Cilantro Lime Carnitas

While pulled beef is a favorite of ours, my parents were pork producers when I was growing up so we frequently had pulled pork. David and I grew to like pulled pork seasoned with Chi Chi's green chile seasoning but after seeing it had MSG in it, we've decided to do our own version. I never used to be a fan of corn tortillas and still don't like corn tortillas for my tacos but they taste great with this carnita recipe.

Carnitas
Serves 8

The Roast:
One 4 pound boneless pork butt roast
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 can Ortega chopped green chile (If you like the spice and flavor, do two cans. One can was pretty mild.)
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 tablespoon dried minced onion
8 cups of water or enough to cover the roast in the crock pot

Directions: Place the roast in the crock pot. In a separate bowl, mix the chopped onion, green chiles, lime juice, salt, garlic powder, oregano, minced garlic, thyme, crushed red pepper, black pepper, and dried minced onion with 1 cup of water. Pour the mixture over the pork roast. Fill the crock pot with water until the roast is completely covered. Turn the crock pot on high and let cook for 8 hours. When draining the juices, use a mesh strainer to reserve the onion and green chile pieces if possible and reserve some of the juices. Use two forks to pull the pork and discard the pieces of fat. Place the pulled pork back in the crock pot along with the reserved onions, green chiles, and some juices. Keep on warm until ready to serve.

For the Carnitas:
24 corn tortillas
1 medium onion
lime juice
1 bunch of cilantro
1 pulled pork roast using the recipe above

Chop the onion and place it in a bowl. Cover the onions with lime juice and marinade all day. Warm the tortillas individually in a wet paper towel for 20-30 seconds. Fill corn tortillas with pulled pork, lime onions, and chopped cilantro. Serve immediately.

Disclaimer: It is always important to read labels because brands frequently change their ingredients. These ingredients and brands work for my family but some may be processed in the same facility as wheat, soy, dairy and/or eggs and therefore depending on your severity may or may not work for your family.

Beef Taco Salad

We love tacos. We love them so much that we eat them at least every other week. They are such an easy meal and with my brother-in-law being a vegetarian, it's actually pretty easy to make this meal work for both him and I by just adding a can on vegetarian refried beans. The trick to this meal is the seasoning. I've made my own taco seasoning a few times but it just isn't as good as store bought in my opinion. Probably because that's what I grew up on. A normal person wouldn't think twice about taco meat containing allergens but fact is...finding taco seasoning that is free of all of my allergens can be hard! Many contain wheat and some contain milk products. While I used to use Old El Paso (they offer coupons frequently), I no longer can use this brand because it contains soy. Now the only seasoning I buy is Ortega and in an effort to reduce our sodium intake, we buy the lower sodium version. Tonight we were busy with friends so I cooked the meat ahead of time and had it warming in the crock pot for when we got home!

Beef Taco Salad
Yields 6 servings

1.5 pounds lean ground beef
1 packet Ortega 40% lower sodium taco seasoning
1 package shredded lettuce or shred your own
1 tomato, diced
1/2 bag Daiya pepper jack style shreds
1 bag Tostitos corn tortilla bite sized rounds (double check other flavors you want to try)
French Dressing

Directions: Place ground beef in a skillet and cook over medium heat until brown and juices run clear. Drain fat and return skillet of beef to medium heat. Add seasoning and water per package directions. Cook until water is completely cooked off. Serve meat along with other toppings. To assemble the salad, crush the desired amount of Tostitos corn tortilla chips and place on a plate. Top with meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: It is always important to read labels because brands frequently change their ingredients. These ingredients and brands work for my family but some may be processed in the same facility as wheat, soy, dairy and/or eggs and therefore depending on your severity may or may not work for your family.