Pulled Beef Mexican Feast

I had a couple of stray packs of stewing steak in the freezer.  One small pack was labelled "gravy beef" but I swear it was scotch fillet and had been tagged wrong.  It was marked down and I bought several packs and had this little one leftover.  The other one was chuck.  I found a great recipe for pulled beef in the slow cooker.  I prefer it to mince for tacos but usually make minced beef (with puree broccoli!) for the kids as it's quick and easy.  I first had what I call a "proper" taco in a Mexican restaurant in Katoomba years ago and loved it.  They had cooked the beef in spices till it fell apart and shredded.  I've done it many times at home but never tried this particular recipe, I usually make it up myself.

Ingredients:

1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds beef (boneless chuck roast)

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 cup beef stock

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced.

1/2 large sweet onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine the chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika in a small bowl.
Rub the spice mix into the beef, covering each side evenly. Once the oil is hot (it will shimmer a bit in the skillet), place the beef in the skillet and sear on each side.
Remove the beef from the skillet and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Leave the pan on the heat, and add in the beef stock to deglaze, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato paste and minced chipotle and whisk into the pan sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
Add the diced onion and minced garlic on top of the seared beef in the slow cooker. Pour the pan sauce down over the onions, garlic, and beef. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Remove the beef from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Use a slotted spoon to remove the onions from the slow cooker, and mix into the shredded beef.
Serve the beef in the flour tortillas, topped with your favorite taco toppings.

I don't know what chipotle peppers in adobe sauce are, it's an American recipe but I just substituted bottled minced chilli.  I also used bottled minced garlic not fresh.  I will make some guacamole to go with it and we'll have lots of salsa and salad with both tacos and burritos as I don't care for burritos, they taste like you're eating flour to me. 

I am so glad Harley is a good mouser.  But why does the dog have to retrieve them and leave them on the back door mat?  I had two little dead bodies, one with detached tail in my laundry this morning and had to get the shovel and pick them up and bin them before I could do any washing.  One of them I'm sure is the same one that has been turning up all week.  Harley kills them then loses interest, Max gets them and plays with them and then leaves them for me on the porch.  I was sweeping it off with the broom but he kept bringing it back.  It occurred to me how much I've changed since living in the country.  Once I could not have even looked at a dead animal, let alone pick one up and dispose of it.  I remember once years ago in Sydney, before I met Phill a huge dead rat turned up on my front doorstep.  I asked a total stranger, a man who happened to be passing by, if he could please get rid of it (and I was highly independent in those days!).  He was a bit taken aback but he did it for me.
Em has gone to school today, late but she got there.  I'm so glad it's Friday, two days of not having to fight to get her up and off to school.
I'm off to the shops.
Later....
The pulled beef was wonderful.  I didn't cook it for the full eight hours, my slow cooker isn't so slow, it always seems to cook too high.  And the kids were starving so we ate just after 5pm.  It would have been better if I'd left it longer but it was still great, the kids both raved about it and I had thought it may be too spicy for them.  The guacamole was great if I do say so myself.  Just avocado (obviously), with spring onion, a bit of chilli powder, fresh coriander (had to bloody buy some), lime juice, chopped truss cherry tomatoes and sour cream.  The lime juice is something I don't think I've used before, I use lemon usually but I think it made all the difference.  Emily loved it and she doesn't usually eat guacamole.  I froze two sandwich baggies of the meat.  This will be our taco/burrito recipe from now on.  So easy and cheap as well, especially if the stewing steak is on special.  I got some really cheap pork mince again today so will do our favourite pork balls tomorrow with fried rice for the kids and noodles for me and our big Asian salad.  Emily told me her two favourite foods are my pork balls and my fried rice (how sweet) and she is getting both tomorrow.  I'll whack some puree cauli and broccoli into the rice.
The soles of my feet are swollen for some reason, doesn't usually happen.  I had a bath and then rubbed some lavender foot lotion on them and am about to put them up and watch some Friday night telly.  Bliss, we can all sleep in tomorrow.
Win for today, the old wall air conditioner here in the lounge room actually works when I thought it had broken down.  We were wondering what we'd do for the Summer as this is the only cooling we have apart from celing fans in ours and Em's bedrooms.  We've been spoiled all these years living in country towns with ducted air conditioning in every other house but this one.  It's so warm tonight I have the a/c on for the first time this season.  Lots of rain is predicted for the weekend but that's okay, I'm all caught up on the washing and I can hang tomorrow's under the stables.
We have a local identity in Cootamundra who the kids charmingly call "Paddy the Pervert".  He is a strange type, wears pink vinyl hotpants, and kicker boots, today I saw him in Woolies and he had on what looked like some type of  black, silver studded biker gear, but campier.  He's not a young or handsome man, he'd have to be in his late fifties or older. He also appeared to be wearing a wig.  To me, who grew up in, and lived most of my adult life in Sydney (I lived in Kings Cross once!) it's not anything out of the ordinary, I've seen a lot stranger in a bus line in Pitt Street among fellow office workers.  But the looks on the faces of the other shoppers are priceless when Paddy is about.  I found out to my shock, that many people who live in these small towns, have never been further than Wagga.  Nothing wrong with that of course, it's kind of nice really.  I can't imagine what it would be like to have lived in one place all my life.