Jerk Pork With Mango Salad and Rice & Peas

Here's another older post that I found that didn't quite make it to the "publish" stage.  The funny thing is that now we have jerk pork at least once a month.  It's the only way that I cook pork shoulder now, and we love it!!!



We got an amazing deal on a pork shoulder the other day so we grabbed it and brought that baby home to cook.  Normally I do pulled pork in the slow cooker with this cut of meat, but I was craving West Indian food, and had a few mangoes to use up - so why not do some jerk pork with mango salad?  So easy, and so delicious!



For the pork, I rubbed it with seasoning salt and some dry Caribbean seasoning, then with a wet jerk rub.  I let it sit for about an hour, then popped it in the oven, uncovered, at 425 for 30 minutes.  I then lowered the temp to 325 and covered it, and let it cook for another 3 hours.  The high temp allows a crust to be formed and the low temp ensures that it doesn't dry it.  Works perfectly every time!

For the rice and peas, I would normally use kidney beans but didn't have any, so black beans it was! Use what's in your pantry people!  Put 5 cups of rice and 8 cups of water in a pot, along with a can of rinsed black beans.  Salt the water and put it on high.  Add a nice chunk of creamed coconut and let the water boil.  Once boiling, mix it up slightly so the coconut is evenly distributed, put a lid on the pot, and turn the heat off completely.  Leave it alone, and you'll have perfectly cooked rice in about 45 minutes.

For the mango salad, dice up a couple of mangoes, 1/4 of a red onion, and a good bunch of cilantro. Put everything in a container with a lid, squeeze a lime over top, mix it up and put it in the fridge until you're ready to eat.

A feast of a meal with only about 10 minutes prep time.  Love it!



And on to the resolutions...



1. Read a minimum of 20 mins per day - 62 out of 99 days, getting better

2. Read a minimum of 1 book per month -
March - Lost Echoes

3. Drink 80oz of water per day - 26 out of 99 days, an embarrassment

4. Get in a minimum of 10,000 steps daily - 66 out of 99 days, also getting better

5. Post on this blog weekly - so far so good, although I did miss last week, so I'm at 12 out of 15 weeks

6. Lose the baby weight and get into the best shape of my life - working on it! - I also added 3 more resolutions to keep on track with this one, see below

7. Have 12 no spend weeks - I'm gonna go ahead and delete this one.  With a baby there is no way I can do a no spend week.  I will however be doing a pantry challenge, likely in May

8. Write for 30 mins per week - I'm also deleting this one.  It isn't making me happy, and I'm not going to work on a resolution that doesn't contribute to my happiness and well-being

9. Get rid of 52 things -
1-6. Books given to my daughter's friend, they were duplicates that I didn't need to hang on to
7. Threw out some cleaning products and knick knacks that were under the kitchen sink
8. Got rid of some baby clothes that we had been given by a friend - they were all boys clothes
(since we thought we were having a boy) - I kept some neutral items and brought the rest to Once
Upon A Child for some cash
9. Got rid of all the old tupperware (and bought a new set - does that count? I'm going to say yes
because in the past I would have kept the old & the new)
10. Dumped all of the expired vitamins and medicine that we had (some dating as far back as 2010!!) - more on that below
11.  Possibly TMI but I got rid of a ton of old underwear - now I have to replace them, which is always fun.
12. I sold Brie's bassinet this week, $60 in my pocket and one less thing to hang on to

10. Organize/clean 52 areas (that I wouldn't normally clean during my daily/weekly routines)
1. Organized my book shelves by giving away duplicate books, grouping the self-help novels together, grouping authors together that I have huge collections of, and alphabetizing the remaining books
2. Cleaned the area underneath the kitchen sink - it was a disaster. Now everything is organized
and accounted for
3. I cleaned the top of the hallway closet and threw out winter gear that had no matches along with
other little things that had no business being there (or anywhere). A small project, but a needed
one! (see pictures below)
4. I cleaned our "medicine cabinet" - we have a section of shelving in our kitchen where we keep vitamins and medicine. Most of the bottles were expired, and it was a mess up there. See before and after pics above. And yes, I am still taking prenatal vitamins. We plan on having one more baby so might as well stay healthy for that. To be honest I think I'll continue taking them indefinitely - they are great.
5. I finally cleaned my linen closet and got rid of a ton of things we didn't need.  Check out the before and after pics below- we now have a whole empty shelf to fill up!  I think we will use it for toilet paper and paper towel which is currently stuffed in the spare bedroom's closet.  That will be my next task to tackle.
6. Check out the before and after pics below of my linen closet.  So glad I got to this one!



7. I also cleaned up my coffee table shelves, pics below






11. Email or call my Grandma weekly - My Grandma just moved from Florida to New Jersey, and she chose not to bring her laptop with her (and really, at 90 years old, can you blame her?) so I will be texting pics to my uncle to share with her, and I will invest this week in a long distance phone plan so that I can call her weekly

12.  Do things to get me out of my comfort zone
1. I attended a mom/baby fitness class, and loved it so much that I'll be going weekly (with a friend     of mine pictured above)
2. Joined another mommy/baby fitness class (salsa) that I haven't started yet - it begins on Thursday and it's an hour away.  I joined with the same friend who comes to my neck of the woods once a week for the other classes we are doing.  This is out of my comfort zone for two reasons - the obvious one is attending and trying a new class, but also the fact that it is so far away.  I usually don't venture too far out of my bubble.  I'll be able to walk around after each class and explore a new city, so that'll be fun, and an added bonus.
3. I started going to a chiropractor for my achy back.  This is big for me - I don't like to be touched by strangers.  So yea, this is huge

13. Do back exercises daily - My back is TERRIBLE, and Brie isn't getting any lighter, so it's time I take charge and do everything I can to fix this.  I have started doing 20 minute back videos daily - I'm at 2 out of 2 days.

14. Workout for a minimum of 20 minutes daily - This includes youtube videos and the classes I attend, but not walks outside or on the treadmill (that's a separate resolution to ensure I am active for at least 40 mins a day) - 2 out of 2 days so far

15. Go on the treadmill for a minimum of 20 minutes daily - or walk outside when the weather gets warmer.  1 out of 2 days so far.

And some pics of my sweet baby girl...

Enjoying the sunshine with the baby

Brie and J hanging out

She seems to make friends wherever she goes!

Look at that face!


That's it, that's all!  Enjoy your week!

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