Beef – It’s what’s for dinner…and dinner…and breakfast…

(Picture found along with recipe, here)
Yahoo recipes had this yummy looking fajita dish on their weekly meals plan the other day, and I decided to try it. What I didn’t really realize was just how much the recipe made. I knew there’d be leftovers, just not how much. So, the first night, I made the recipe as is.

Shredded Beef, Bean, and Corn Fajitas

Shredded Beef
Ingredients:
* 3 to 3-1/2 pound boneless beef chuck pot roast
* 2 large onions, cut into thin wedges
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 14-oz can beef broth
* 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
* 2 tsp. dry mustard
* 1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Preparation:
Trim fat from beef. If necessary, cut beef to fit a 4- to 5-quart slow cooker. Place onions and garlic in the cooker**. Top with beef. In a medium bowl, combine beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, dried thyme, salt, and cayenne pepper. Pour over beef in cooker. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 11 to 12 hours, or on high-heat setting for 5-1/2 to 6 hours. Remove beef and onion from cooker, reserving juices. Using two forks, shred beef, discarding any fat. Skim fat from juices. Add onion to beef; add enough juices to beef to moisten. Place 2-cup portions of beef in airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Makes 6 cups.

** I don’t have a slow-cooker. I was traumatized as a child by our crock pot, which I will not go into here, and I don’t like them. Don’t try to convince me. I don’t like to freeze meat either. Get over it. It’s not worth your time. So I followed the directions, except I used my much loved dutch oven. I first browned the meat, then I put in the rest of the ingredients, and put it in the oven at 200 degrees for about 6 hours. It was gorgeous.

Next, use about two cups of the beef to make your fajitas.

Fajitas
Ingredients:
* 1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges (1 cup)
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 Tbsp. olive oil
* 2 cups Shredded Beef
* 1 14.5-oz. can Mexican-style stewed diced tomatoes, with juices
* 1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
* 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
* 2 tsp. chili powder
* 1/2 cup seeded and chopped cucumber (1 small)
* 1/2 cup peeled and chopped jicama
* 1 Tbsp. snipped fresh cilantro
* 6 7- to 8-inch flour tortillas, warmed*
* 1/2 cup dairy sour cream and/or purchased guacamole

Preparation:
In a large skillet, cook onion and garlic in hot oil over medium heat about 4 minutes or until tender. Stir in shredded beef, tomatoes and their juices, corn, beans, and chili powder. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until heated through and desired consistency.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together cucumber, jicama, and cilantro. Divide beef and vegetables among tortillas. Top with cucumber mixture and sour cream and/or guacamole. Makes 6 servings.

I liked this dish, though it was quite mild. Could be the tortillas just weren’t right…we’re adjusting to whole wheat tortillas around here, and Ted and Maya are adjusting better than I am. Truth be told, store bought tortillas just aren’t as good as homemade, or the ones they have at Chevy’s for that matter, but I don’t know how to make them myself, and I’m not sure I’m up to the task. All of that rolling. Anyway, it was good, and I liked the variety of the corn, the beans, the jicama, and the cucumber. Unusual fajitas. Maybe it needed a bit of salsa.

The next day, I had to figure out what to do with some of the leftover shredded beef. I thought about making sloppy joes, but decided instead to make a variation of a Philly Cheesesteak. That night was one of those nights when I had to pick Maya up from volleyball, come home, shove some food in our faces, and get out the door, so a sandwich sounded perfect. You can’t get authentic Philly hoagie rolls out here, so I decided to make them California style, and use sourdough rolls instead.

(not my cheesesteak…mine doesn’t have bell peppers or mushrooms. Looks good though, right? Picture found here.)

J’s California/Philly Cheesesteak

Ingredients:
* Leftover shredded beef and onion mixture
* Sourdough sandwich rolls
* Sliced Provolone Cheese
* Hot or sweet peppers, as desired

Preparation:
Split open your roll, and fill with desired amount of beef and onions. Cover with a slice of cheese. Put under broiler or in toaster oven until cheese is melty, and some beef hits the heating element, stinking up the house in a kind of delicious way for the next two days. Remove from oven, add peppers, and enjoy while hot. Serve with salad, doing your gut a favor in the process.

This was quite good. The missing oomph from the fajitas was gone, as cheesesteak isn’t supposed to be particularly spicy. I didn’t miss the rude attitude of the Philly steak vendor either.

But there’s still more shredded beef in the fridge. Some with corn, etc., for fajitas, and some without. So I decided to slap some of the fajita mixture in a pan, and make breakfast out of it. Kind of like huevos ranceros, but without the tortillas, and with meat. What would you call that? I’ll call it ‘huevos y la carne de vaca’, which, loosely translated (since I never took Spanish), I think means ‘eggs and meat from a cow’. Yum, huh?

Huevos y La Carne de Vaca

Ingredients:
* Leftover fajita mixture (beef, onions, corn, black beans, etc.)
* Eggs (or egg, depending on how hungry you are)

Preparation:
Put a large spoonful of fajita mixture in a small skillet. Use the back of the spoon to make a little well. Crack egg into well. Cover and cook over medium heat until the egg is done to your liking. I like my whites cooked, and my yolk kinda runny. Mmmm. Eggs.

This may have been my favorite of the three dishes. I just love eggs cooked this way. I love huevos rancheros, both made my lazy way or the nice way in restaurants. I love the carnitas at Chow. Love. This was really good.

There’s still a bit of each type of leftover beef in the fridge. Tonight we’re taking a beef break (our guts say, ‘Thank you!’) and having shrimp. But if it doesn’t get eaten for lunch tomorrow, I may throw them together with a can of tomatoes and serve it over pasta. Can’t let that tender juicy meat go to waste.