I used some of it on my slow cooker chicken enchilada soup. But we didn't use much of it, so I needed a recipe where I could use the rest.
Yes, I based my recipe choice around a garnish.
Deal.
I knew it needed to be a Mexican recipe. Or at least Mexican inspired. I knew my friend who doesn't like chicken was coming to dinner. I knew she doesn't like pork much either.
Which leaves me beef.
So shredded beef tacos it would be.
Now to find a recipe.
Yes, I didn't have a recipe for this. Pork and chicken, sure, but not beef.
I went and found one. I needed it to be a slow cooker recipe and I refused to sear it before. Really. If it's a slow cooker recipe, all I want to do is throw everything in the pot and hope for the best.
I found this one.
All I had to do was go buy the meat (I really wish I had a freezer big enough to take advantage of meat sales) and the cumin. I could have sworn I already owned cumin, but I think I was actually thinking about the curry powder in my cabinet that I'll have to use again eventually.
This time with the slow cooker, I did get everything together the night before to put in the fridge. Including the liquids. I didn't think about it until later, that maybe I didn't want lime juice sitting on beef all night, but by then it was too late.
Anyway, I mixed all the spices together before putting any of them on the meat. Then I squeezed a lime over the whole things. And then I poured in the beef stock. Next time, I'll remember I have beef boullion cubes in the cupboard and put that in hot water so I don't spend the extra money on a container of beef stock.
Also, my hands smelled like chili powder and lime for hours. That was interesting.
Anyway, I didn't think about it most of the day. When I came up the steps to my apartment, I could smell a roast. I wondered who was cooking what.
And then I remembered it was me. Cooking beef.
I'm super special sometimes.
So I go and turn the meat from low to warm as soon as I walk in.
Now, the recipe calls for you to take the meat out, shred it, then put it back in.
I want to know how the heck anyone could pull the meat out of the slow cooker to begin it. I tried this with the pulled pork. It falls apart! What's the point of going through th hassel of trying to get it out, when you're going to put it right back in anyway?!
I shredded that beef. In the Crockpot. Using only one fork.
After that, all I really had to do was get together the toppings. I put out the queso fresco, cheddar cheese, sour cream, salsa, salsa verde and lime. Although the limes were mostly used in the margaritas.
Now, I'm going to share a trick my mother taught me. I swear, it was so common in my house, I thought every body did this.
Don't bother microwaving the tortillas.
What Mom always does is put her splatter guard (that fine metal mesh circle) over whatever she is cooking, and lets the steam take care of them.
I used the spallter guard over the Crockpot to warm my tortillas.
My friends think it's genius. I think it lets me work on other things. Like dessert.
So, back to the tortillas. I picked up two kinds at Aldi. I got the small corn ones, because I wanted the small ones since we were having tacos and corn was the only variety they had. Then I also picked up the medium flour ones since I was about out anyway.
I started with the corn tortillas at dinner. Everyone ate one. Mostly because everyone had already put everything in the corn tortilla and no one wanted to waste it.
But the corn tortillas were awful. No flavor, bad texture, and they broke when you tried to roll/bend/fold them.
We switched to the flour ones.
And the meat was so good! It was juicy and tender and not spicy hot for all the spices I put on it. It might have had a little too much spice, but it still tasted good. I used a 2 lb. roast instead of a 2.5 lb., so that would explain that.
It was good as leftovers, too.
Conclusion: Yes. Also, consider more veggies.
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