Tacos!!!

What do you eat along with the rice and beans? Tacos! What kind of tacos? Does it matter as long as it is easy? After all, that is the point of this whole blog.

Not to go all Forrest Gump, but you can have fish tacos, steak tacos (carne asada), ground meat tacos, chicken tacos, pulled pork tacos, pulled beef tacos (although these last two involve a crockpot and about 6-8 hours of cooking time), chorizo tacos and carnitas (and these last two involve a Mexican grocery store.)

Besides the meat, you'll need some combination of the following: tortillas, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, salsa (and I have salsa recipes for you too), and grated cheese.

So in order of ease of cooking, let's get started.

Ground Meat Tacos

Easiest of the easy. All you need is a pound of ground meat and a packet of taco seasoning like the one pictured here. Simply brown the meat (maybe with a little diced onion if you want) and follow the instructions on the packet. That's it.

Steak Tacos

Buy some thin steak, like skirt steak. Something you can fry up in a pan. Season it on both sides with salt a pepper. Pan-fry the steak until the steak is cooked how you like it. I like it a little red, my wife likes it completely done. Put it on a cutting board and hack it to pieces.

If you are access to a grill, grill the steak instead of pan-frying it. And if you are really adventurous, use this recipe: Flank Steak Tacos with Garlicky Cilantro Chimichurri. 

Chicken Tacos

Chicken tacos can be made while your rice is cooking. Take a chicken breast or really any piece of chicken, and boil it until it is done. If you want, save the chicken broth for the next time you make rice. (Use the broth instead of water for the rice.) Once the chicken is done, shred it with a fork. Splash vinegar and olive oil on the chicken, and season to taste with salt, pepper, and oregano if you have any.

Fish Tacos

This is the first taco involving a little work, depending on how much you want to do. The easiest thing to do is to salt and pepper the fish, and then fry it in a little olive in a pan. Break the fish into pieces on a cutting board.

Pulled Pork and Pulled Beef

Rather than give a brief explanation here, it would be better if you followed a recipe. You will need a crockpot (slow cooker) and more than a few hours of cooking time. These are not quick recipes and they involve a lot more ingredients. But they are good.

Pulled Pork: Mexican Pulled Pork
Pulled Beef: Cola Shredded Beef Tacos

Carnitas: Carnitas

Chorizo and Carnitas

Chorizo is a spicy Mexican sausage, and carnitas are slow oil simmered chunks of pork. Both can be made at home, but it's easier just to buy them at a Mexican grocery store. The Chorizo comes in plastic-wrapped tubes and can be frozen forever. Microwave or pan-fried, chorizo is easy to make. Pan-fry it if the chorizo is too greasy for you.

Carnitas are bought by the pound at the meat counter. Buy however much you want, bring them home, and have at it.