Shredded Mexican Beef

When I was grocery shopping this weekend, I had a craving for some red meat. I remembered recently coming across a recipe for shredded taco beef on my favorite food blog (Budget Bytes), so I went ahead and picked up a roast so I could try it out. 

I forgot to take a picture of it when it was whole, so this label shot will have to do. :)

I cut the roast into about 12 pieces, about 2 inch cubes each. (Sorry, no picture.)

Then, I mixed together these spices, along with salt and 6 cloves of garlic.

Pretty, huh?

I put the meat pieces, spices, and garlic in a gallon ziplock bag, and shook to coat.

Then, I transferred the meat to my crockpot, and covered with tomato juice. You could use water, but I like to add flavor wherever I can!

The tomato juice I used is some really nice stuff that my father-in-law canned and gave us. It is a yellowish-orange color because of the kinds of tomatoes they use. It also is pretty spicy on its own, but I'm not sure what exactly is in it. All I know is, it is delicious! (I usually just drink it - this is the first time cooking with it.) I'm sure you could use V8 or some other tomato juice in its place. Or, a can of diced tomatoes would work well too.

Side note: can you spot my reflection in the crockpot?

 I turned the crockpot on low and let it cook for 8 hours. When time was up, it looked like this:

I shredded it up with forks, and it then looked like this:

We ate 2 burritos for dinner using the meat, and I  made 9 additional burritos. (Post on that to come soon!)

Even after making all those burritos, I was still left with quite a bit meat and juice. Haven't decided yet if I want to just freeze it on its own, or incorporate it into another meal this week. 

I already have the week's meals planned, so it will probably be making its way to the freezer. Unless anyone else has any ideas? 

Ingredients:

• Beef round bottom roast
• Chili Powder
• Crushed Red Pepper
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Cayenne Pepper
• Salt
• Garlic Cloves
• Tomato Juice