Barbacoa

So when I need a quick lunch, Chipotle is my go-to for something delicious and crazy satisfying. Have you seen the amount of guacamole they give you there? Jesus. Qdoba is still decent, but they cheat you on guac portions, disappointing...and selfish.

Anywho, I almost always get the barbacoa at Chipotle. It's fantastic. I used to eat the pork like it was going out of style, but thought I needed to change it up and expand my horizons. Sometimes their barbacoa is a bit salty, but most of the time it's incredible. So I tried to duplicate it. I failed at duplication. But it still came out wonderfully. I will not complain about it one bit!

Ok, I've come to a decision. I like shredded meat far more than chunks of meat. Shredded chicken, shredded pork, shredded beef. I would even eat shredded fish if you could do that, but it would be difficult, and tedious. I've been shredding most of my meat lately. Why? Because I don't have a grill so I crock pot most meals. That means shreddy shreddy-meat meat for me!

Oh and BTW, stop looking at this ingredient list and thinking it's incredibly long and this meal will take you forever to cook. Your crockpot does all the work so stop whining. And if you don't have all the spices, whatever! Grab whatever spice sounds good to you, spicy or mild, and add it in! Nothing will make this taste bad. It's a rump roast for gosh sakes! Rump + Roast = ummmmmm hello, pure happiness.

What you need:
*For the first round of cooking--

• 1.5-2lbs beef rump roast, trimmed of extra fat (if you'd like)
• 6-8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2-4 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 gluten free beef broth (or water would work)
• 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from the can of chipotle peppers)
• 1 container of chopped mushrooms (optional--I just needed to use it before it went bad)

*For the second round of cooking--

• 1 16oz can tomato sauce
• 1 12-16oz can green chiles
• 1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• salt and pepper, to taste

*If you want to do a little extra work since your crock pot already did everything for you--

• 1 red onion, chopped however you like
• 1 yellow pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 green pepper, roughly chopped
• 1/2-1 jalapeno, thinly chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• cilantro and green onions to top off

What you do:

1. Pull out your crockpot. Actually, just leave it on your counter like me. It gets used a lot. If it doesn't, shame on you!
2. Add to your crock pot: garlic cloves, bay leaves, apple cider vinegar, broth, chopped onions, cumin, chipotle pepper and sauce, and rump roast. Mix ingredients around to help coat the rump roast.
3. Cover and let cook for 6 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Run a fork along the rump roast at the end of cooking to make sure it is done and easily shreddable (word? I don't think so).

*Once the roast is done cooking:

1. Pull out the meat and shred it on a plate.
2. Then use a slotted spoon to scoop out all the onions, garlic cloves and mushrooms. Put those ingredients either on top of the shredded meat or in a separate bowl--it will all be going back into the crock pot anyways. Discard the bay leaves and liquid mixtures.
3. Add the shredded meat and onions, garlic cloves and mushrooms back to the crock pot.
4. Add in tomato sauce, green chiles, and spices. Mix thoroughly
5. Let cook on high for 1.5-2 hours.

*While the meat is finishing cooking:

1. Slice up your onions, peppers, and jalapeno.
2. Heat up your fat of choice under medium-high heat and first add your onions.
3. Let the onions cook down for about 3 minutes, then add your peppers and jalapeno.
4. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of water to your pan and cover with a lid. Let those veggies cook down, randomly stirring them at times so they don't burn.
5. Add a bit of salt and pepper to the veggies after they've cooked for 8-10 minutes.

Top the veggies off with your meat after it has cooked for a couple hours. So freagin' good.

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Grocery List Helper:

• Rump Roast: On sale at Sunflower Market for $2.99/lb
• Bay leaves: in bulk at Sunflower Market
• Apple Cider Vinegar: Kroger Brand
• Gluten Free Beef Broth: On sale (2 for 1 special) at Sunflower Market
• Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce: in the ethnic foods isle at King Soopers (in the Mexican section)
• Veggies: on sale on Sunflower Market