Crock Pot Beef Carnitas Tacos

Last week, my friend asked her facebook friends for some easy crockpot recipes and I stole this recipe off of that posting.  It appealed to me because I didn't have to modify, substitute or leave out any of the ingredients for the meat mixture.  It's all just meat, spices and vegetables.  Yum!  And the spice rub didn't even call for sugar: yay!!!  The author and creator of the recipe calls it crock pot beef carnitas tacos; I call it shredded beef.  You can read the comments on her blog posting if you want to see some outraged supporters for carnitas being only pork.

I followed the recipe as exactly as I could.  I used a 2.3 pound chuck roast.  Here it all is in the crock pot before cooking.  I recommend making sure that the vegetables are to the side of the meat.  The vegetables on top of the meat were a little too crunchy for me even after eight hours. 

After eight hours on low here is what it looks like.  

This is how I shred my meat.  A lot of recipes says you should do it on a bread board, but then all the meat juices leak off onto your counter and make a mess.  So I do it on a plate where I can keep it all contained.  Make sure you find all the fatty pieces and discard...it's pretty easy.  

I threw the meat back in and let it simmer for about 30-45 minutes longer.  No real reason, we just weren't ready for dinner yet.  At this point when I taste tested it, it tasted very bland and I wasn't too impressed.

So obviously, because of my diet, these were not tacos for me.  My husband enjoyed the meat in a tortilla with cheese and salsa.  I enjoyed mine on my plate with my favorite salsa, some avocado, cheese and fresh squeezed lime.  The meat was bland by itself but with all the toppings, it took on some life.  I think the salsa really helped out so we will probably be eating this again.  I didn't like the jalapeno: it didn't add any real heat but I felt it in the back of my mouth and throat.  Who knows, I may just be allergic to them.