Southwestern Beef Burritos

First week back. My new class has twenty students and by Thursday I know all their names and something true about each of them: the girl in the back row who reads with her finger under each word, the boy who asks permission before he does anything and has been told not to do that at home, the transferring student who watched the room for three days before he spoke and on Friday raised his hand and answered a question correctly and looked surprised by himself. I noticed him looking surprised. I will work with that.

I called Patty at lunch on the first day. She said "they're fine, go teach." I said "okay." I called at 2 PM. She said "still fine." On Wednesday I did not call at lunch and I got through the afternoon without calling and I picked them up at 4:30 and they were fine and Patty said "see" and I said "I know" and she handed me Owen and I held him in the parking lot for thirty seconds before I could manage the logistics of the car seats.

Owen said "school" this week. He does not go to school. He goes to Grandma's. He heard me talk about school enough that he has filed it in the category of Important Things, and he uses the word now when he wants to signal that something matters. This morning he picked up his toy truck and said "school" and handed it to me, and I understood this to mean: take this, it matters. I put it in my bag. I brought it home.

Thursday slow cooker: chicken thighs, a jar of salsa verde, a can of white beans, some chicken broth. Cook on low eight hours. Shred. We ate it in bowls over rice with sour cream and lime. Ryan called it "restaurant quality" which is his highest food compliment and which I have now received often enough that I believe he means it and not just that he is hungry.

The salsa verde chicken worked so well that Thursday that I’ve been thinking about what else the slow cooker can carry for me on the days when I have nothing left by 4:30. These Southwestern beef burritos are that answer — everything goes in before I leave, and by the time Owen hands me something important in the parking lot and I manage the logistics of the car seats and we finally walk through the door, dinner is already done. Ryan hasn’t called it restaurant quality yet, but we’re working on it.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 8 hours | Total Time: 8 hours 15 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs beef chuck roast, trimmed
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 packet (1 oz) taco seasoning
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
6 large flour tortillas (10-inch)
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup fresh salsa or pico de gallo
1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions

Load the slow cooker. Place the beef chuck roast in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the diced tomatoes with chiles, black beans, frozen corn, beef broth, taco seasoning, cumin, and garlic powder. Stir gently around the roast to combine.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 to 5 hours) until the beef is fall-apart tender.
Shred the beef. Remove the roast from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Return the shredded beef to the slow cooker and stir to combine with the juices and vegetables. Let it rest on WARM for 10 minutes to soak up the liquid.
Warm the tortillas. Wrap the flour tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 to 45 seconds, or warm them one at a time in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 30 seconds per side.
Assemble the burritos. Spoon a generous 3/4 cup of the beef filling down the center of each tortilla. Top with shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and a spoonful of salsa. Fold in the sides, then roll tightly from the bottom up.
Optional: crisp the outside. For a toasted burrito, place seam-side down in a dry skillet over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes per side until lightly golden and sealed.
Serve. Plate with lime wedges on the side and extra sour cream or salsa for dipping.

Nutrition (per serving)

Southwestern Beef Burritos — When the Slow Cooker Does the Heavy Lifting