Pork Roast and Homemade Tortillas

This was actually last Sunday's dinner. I've seen so many variations on a simple crock pot Mexican pork roast that you could have this often without ever having the same thing twice! As for the tortillas, I got the recipe either from Jess or Lisa my sophomore year of college. I've made these so many times I couldn't begin to count. LOVE THEM! Obviously not a diet recipe for you dieters, but I just love me some good Mexican food time and again.







FLOUR TORTILLAS—makes about 18- 5 in. tortillas or 10-12 larger tortillas
Ingredients
3 ½ C flour
approx. 1 tsp Salt (I use kosher)
¼ tsp baking powder
½ C shortening
1 ¼ C very hot water

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients together and cut in the shortening until it is crumbly like a piecrust mixture.
2. Add in the water and mix until there’s a nice dough.
3. Break into golf ball sized pieces, cover and let rest about 5 min.
4. Roll on a floured surface into 5 in. rounds.
5. Cook on a cast iron skillet (consistently best results for me) or non-stick pan without oil, or in a regular pan that's lightly oiled.
6. These generally bubble a bit. Flip it once. The second side takes less time than the first.
   

Pork Roast
Ingredients
Pork roast- pretty much any cut, but butt will be more tender than loin if I'm not mistaken
1/2-1 can soda, depending on the size of the roast and your crockpot (I've used Lemon Lime and caffeine free Coke, but I'm sure other kinds would work.)
splash of liquid smoke
sprinkling of kosher salt

additional optional ingredients: chili powder, chipotle chilies or ground chipotle chili powder, cumin, garlic (fresh or powder), etc. You know, anything that tastes like Mexican food.

Directions

1. Put the roast (whatever size you need to feed your family) in a crockpot
2. Cover with soda-the amount isn't super important, but I like it to be about to the half way point of the roast.
3. Sprinkle enough kosher salt to make a thin layer across the top of the roast
4. Splash with 3 or so drops of liquid smoke.
5. Cook on low anywhere from 9-18 hours (the longer you go the more fall-apart it becomes). Since I can't think super far ahead in my meal planning, I'm usually closer to the 9 hour end.
   
6. Shred the roast and let it sit in the juices.
7. I like to add my additional ingredients after it's cooked so I can do it to taste, but by all means, do it the way you like to do it.
   
8. Serve with a fork or slotted spoon so you don't get unwanted juices on your tortilla.

Cannery Refried Beans
I love cannery beans. If you don't have them available in your area, I'm so sorry.
Ingredients
even parts dehydrated beans to water.
For the two of us I use 1 cup of each. Sometimes we eat it all. Sometimes we don't.

Directions

1. Bring water to boil.
2. Stir in beans, take off heat, cover, and let sit about 5 min. or so.
   

*Now, these beans can be a little tricky because it kind of depends on how big the flakes are as to how runny or thick it ends up. The beans on top of the can tend to be big flakes, so they don't pack into the measuring cup. Nearer the bottom they are kind of crushed up, so there's a lot more beans in the measuring cup. If you cook them often you kind of get an eye for how it should look after adding the beans to the water.*

Here are my tricks if it doesn't end up like you like:

• If it's too thick for your liking, add a little water, salsa, taco bell sauce, cheese, etc. And heat just enough to make it warm enough to eat. You know, anything liquid that goes well with your flavors.
• If it's too runny, put it back on the stove and let it boil down a bit while stirring so it doesn't burn on the bottom. It will thicken up some.

Serve this with lettuce, olives, salsa, cilantro, guacamole and/or anything else you just love on Mexican food.