20 February 2011

Sunday Brunch

At the beginning of the week, when I was packing the trailer, we had some absolutely gorgeous weather. It was into the 40s, the sun was shining, the snow/ice was melting, and the dogs were having a wonderful time playing outside. Today, I woke up to this...



To give you a little more perspective, the back of this trailer is nearly 2 feet off the ground, so that is a pretty big drift. And notice the exposed concrete? The wind has been blowing out of the east for this entire storm so there are still some areas of exposed ground on the west side of the house and then there are some HUGE mountains of snow where the wind has whipped around the house and built up the drifts.


It's a little difficult to tell how big this drift is, but do you notice how you can just barely see our fence in front of the trailer? There was still a little snow on the ground before, but that whole ridge line that comes down the picture (which is about knee high) is new since yesterday. Fun times, huh?

The dogs refuse to go out today. Even Cordi, my snow dog, was only outside for the time it took for me to snap these photos. Although he did decide to stick his face into a drift before coming in.


And now, what you've been waiting for (I'm sure)...this weeks recipe. :)

Shredded Beef Burritos with Homemade Flour Tortillas

Set your defrosted roast into the crockpot (Or you can do this in a roasting pan in the oven, just use a low temperature for it to simmer all day). This time I used a cross rib roast, but usually I just use a chuck or whatever we have in the freezer. Oh, the perks of living on a cattle ranch.

Add your spices. Turn meat over and add more.

These are the spices I use. I like my food spicy so I add cayenne and red pepper flakes to nearly everything. The chipotle and ancho add a nice smoky flavor. The Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime adds a nice little sour bite with the lime flavoring.

Cover and turn your crockpot on to low. And make sure it's plugged in. :)

Several hours later take the roast out and shred it with a couple of forks. (See the steam?) I think this was in for close to 10 hours. Remember the first week how I said I wasn't very exact on measuring? It's the same with time. When it's done, it's done.

Generally, the longer you leave it in the the more tender it will get, but since I don't add water or stock when I make shredded beef I start checking it after about 6 hours so that it doesn't burn.

*Remember, crockpots utilize the steam created to cook the meat. The more you lift the lid the drier your roast will be.

Add your fixings and enjoy!

The tortilla recipe comes from the Smiling Country Ranch blog, but she seems to have privatized her blog recently. I'd like to try to contact her before I repost her recipe, especially since I've been reading about blog etiquette all week, but hopefully I'll be able to share it with you soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

2 comments:

Bree said...

Wow! I'm so glad we're done with the big snow storms for now, I'm SO ready for spring!

Cattle and Cupcakes said...

It's raining here in KY. We finally got rid of our snow for the time being, I'm sure we're going to get more though! We usually have three winters, blackberry, locust, and redbud. Each thing that blooms needs to have a cold snap before it starts to bloom, so, we're in for at least 3 more good snows. I've got a Bernese Mountain Dog who loves to put his face in the snow, too! :) Nice trailer, by the way! We don't have horses yet. I've owned them most of my life until moving to the horse capital of the world! LOL. We've got a pasture fenced off for them, but with me getting pregnant we haven't pursued it much yet. Now that our daughter is here we might start looking!