping her off for the first time, after reading the poem, I was definitely in tears!

"Wake Up! It's the First Day of School!"

For as long as I went to school - from preschool through college - my mom would either come into my bedroom (when I lived with her) or call me (when I lived on my own) on the first day of school and say, "Wake up! It's the first day of school!" Today, I got to continue the tradition with my little girl. Today was her very first day of preschool, and she did great! She enjoyed an enormous breakfast: eggs, yogurt, toast, and a banana. Then, I got her dressed, and we were out the door with her new backpack. She walked into school like she owned the place, and didn't look back!

School is three hours long, and so I picked her up right around lunchtime. She seemed very happy as she was walking out with her teacher. She announced that she was hungry and said that she wanted to go back to school. The entire ride home, I was trying to get information out of her. What did you do today? Did you eat a snack? Did you hear a story? Did you get to sing ABCs? Did you play on the playground? It was like pulling teeth! The only somewhat reliable information I got out of her was that she ate goldfish and heard a story about God and how he put stars in the sky. How sweet!

I'm going to call today a success. We'll see how Thursday goes!

Tom's on a Roll!

Tom's been working overtime around the house recently. First, he finished the playground. Now, he's built a TV stand and hooked up our new TV in the family room! Years ago, we bought a great media wall for our rear projection TV. The one thing we didn't anticipate was what we'd do if we ever wanted a flat screen TV - or any other TV that doesn't come with a stand attached. Anyway, Tom suggested that he could build a stand, and boy did he build a beautiful stand! We've been without TV in the family room for several months now, and now I'm having a bit of a love affair with the new TV. The best part was watching the Redskins beat the Cowboys on Sunday night!

Behold: Bergemuda's Playground is Finished!

After nearly 17 months of construction, the playground is finished! Tom did an absolutely spectacular job pulling it together in the last couple weeks. It is enormous - with plenty of room to run, jump, slide, climb, and swing. There's the playground itself, a sandbox, and what we like to call the parents' lounge. The entire area is covered in woodchips, and Tom built a beautiful retaining wall to hold everything in place. Really - it is the envy of toddlers everywhere! :) Sydney's already loving everything about it. We routinely go out to play several times a day. It took a while, but it was well worth the wait!

Crockpot Apricot Pork Tenderloin

This was incredibly easy to make and delicious!

1 package of Lipton Onion Soup mix
1 18-ounce jar of apricot preserves
2 pork tenderloins

Place the tenderloins in the crockpot. Combine the soup mix and preserves. Pour the mixture over the meat. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours.