My Little Pony party

Obviously there is currently a My Little Pony obsession going on this house. I'm not even sure obsession can cover it. It's My Little Pony EVERYTHING around here (and even the little man is in on it). On top of Sophie being Twilight Sparkle for Halloween, we had a My Little Pony birthday party for her this weekend. Instead of ordering ALL my little pony stuff and spending a million and one dollars, I did most of the decor/activities myself. (So I might be exaggerating slightly about the million and one dollars, but that stuff is EXPENSIVE).

I did order the Pinky Pie pin the cutie mark on the pony game (it cost $6 on Amazon Prime), and I ordered the 8 count My Little Pony party set. It came with 8 napkins, 8 cups, 8 plates, and 1 table cloth (it cost $17 on Amazon). For the rest of plates/cups/tablecloth, I decided to to just go with purple and pink (since it went with the pony theme nicely). 

The birthday banner I made myself with some colored construction paper and glitter foam leftover from making her Halloween costume. It took maybe 15-20 minutes total to make, and saved $$ since I had everything already. 

For the photo backdrop I tried to replicate Rarity's boutique. I used a trifold board, some purple scrapbook paper and glitter scrapbook paper, and pink wrapping paper, and colored washi tape. I think it turned out well, and the most expensive part was the trifold boar. Altogether it cost me less than $15 to make. For the photo props I downloaded a my little pony set from http://www.amandakeyt.com/. It cost $4.99 and was an instant download. Plus you get a ton of stuff! I just used one of our stools with a sheet over it for the kids to sit on. 

The other  game was Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack's pony races. I set up a few cones and the kids weaved in out and of the them to wall. The really just enjoyed running around randomly, but the point is that they had a ton of fun. The other activity was Twilight's bookmark corner, where they could color their own "bookmark". I wasn't sure that would be a hit, but it was probably the most popular area!

For goodie bags I got a $5 bag of bling rings, ring pops, and $5 bag of star sun glasses, plus some bouncy balls. The kid's loved it, and they also got to "adopt" a pet at Fluttershy's pet adoption before they left. I made up some adoption certificates for the parent's to fill out. (I figured that was way better than a TON of cheap junk.)

For the food I kept it simple, we had Rainbow's rainbow fruit platter, Fluttershy's bunny food, Rarity's fancy tea sandwiches, Pinky's party treats, and Twilight's mystery brew (purple Hawaiian punch). I made the cake myself. It was supposed to have Twilight on it (and I made a PERFECT twilight, but I messed it up transferring it). I think it still turned out great though.

All the signs I made myself on http://www.picmonkey.com/. I love that site!!

Carnitas and Salsa Verde Chicken

Today I am going to post about pork carnitas. We LOVE pork carnitas! I make them at least twice a month and now I even double the recipe when I make them. It is a fairly easy recipe to make and it's a crock pot recipe which means I LOVE it!

The only issue we had with the original recipe was that it was a bit bland for us. The meat didn't have much flavor, and while we still love it, we NEEDED more flavor to it. You can find the original recipe here: Weary Chef. Definitely follow the notes in her update. Omit the beef broth, and add less water (I use between 1/4-1/3 cup). Cut the roast into chunks and pierce all over to allow the flavor in.

Last time we made this, I decided to also add some fajita seasoning to see if that would help with the flavor. It did help some, but it still wasn't quite how we would like it. Today I decided to add some chipotle peppers and also some of the adobo sauce they came in. It definitely added more flavor!

We serve them with sour cream, a pinch of cheese, and for everyone other than the hubster, we add either avocado chunks or homemade guacamole. I use small flour tortillas (we have tried corn, but we just aren't big fans of them).

I also used this in a new recipe that was a huge hit last night: Chicken salsa verde. The original recipe can be found here  Salsa Verde Chicken. It was very good, but there are a few things to change. The main thing is that it was SOO runny. I only used 1 can of beer and not 1 bottle, but it was still SUPER runny. Next time I will only use 1/2 can of beer. It says you can add a jalapeno if you want for more spice (of course our store decided to not have them the one time I want to buy them). I bought the can of chipotle peppers since they didn't have jalapenos. I tossed a few in there, and then shredded when I shredded the chicken. It was super delicious, and it makes me sort of happy that the store didn't have jalapenos. I will keep making it this way, even if they do start to have jalapenos. We served with flour tortillas, sour cream, and cheese. Even my kid who doesn't usually do "spicy" asked for seconds (when he asks for more of something, it means that is a recipe to keep around...getting this kid to eat dinner at all is usually a feat).