Yesterday was a perfect day for trying new recipes-I had plenty of time and patience on my side. I have been wanting to try some new Tex Mex recipes and I tried two. First, I made Beef Carnitas Tacos. I thought these were okay, but I'll admit to having high expectations. Mike thought they were pretty good. I started by gathering up all my ingredients and putting my sous chef/chopper (Mike) to work. I sauteed some onions and garlic in my small dutch oven. I browned the meat for about 5-6 minutes. Next, I added red pepper flakes, salt, sugar, and beef broth. I nestled an orange wedge in the mix and let it simmer for about 1-1.5 hours.

When the beef was done, it was taco time! We served our beef with red peppers, roma tomatoes, onions, cilantro, cheese, and sour cream. It was served on tasty some tasty HEB tortillas. We ate up most of the meat leaving us with not much leftovers, but I had started out with less than the recipe required.

My second recipe of the evening was not super successful. I tried to cook Easy Spanish Rice. It started off very similar to the tacos, with me sauteeing onions in oil in my braiser. Next, I added the rice and browned it a little bit. Finally, I stirred in the salsa and chicken broth and let it cook about 20 minutes. I tried it and the rice was still hard and the liquid hadn't all evaporated. I cooked it another 5 minutes and it was still pretty firm and runny. Finally, I brought it to a boil and cooked it about 10 more minutes. The final result had some firm bits and some mushy bits. I'm not sure if my failure was due to the type of rice I used (basmati) or that I didn't let the liquid boil in the first place or some other random failure. This will not likely be a recipe I repeat. Overall, I wasn't super thrilled with last night's dinner and hope for more success in the future.

The New Austonian