Can you pass the sauce, please?

With grilling season quickly approaching and in honor of March being National Sauce Month, I thought I'd share my ALL TIME FAVORITE sauce...

Gates Original Bar-B-Q Sauce straight from Kansas City!  

One of our friends introduced my husband and I to this sauce about 4 years ago and we have been hooked ever since.  In fact, my husband just recently surprised me with a case of it, and I literally did a dance when the box arrived at our doorstep and I saw that it was from Gates.

Chicken + Gates BBQ Sauce = Delicious
Pork + Gates Spice Rub = Simply Divine

The perfect gift for grill lovers EVERYWHERE!

The Art of Stuffing a Stocking

Years ago, my husband and I decided to only exchange stocking stuffers at Christmas. I really enjoy this because it requires a little extra thought and creativity. Not only does the gift need to be sentimental and/or useful, but it must be small too...a little extra challenge!

Here are some of my favorite stocking stuffers...

For the baby in your life, the Doidy Cup is an amazing product that eases the transition from bottle to cup without major spills!

For the organizer in your life, Magnutz are super small magnets with UNBELIEVABLE strength.

For the love of your life, the "I'm nuts about you!" key ring says it all. The packaging is simply adorable, and the key ring itself is the perfect size-small enough to be unobtrusive, but big enough to remind your honey how lucky he or she is!

For the cook in your life, a silicon basting brush is a MUST-have!

For the men in your life, try these easy to match dress socks. Once he tries them, he will never go back to traditional gold-toes. Not only are they thin and soft, but they make matching socks fun and SIMPLE!

For the child in your life, include these adorable mini lunch notes.  Nothing is better than finding a fun-loving note in your lunch from someone you love...a guaranteed smile every day of the week!

Please share some of your favorites too! With a little help from each other, we can all have ROCKIN' full stockings this year.

Pulled Pork, Anyone?

My husband's birthday was yesterday. As usual, thinking of an extra-special gift was a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, though, he happen to mention last weekend how much he enjoyed one of our friend's pulled pork sandwiches and that's when I had my AH-HA moment...

There is NOTHING my husband enjoys more than watching football on Sunday with his closest friends and family, while chowing down on some tasty snacks. So, I got him a slow-cooker, emailed our friend for her pulled pork recipe (see below), and invited a bunch of our friends over to enjoy pulled pork sandwiches and the games. The whole night was a HUGE HIT!

Pulled Pork Birthday Sandwiches
(serves 14 adults)

8 lb. pork roast on the bone (assume 1/2 lb./person)
1.5 (18 oz.) bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce
2 medium sized onions, sliced thin
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1.5 tablespoons of brown sugar

Cover the bottom of the slow cooker with one sliced onion and garlic. Wash and pat dry the meat. Lay the roast in the slow-cooker on top of the onions and garlic. Mix the brown sugar and bbq sauce together in separate bowl, then pour mixture over the roast in the slow-cooker. Cover top of roast with second, thinly sliced onion. Cover cooker and program to cook for 6 hours ON HIGH. Then, take roast out. Remove some of the fat from the roast, then use a fork to pull meat off bone. Return to cooker for another 2 hours ON HIGH. Enjoy!