So Many Trees….Family Vacation & California-Style Beef Tacos — Crock Pot Recipe

Ah…vacations. For a great vacation, I love to visit other parts of the country and experience different landscapes, culture, cuisine and sights. In August, for the first time, I visited my family who lived southern California in the interior of the state — close to the desert and on the way to Palm Springs. It is a totally different world from Louisiana. You could see mountains from both sides of the house! Amazing. A highlight of the trip was dining at several Mexican restaurants and trying “authentic” local cuisine. It was even a treat to grab a meal at a small, strip mall Mexican restaurant which was serving simple beef tacos. Oops, these were not Taco Bell ground beef tacos! The “real” tacos were made with shredded roast beef and served in homemade corn tortillas with crema and avocados. They were damn good! Upon returning home, I decided to try to make this new “twist” on beef tacos using crock pot, slow-cooked beef. My recipe is full of citrus flavors and Mexican spices with onions and jalapeños for seasonings. I am proud of my first trial at the “real thing.” Not bad!

Family Vacation & Road Trip….so many trees

I was lucky to take a whirlwind vacation to California and Idaho in August to visit family. After flying into the Los Angeles area airport and visiting in that part of the state, the entire family piled into an auto. We took a road trip and traveled from the deserts and mountains of southern California, to the majestic Rocky mountains which run the length of California, to beautiful Yosemite National Park and then to the cool, pine tree mountains of Idaho and a family reunion. It was an action-packed week, full of adventure and surprises. It was great to spend time with family and visit along the two-day trip. This family loves to drive and we covered many miles in a short amount of time!! Coming from Louisiana with no mountains, I was truly impressed.

Okay, I have to share some of the photos of my trip…. Many are “mountain” photos taken from the front seat of the car as we drove along.

Here we go. From the Southern California desert (on the left) and up into the mountains. On the right is the highest peak in the continental states somewhere back in the photo. (Or that’s what the trip navigator in the back seat told me.)

We drove through Yosemite National Park with Bridalveil Falls and Half Dome Peak. Although typically you must have a pass reserved in advance to get access to Yosemite; we just drove right in! And, we explored all of Yosemite in just an afternoon. (That’s what happens when you get a bunch of seasoned retirees together in a car.)

Then more desert… and onward. Here is the desert north of Reno in Nevada with billowy clouds, then a field of hops in Idaho and, lastly, the Payette River meandering along the highway in Idaho as we left McCall, Idaho, at the end of the trip. Now, hops is something I have never seen growing. The flowers of the hops plants are primarily used to add bittering, flavor and stability to beer. Did we stop? Why, no. .we just saw the plants while passing along. Or, did we stop to admire the Payette River? Why, no…we were late to get back to the Boise airport. Does that ever happen to you?

Finally, Idaho. Idaho was our destination. The tall trees and scenery were amazing. Luckily, I have a new I-phone because all the trees seemed to call out, “take my photo.” Well…I do love to photograph trees. Look closely at the photo on the right. You can see how tiny the cabin appears below the towering pine trees around it. According to my Idaho cousins, theses pines have been growing for 40 or more years and occasionally snap with high wind storms. But, apparently they endure the harsh winters. You go, Idaho pines.

Family Reunion. The reunion took place at a camp close to McCall, Idaho. It was great to connect with family. I enjoyed the trip and visiting with everyone. It was our turn to cook supper. Why am I just sharing photos of trees and not more our family? Such as the cute grandbaby? Privacy…..

More Idaho

Leaving McCall, Idaho, we took a different route back to the airport. We left the mountains and traveled down into the valley. I already miss the mountains…but it was still scenic and beautiful. Imagine, an entire scenic state. I loved Idaho.

Farmer’s markets

One of the highlights of the trip for me was stopping at farmer’s markets along the way. Fresh stone fruit is something we don’t grow in Louisiana, (none of these fruit orchards in our state)…..Plums, hybrid peaches and baskets of apricots, plums and real Bing cherries from the state of Washington were all available at roadside stands. We picked up plums and cherries to make pies for dessert. (See our excellent pie shells in the process of assembly, above.)

California-style Beef Tacos

Back to Louisiana and the real world……One of the best “new experiences” of the trip was sampling beef tacos at the Mexican restaurant in a small strip shopping center. These were made with slow-cooked roast beef and not ground beef. The meat was flavorful, tender and literally fell apart when it was shredded. The meat was seasoned with wonderful Mexican spices. My goal was to duplicate the taco beef at home and make flavorful “pull apart” beef.

Crock Pot Recipe

My recipe is a crock pot recipe. It does take most of the day to cook; so plan ahead. I got started in the morning and the meat was cooked and ready for our supper meal.

My Recipe

For my recipe, I used a boneless beef rump roast which weighted 3-1/2 pounds. Beef rump roast works well when cooked slowly using moist heat method of cooking. I was lucky to find this cut of beef at our local Rouse’s grocery.

To flavor the beef, I made a dry rub of Mexican-type spices. These included ancho chile, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Prior to placing the beef in the crock pot, I combined the spices, salt and pepper and rubbed the dry rub into the beef. Then I seared the roast on both sides in a hot skillet. (Perhaps too hot!)

This recipe has lots of seasoning. Onion, bell pepper and jalapeño peppers contributed flavor. My recipe also included a citrus “kick” which was a sauce made by mixing lime juice, orange juice and tomato paste.

After slicing the onions and peppers, I placed them in the bottom of the crock pot. Then the roast was layered on top.

I added about 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of the crock pot bowl to create steam. Then I spread on the citrus sauce, placed the lid on the crock pot and turned the heat to the “high” setting. The mixture cooked away for the next 5 hours. (Most crock pots have both a low and high setting. I rarely cook anything on “low” heat in a crock pot.)

The roast is “done” when it is tender and shreds. I checked after four hours; and continued to cook it. After five hours, the roast literally fell apart. I transferred the beef to a serving bowl; shredded the roast and ladled some of the juices in the pot over top. I included some of the delicious onions in the bowl.

I added my favorite the taco fixings and corn shells. We have “California-Style Tacos.” These are delicious.

It’s an all day process to make a recipe in a crock pot. However, the beef certainly is tender and flavorful. It is worth it! And, this is a nice change from the ground beef tacos which I am familiar with.

I love vacations! Visiting the western states was a great destination as I especially love the mountains and all scenery. And, it was long over-due as I it had been 8 years since our family got together. Plus, a surprise was the brief visit to Yosemite National Park. How long ago was my last visit there? Can’t remember. Thanks to the family who loves to drive!

This was a rather spontaneous and last minute family vacation. But, those are the best. And, I especially enjoyed the authentic Mexican cuisine which I sampled along the trip. Loved it!

Enjoy!

Recipe