When I was a kid, I remember going to my grandma’s house (she was German and loved to cook all things food in LARGE portions). Without fail, at every visit, she would make a roast with mashed potatoes dripping in butter, carrots, peas and about four other sides with some pie at the end. As all good Midwesterners, we took our roast beef and squirted ketchup all over it for some good eating (don’t judge, I would probably still do it today because ketchup goes on almost everything).

Now that I’ve grown up, I find myself realizing that I can make an awesome roast beef recipe, but since I married a dude from southern California, I make my roast beef into a spicy shredded beef, put it into a little lettuce wrap, top it off with some guacamole and call it an awesome meal. This meal is perfect for a Saturday in the winter. It is spicy and warm, which feels good on the incredibly cold nights, plus the spice helps to kick whatever is going on in your sinuses. It’s great for a Saturday cause you stick it in your oven or crockpot in the mid-morning and come back ready to eat it in the evening. Hope you get a chance to try it out and enjoy!

Spicy Shredded Beef Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lbs boneless beef roast
• A culmination of spices (1 T garlic powder, 1 T onion powder, 1 T ground cumin, 2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, salt and pepper)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• 4 oz can of diced green chiles (I use the hot ones)
• Chipotles in Adobo can – chop up 1 of the chipotles to use and use 2 T of the adobo sauce
• 1-2 cups beef broth
• A packet of ancho chile powder (you will use this at the end, so just set it aside)
• Bibb lettuce
• Cilantro & Guacamole (optional, but I find it is awesome to have on hand)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Get out a dutch oven and put that on medium heat on your stove with a little olive oil. Season your beef on all sides with your spices and brown the beef on all sides for about 3 minutes or so. Add in the onions, garlic cloves, green chiles, chipotle, adobo sauce and beef broth. Put the lid on your dutch oven and put it in the oven for 6 hours. You could also season your beef and simply add everything into a crockpot, putting it on low and coming back in 6-8 hours. Your choice.

After you have had an awesome day and your kitchen has made your whole house smell amazing, take your dutch oven out of your oven. Get your beef out of the big pot and put it into a bowl. Begin to shred it up (this should take no time at all, it will literally be falling apart). Get a big cast iron or skillet on your stove over medium-low heat. Put the ancho chile powder packet in the skillet with some of the leftover broth from your dutch oven till it forms a consistency between a paste and a soup. Add the shredded beef into this and mix it all around.

Get out some bibb lettuce, add in your beef, top off with some homemade guacamole or avocados, some cilantro and enjoy!!