I feel like I could write an entire book about #tacotuesday. A Tuesday doesn’t go by in our home without tacos and if it does, it’s got to be a monumental event to derail Jake from eating tacos.
Over the years, traditional ground beef and hard-shell taco shells have given way to lots of variations – soft shells, oven baked tacos, chicken, shrimp and different combinations. I always make white rice and beans (I prefer black beans but Mark loves refried beans so guess what we have?) and corn that I cook on the stove on a low temp so it gets a bit charred and nutty flavor. We (or should I say Grace and I) have started doing taco salads and taco bowls which, in my opinion, are the best of everything and I feel less guilty. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach since I usually can’t finish my salad which is admittedly larger than it needs to be since I include virtually all the toppings.
Speaking of toppings, we’ve got lots. Cheese (cheddar for us), sour cream, salsa, chipotle sauce (Grace and I are obsessed), lettuce, diced tomatoes, avocados, radishes, pickled onions and jalapenos. I make my own pickled onions and jalapenos – they are easy to make and last for weeks in the refrigerator. They are spicy with a little sweetness and the recipe is on my blog. There will inevitably be more posts from future Taco Tuesdays as I am always looking for new ways to enjoy tacos! This is the recipe for Shredded Chicken (and ground beef) which is so simple I’m almost embarrassed to put this on paper but here it is.
Shredded Chicken Tacos
I recently went with chicken for tacos instead of ground beef and it was great. Personally, I needed something different since making the same thing every week gets old. Super easy to make since the slow cooker does all the work and the chicken comes out moist and seasoned well. If you want leftovers, three breasts gave us plenty for a salad and quesadillas the next day for lunch. If you are planning to serve just for dinner, two breasts for three people should be enough since you really get a lot when you shred the chicken.
Ingredients
2 or 3 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs (I would do four thighs)
½ cup Water
4 tbs Taco seasoning
1 tsp Kosher salt
Directions
Sprinkle the taco seasoning and salt on both sides of the chicken and place in the slow cooker with ½ cup water. Cook on high for three hours. Test to make sure the chicken is done – it should fall apart when you pick it up – and then shred it with two forks.
Return the chicken to the slow cooker and set to Keep Warm until you are ready to serve.
(Note: When I make the beef for tacos it’s basically a pound of ground beef. I usually go with 85/15 so there is some fat in the mix for flavor. Anything above 85 and it gets dry. You could do ground turkey, too, but I wouldn’t use the super lean kind which would be dry. I cook the meat in a pan with 4 tbs taco seasoning and ½ cup water. I use a potato masher to break the meat up and once it’s cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed, you are ready to go.)
eyummykitchen.com 