Smitten With This One...

I know you all know I love food. You are shaking your heads, wondering how I can possibly waste another entry talking about food. Food!

We like to eat around here.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away- I stopped cooking a big dinner on Sundays. We tend to eat a big family lunch after church on Sundays, and dinner is usually mellow- or something we'll grab out. So I shifted the whole "big Sunday dinner" fete to Mondays.

Mondays are dreary. No one likes Mondays. Especially my husband. He detests Mondays even more than Garfield the Cat. And that's saying something, for those of you that were born after 1982. So when I have my act together, I plan a knock down, drag out, time consuming meal for Mondays. It makes everyone happy. It soothes the soul. It makes Monday feel more, well, like Sunday.

This Monday, I cooked this. And HOLY COW! It was seriously amazing. I did not reduce the sauce- I served it right out of the crockpot. I did make the pickled onions, and the red cabbage slaw, and I did serve it on corn tortillas with little bits of jalapeno as garnish.

I'm not usually a fan of the crockpot. I try to avoid condensed things in red cans, and most of the recipes involving crock pots usually use that too. I usually think if you cook anything for 10 hours, it tastes like it. But not this. Seriously. The meat could be shredded with a fork- it practically fell apart. The cabbage slaw had the right balance of crunch, vinegar and sweetness to make me want seconds. But those pickled onions? Stupidly easy- but they make the whole dish get up and sing. Seriously. Even Simon Cowell would have liked this one.

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Bust out your crockpot and make this. (and don't forget to serve it with your favorite Mexican beer). And then come back here and let me know. Because I love to talk about food.