Barbacoa Tacos & Nachos
I am home, rejuvenated, and refreshed after a girls weekend - a weekend I've been looking forward to for days. Usually my girls weekends equate to 48 hours of total debauchery without my husband to witness the embarrassing shenanigans that result from drinking with friends. Some questionable dancing, shots, some good fashion that only your girls will appreciate. Occasionally, there's a little deep talk, feelings get brought up, and you help your best girl though a hard time, or convince her to ditch the dweeb she's dating. All in all, my experience with girls weekends is they're either one of two speeds - extreme, gutteral laughs all the live long day, or revealing of intimate feelings. This girl's, however, weekend lacked all the alcohol induced spectacles, and debauchery was traded in for a couple very chill days of pampering and chick flicks with my mother-in-law & sister-in-law, who I fucking love! First of all my mother in law is up for anything (crafting, drinking, trash tv binging - she is my people!), & my sister in law is just the sweetest & cutest human ever. My mother-in-law is on the Whole 30, and the sis is pregnant, so it's a PG weekend y'all. Any original thoughts I had about eating ice cream straight outta the carton or pounding dirty martinis - out the window. We worked out, I went on one of the longest runs of my life, we got our nails done, and we had some good down time at the house. & it was great! My biggest discovery that brought me so much joy - my sister-in-law is also my people when it comes to trash TV watching! My mother-in-law & I can talk for hours about Teen Mom, Sisterwives - you name it, we're looped in! & the Bachelor is the one trash show that consistently brings all of us Zehner girls together, but this weekend my sister-in-law also introduced me to the amazingness of Temptation Island, and god was it good. Total trash, yet so addicting to watch these couples try to figure their shit out. I highly recommend to anyone and just so overjoyed that she was the one that wanted to go all in on watching it!
Our husbands were freezing their asses off in Alaska this weekend, so a weekend of being empty nesters is what sparked girls weekend. With that said, I'm ending the weekend feeling so thankful and lucky to have an extended family who I love being around, & I enjoy those opportunities to build stronger bonds with them independently. In other words, I don't need my husband as a buffer between us, and that's a comforting feeling. It sounds so strange but I just die when I hear my girlfriends talk about dreading their in-laws. There have been so many occasions where I'm part of the conversation and I feel like that's what's bonding people, and it literally sounds like no fun. I'm just glad that they're so welcoming, fun, & that they would want to have a girls weekend with me. Literally - touched! But maybe married people can relate to this - not wanting to tell your own parents how much fun you have with your in-laws because you don't want them to get jealous ? Like that's my life's dilemma, but a conversation for another time.
Being home & by myself for a couple days means I'm ready for the hubs to get on back to Tacoma. It's my own little tradition to have dinner ready for Jordo when he gets home from a trip. It's my own way to welcome him back into our happy at-home groove. I say this with a grain of salt, and preface this next statement by heavily noting that I never wish for my husband to leave for multiple days, but I do find some serious joy in my at-home alone moments in the kitchen, experimenting with new dinner ideas that make my own mouth water. When I have these moments home alone, having fun in the kitchen all on my own, it's uplifting for me. I love cooking with my husband, and it's something that really bonds us, but being home by myselfI can just be in my moment, & enjoy every little aspect of cooking something fun - every chop of a vegetable, sprinkle of seasoning, mincing of herbs. It's some of my happiest meal time experimenting, and I can't pinpoint why. Maybe it's because I find myself calm & focused, but regardless I learn to appreciate those moments of peace and solitude in my kitchen as my me time.
This weekend I decided to experiment with one of my favorite things to order loaded in a taco at a Mexican restaurant: Barbacoa. Holy crap- I just love this stuff, and I'm totally at risk of hardcore binging when it's on a plate in front of me. Juicy & beefy & spicy. It's everything perfect, and so wonderful in a warm little tortilla topped with some cabbage, onion, and cilantro. Literally that's all you need for it to be wonderful. To me, it's a purest version of Mexican food -simple & perfect, & no need for a multitude of other add-ins to complicate the dish in an effort to make it more tasty. It's rare for me to love dishes that have this purest element, or ones that simple lack cheese! I tend to like busy food - I'll admit it. But this stuff is south of the border gold, and literally so perfect all on its own.
