Shredded Beef Tacos

Dinner tonight was yummy! And, I got to turn a doubting husband into a believer. A believer in the idea that is is indeed OK to use chicken stock in a beef dish.

I made shredded beef in my crockpot. And I know you are just dieing to read how I completed this culinary feat, given my recent crockpot failures. It was quite simple really. So simple, I'm surprised I made it up all by myself. Or at least I think I did. I don't remember reading this recipe any where.

I started by remembering to defrost the meat. That is the most important step in making a meat dish. Don't forget that girls... Actually, to confess, I only partially defrosted the meat. It was a big 3 lb. slab of chuck roast and
it was still a little frozen when it hit my chopping block. I cut the roast up into 2" cubes and tossed them in the crockpot. I added 1 can of organic diced tomatoes (purchased for just $0.16 at Wal-Mart), 1 can of chicken broth, lots of pepper, and a good bit of salt.

Setting it on low, I came back about 10 hours later. Because I had added enough broth to cover the meat, I now had a huge soupy mess. Or so I thought. Hidden in that mess was chunks of delicious beef. I used a slotted spoon and transferred the beef and diced tomatoes into another bowl. Then, I attacked it with 2 forks until I had tender, shredded goodness.

I had thought I would use this to make quesadillas, but as the beef began to pile up on my flour tortilla, I knew it was destined to become a soft taco.

A yummy soft taco. This was restaurant quality folks. No joke. Bruce ate 4 of them. I had considerable restraint and only ate 2. I think we'll be repeating this one tomorrow night.

From my stash I used the bee and the chicken stock. The tomatoes were only purchased this past weekend, so I don't think they count as stash quite yet. I try to keep cheese and tortillas in the house because they can be used for so many different recipes.