Not long ago, after making a delicious dinner of shredded chicken tacos, I updated my Facebook status with the likes of, “The crock pot is my friend.”And yes, it is true — I love my crock pot and all it has to offer.
I haven’t always been a slow cooker. I started using the crock pot over the past year and am amazed at how easy it is to cook with, and how delicious the food turns out. It’s now my favorite way of cooking meat. I guess many of you are looking for easy and delicious dinners because I received so many replies to my Facebook status asking me for crock pot recipes.
So without further ado, I give you the first of my Crock Pot Creations: Pulled Pork Tacos. I made this recipe up, so bare with me on the details…
First, get out your crock pot and plug it in. This may seem like a no-brainer; but I did forget that step once — not fun!
Next, get yourself a 1 – 1.5 lb. pork tenderloin or shoulder (I buy the tenderloins from Trader Joe’s). Throw that piece of meat in the crock pot and add 1 cup of chicken stock, juice of one orange and/or lime, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. cumin, salt and pepper.
Then cover the crock pot and let it cook on high for six hours. At that point, I turned the heat to low and let it sit another hour. You’re basically trying to get the meat to the point where it can easily be shredded with a fork.
To assemble the tacos, I used small corn/flour tortillas (a la Trader Joe’s, of course) as the base, and topped the meat with pico de gallo, mashed avocado and queso fresco cheese.
And that’s it! In the word’s of Ina Garten, “How easy is that?”