There are two things I'm really vibing about this meal on my 3 day weekend. No. 1: it's crockpot-able. It's literally a set it and forget kinda meal, and because it doesn't require any amount of time slaving away, my extra weekend day is free for 90s movies and good ol' crafting. No. 2: it is a legit two different meals with one dish kind of crock-pottable dinner. I'm using my mound of barbacoa to satisfy my own taste-buds with simple and fresh tacos night 1, and then re-purposing for some melty nachos that our geared towards my husbands nacho loving soul. Not the healthiest means of re-purposing, but god they are tasty and fun to eat, & nice treat we have to look forward to this week. The perfect one pot wonder dish that gave me the confidence to tackle one of my favorite eat-out meals, and yielded so much I was relieved of my usual dinner duties for days.
For the Barbacoa
3 lb. beef chuck, cut into large cubes
1 4-ounce can green chiles
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
1 tbsp cumin
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cloves
1 white onion, finely diced (used for the tacos and nachos)
1 lime
1/2 c. beef broth
Fresh cilantro, chopped (used for the tacos and nachos)
Thinly sliced cabbage, or a bag of good quality coleslaw mix (used for the tacos and nachos)
For Meal No. 1: the Tacos
Your favorite corn tortillas
1 can of refried beans
For Meal No. 2: the Nachos
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 c. almond milk. unsweetened and unflavored
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 c. shredded pepper jack cheese
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
1 bag of blue corn tortilla chips
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
Salt & pepper
Start by making the base - the barbacoa. Place the beef in a large crock pot. Add in the green chiles, chipotles, cumin, salts, pepper, and spices. Then add in half of the onion, the juice of one lime, and the beef broth. Place your crockpot on the high setting, and set the cook time to 5 hours. Set it & forget, and check back in 5 hours.
When the cook time is up, shred the beef using two fork. Don't drain off any of the cooking liquid, and shred the beef right in the crock pot. Turn the crockpot on to the keep warm setting, letting the shredded beef continue to cook until you're ready to eat.
For the tacos, heat 2 tortillas per taco partaker. Layer up each taco in the following a fashion:
place a handful of raw cabbage at the base of the tortilla
pile on about a 1/4 cup of the beef on top of the cabbage
garnish with a sprinkling of raw white onion and fresh cilantro
That's literally all you need to enjoy some simple and tasty tacos. Heat a can of refried beans on the stove stop, adding in 2-3 tbsp of your favorites salsa, and serve a small scoop alongside your tacos.
For the nachos (the Barbacoa leftover meal), start by making the melty cheese. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add in the flour and let cook for an additional minute to form a paste like substance. Next, add in the milk and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low, and add in the cheese 1/4 cup at a time, letting the cheese fully melt before adding in anymore. Complete that until all the cheese has been added. Once all the cheese has been, crank up the heat to medium high so the mixture begins to bubble, and let it cook on that temp for 8-10 minutes so that it can thicken up. You'll want to be stirring the entire time to make sure no cheese burns on the bottom. Reduce the heat back down to low, and then stir in the chipotle peppers. Cover and let sit until your ready to serve.
To prep the nachos, preheat the over to 350. Cover a large baking sheet with tin foil. Spread a thin layer of tortilla chips pan. Top the chips with generous amount of your leftover barbacoa, and sprinkle the black beans and jalapeno slices atop the whole thing. Bake in the over 12-15 minutes so that the beef and black beans are warmed.
As that bakes, place the tomatoes in a small bowl, and toss with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Set aside.
When the nachos have finished baking remove from the over and drizzle about a 1/2 cup of the melty cheese over the top. Finish the nachos by sprinkling a large handful of the raw cabbage right over the top, and then sprinkling the tomatoes, diced white onion, and cilantro over the top. Finish with another drizzle of at least a 1/2 cup of the melty cheese. Done!
