Monday, November 9, 2015

circle seven five: friends-giving picnic + fall layers

It's finally feeling like fall in Texas!!  Weather where we can actually layer and you're still chilly in the shade... and you seek out sunny spots to warm up for a few minutes... omg it's the best!  The rain we've had lately has been rather nasty, especially the tornado that was spun out last Thursday.  But by the weekend (after some more Saturday morning rain) we finally hit a nice point. 

I was a little worried since I got up early on Saturday to start my crock pot and I was watching it pouring rain outside.  But by the time I needed to head to Dallas for our Circle Seven Five Friends-giving Picnic, the sun was popping out!  The ladies of CSF did an amazing job selecting a beautiful park for us and even though the ground was still a little too wet for any of us to want to spread out on blankets, there were enough picnic tables for us to set up our friendly feast.

I modified a pulled pork recipe I had to use chicken (and by modify I mean I literally substituted chicken for pork) and hauled my crock pot to the park so we had at least one warm food to snack on!  Each girl brought something to share for our pot luck meal and we ended up with a super yummy lunch!  If you love barbecue, I bet you'll love this recipe!  It is SO easy.  It took me about 10 minutes to measure and dump everything into the crock pot and then I let it cook all morning.  Pork or chicken works great, depending what you like!  I only had 2.5 pounds of chicken breast but I still used the same measurements for all of the other ingredients and it turned out fine.

BBQ Pulled Pork
Ingredients: 
1 package McCormick Slow Cookers BBQ Pork Seasoning Mix
3 lb. Boneless Pork Shoulder Roast OR Tenderloin (OR chicken breast)
1/2 cup Ketchup
3/4 cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Cider Vinegar

Stir seasoning mix together with ketchup, brown sugar, & cider vinegar until well blended.  Put pork (or chicken) in crock pot.  Pour mixture over meat.  Cook 8 hours on low, or 4 hours of high.  Remove meat & shred with 2 porks (I actually kept it in the crock pot and shredded it because it's faster and less messy that way).  Return meat to cook and mix well with sauce.  Heat through and serve.

This is probably one of the easiest recipes I have!  Who doesn't love a delicious meal that requires dumping a bunch of stuff into the crock pot and letting it do the work itself?!  There's something about a crock pot cooking away for hours that screams fall!  The chicken was a huge hit and I'm so glad!  I actually had a little anxiety the day before about what to bring to the picnic and whether everyone would want bbq, but it turns out that was silly because everyone told me how yummy it was!  I was personally in love with a quinoa salad that another girl brought and already asked her for the recipe!  I'll have to make that in the near future and share!

Along with our meal, we were asked to wear a cute fall outfit so we could take some photographs as a group!  There were about 40 of us there and I can't wait to see how the pictures turned out!  There were so many cute clothes and we had gorgeous scenery around us so I'm sure the photos will be adorable.  It was so nice being able to layer!!  I decided to wear a lightweight animal print sweater (one of my faves) with a new poncho on top.  I'm a little obsessed with this poncho because it's like just wrapping a blanket around you basically.
Sweater (old) similar // Plaid poncho // Denim Leggings //
Boots (vintage) similar
This was my first "large" event I have attended with Circle Seven Five and I have to say it was awesome.  Every single lady I met was so sweet, beautiful and welcoming.  It was amazing getting together and sharing a meal and laughs with them!  It's funny that most of us were meeting each other for the first time, but we still all felt comfortable at our "Friends-giving", knowing we all are friends.  I am definitely giving thanks for this group!  If you're a DFW girl and you're interested in joining, comment below with your email and I'll send you an invite!

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