Adventures in Cooking: Vol. 2

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork
Okay so this wasn't exactly Armadillo Willy's Pulled Pork but it was pretty darn good.  Very tender and tasty.  I used some Costco BBQ sauce instead of the one in the recipe.  It was really easy to make, what's easier than a crockpot right!  We ate it over rice one night then as a sandwhich the next couple.  My son even took a sandwich to school and enjoyed it cold.  I heated one up at work for lunch and was told I can't eat at my desk anymore because the food smells too good and was making people hungry. 

Asparagus Au Gratin
This is a simple way to serve asparagus.  My son even ate it, and he hates asparagus.  Very cheesy and yummy. Best to eat right away so the cheese doesn't get cold.  

Green Beans Saute
Sorry, didn't take a photo of this one.  This is a simple veggie saute that is easy to make and offers a great alternative to simply steamed green beans.  The onions give a great flavor and I added some minced garlic to give it an additional burst of flavor.  I served this with the pulled pork and rice, great combo.

Strawberry Mango Muffins 
I put these together on a whim because I had a mango and a ton of strawberries that were going to go bad.  What better way to make use of ripe fruit than in a muffin, right?  Baking is going to be the death of me I swear, but at least it'll be a sweet death!  These muffins are super moist and full of strawberry goodness!

17 Years of Minimum Payments....

**UPDATE 11/19/10**
In April of this year I wrote the post below.  I am happy to say that effective 11/19/2010 I made my FINAL payment on my last credit card and am now 100% credit card debt free!  In less than 1 year I managed to rid myself of almost 10K in credit card debt.  Grant it a bit of saccrifice was required but the relief I feel after ridding myself of this huge burden is well work it.  Here's to living on a CASH basis.  My new motto is: If I can't pay for it with CASH now then it I don't NEED it!  To learn how I did it read on....

**UPDATE 09/17/10**
My original post below was written in April of this year.  It is now September and to date I have paid off 2 of my 3 credit cards in less then 5 months.  I have one more to go which should be paid off my mid next year, it is my highest balance one, and then I will be credit card debt free!  It has been a struggle at times to come up with the extra payment some months but the reward of being free of the debt is definitely worth it.   I highly recommend the Life or Debt 2010 debt reduction plan for anyone looking to free themselves of the pressure and stress of debt.
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You make your minimum credit card payment every month and the balance never seems to go down.  That's because making the minimum payment ensures that you will be paying that credit card for many many years to come.  Check out the scenario below based on one of my credit cards.  Yes, the interest rate is insanely high I know!  Despite my decent credit rating the credit card company decided to jack my interest rate from 9% to 26.24% last year.  Why you ask, I have no idea, I assume it's simply because THEY CAN.  Needless to say that card is CLOSED and no longer usable, yay me!

Balance: $3961
Interest Rate: 26.24%
Minimum Payment: $130

If I continue making just the minimum payment it will take me 17 years to payoff this card.  That's right, not a typo 17 years!  I will have paid $6440 in interest, nearly double the principal amount that I owe.  Is that insane or what???

After reading Life or Debt 2010, the book that saved my life and bank account, I kid you not, I discovered a method for eliminating my debt and avoiding 17 years of minimum payments and over $6000 in interest.  To get full details you're going to have to read the book for yourself, which I highly recommend.  To give you the jist of it the method is a snowball effect.  You attack one item of debt at a time starting with the smallest and working your way up to the largest.  Every time you pay off one item you move onto the next larger item and add whatever you were paying on the previous item to the payment for the next item in line.  I know sounds confusing, read the book the author explains it much better than I do!

So let's say instead of making the minimum payment of $130 per month on the card in the earlier scenario I attack it with a $600 payment each month.  The results are astounding! By making a payment of $600 per month the card will be completely paid off in 8 months and I will have paid only $263.68 in interest.  That's a savings of $6176.32 in interest!  Yes, making a $600 a month payment is a bit tough and requires discipline, planning and cutting back on non-essentials, but with those kind of results how can I not?  Don't take my word for it, see how many years and dollars you can save yourself with this Debt Reduction Calculator from CNN Money.  Then go get Life or Debt 2010, to save money do what I do, use the most important piece of plastic in your wallet, no it's not a credit card!