Taco night

We love to munch on the taco's. The meat was flavorful without being particularly spicy. All the other ingredients were fresh. We like to top our taco's with cheddar cheese next to the meat, then chopped ice berg lettuce, chopped sweet onion, chopped garden tomatoes, fresh cilantro and finally home made salsa topped with a dollop of sour cream. Like I mentioned before on a earlier blog we fry our white corn shells in canola oil till crispy, then set on a paper towel and sprinkle immediately with canned Parmesan cheese. The cheese absorbs the oil and gives the shells a slight cheesy taste. I just fixed canned black beans with a little cumin added and served with shredded cheese, cilantro and onion. All very easy. Using the slow cooker is the only way to go for the meat. It was so fork tender I hardly needed to shred it, it just fell apart.

Here is the recipe. Acutally I used what I had on hand for seasoning and saucing the meat. So there was no recipe but there is now!
Zo's shredded beef taco's.
Ingredients:
Boneless pot roast approximatley two pounds.
Make a rub with these spices:
Kosher salt, black pepper, cumin, allspice, crushed coriander. Use equal amounts of all except the salt. Use a little less salt. I cut my roast in three sections removing all visible fat. Firmly pat the rub on all sides of the pieces including the ends.
Using an iron skillet with canola oil coating the bottom, sear the roast pieces on all sides, including the ends. You want a good sear and a iron skillet is the way to go. This step takes a bit of time but it so worth it.
In the bottom of your slow cooker add.
1/2 cup chopped onion
one clove of garlic minced
1/2 Anaheim pepper seeded and sliced
When the meat is well seared lay the pieces in on top of the vegetables.
While the skillet is still hot add 1/2 cup of water and using a wooden spoon dislodge all the little bits from the bottom of the skillet to deglaze. You will now have a nice brown broth. To this broth add:
1/2 cup green taco sauce
2 tablespoons of green jalapeno sauce. I like the El Pato brand(available in most grocery stores)
or you could add whatever hot sauce you prefer red or green.
Stir to blend and pour over the top of the meat in the slow cooker.
This amount will not cover the meat but as the meat cooks it will absorb the flavors. I usually turn my pieces about four times during the cooking process so all sides of the meat have an opportunity to hang out in the sauce. I like to use slow cooker liners. If you do use the liner be very careful not to puncture it while turning the meat. The meat should be fork tender in about seven hours on slow. You can speed the process by setting your slow cooker on high for the first two hours and then turning to low.

So that is all there is to it. Get that roast in the pot and go about your day with no worries.
Tonight we have left overs so we will make tostado's. I will use white corn shells once again. Just fry them in canola oil. Set on paper towel and sprinkle once again with the Parmesan. I like to start with the beans and load up from there. I love a crunchy tostado's.

I am home today catching up on house things. It is overcast here this morning and cool so I have the doors open and I hear the jay's playing in the trees. I adore listening to their chatter.

I made two loaves of the chocolate zucchini bread yesterday afternoon. I have several loaves now in the freezer of the chocolate and also the regualr kind. I cannot wait to make the zucchini relish next week. The recipe makes seven pints. It will be nice to have on hand and also give out at the holidays. I love it with turkey.

We are making a little trip over the mountain pass to Central Oregon this coming weekend to visit hubby's brother and family. One the way home from that trip we are taking the back way. We will drive along the Cascades Lakes highway and pass by Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort and many lakes. We have been on many of these lakes in some fashion in past years. Either via canoe, raft or motor boat. We have camped on their banks and eaten fish from their waters. We lived in Central Oregon for many years and know the area well.
There is one special place we like to picnic so we plan on taking a lunch. I will take photo's of this increidable area with the mountains so close you can feel their breath.

Have a great Wednesday and make some taco's. Yumo!!! as R.R. would say!