Gluten-Free Pulled Pork Tacos

Today was one of those days.  It was a both spouses getting colds, no one got any sleep, falling way behind on house projects, someone going to urgent care for a metal sliver in the eye kind of a day.  Not to mention since I was a big baby about getting a cold yesterday, I really needed/wanted to get a long run in today.  So with two cranky spouses, a longer than anticipated visit to the urgent care, and a long run on the agenda, I needed to turn to an old, trusty friend for dinner: my crock pot.

If I haven't emphasized this enough, I love cooking with a crock pot.  There is something so wonderful about coming hope to the wonderful sound of a bubbling pot and the smell of a lovingly prepared dish that can make anyone believe they are a master chef, when, in reality, you just pour some ingredients in a pot and pray.  After I rushed visit to the grocery store and a sale on pork shoulder butts, I felt this day called for some delicious, and gluten free, pulled pork tacos.

We love having pulled pork for dinner but I have never made it for tacos before.  Still I figured that this was a dish that the crock pot and I could handle. I bought a 2 lbs boneless pork shoulder butt at the store (I usually like to get bone-in but they were out).  Before doing any seasoning, I cut the roast in to four parts so I could easily trim the outer layers of fat.  Some people like to cube the roast in to small pieces before cooking it but, pork shoulder shreds so easily, I didn't think that was necessary.  You don't want to try and trim all of the fat off as leaving some fat will make it more flavorful:

(Before I started trimming the fat)

After your pork is trimmed, you are going to need:

• 4 tablespoons gluten free taco mix
• 1 table spoon chile powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 limes
• 1 jar of your favorite salsa (if you make your own, that's even better.  My step-father-in-law makes an awesome salsa that I'll post sometime but I didn't have the energy today)
• Corn Tortillas
• Your favorite taco fillings

First, pour about 1/3 of a jar of salsa in the bottom of the crock pot.  Then cover one side of each piece of pork with half of the gluten free taco mix and half of the other spices.  Place the pork in the crock pot and cover the other side with the remaining seasoning and spices.  Once the pork is covered in spices, you need to squeeze in the lime juice.  This step is important as it helps break down the meat and make it more tender:

(Husbands are a really good help for this part!)

Once all the lime juice is on the pork, pour the rest of the salsa on top of the pork.  Pork can take a while to cook so leave 6-8 hours of cooking time on low. 

You'll know the pork is done when it shreds easily with a fork and you see little fat holding it together.  Once it is done, remove the pork from the crock pot and shred it with a fork, removing any large pieces of fat.  You can return the shredded pork to the crock pot to soak up more of the salsa.  This gluten-free pulled pork works great in tacos, nachos, or on salads.  We tried all three tonight!

The joys of comfort food!  What are your favorite gluten-free comfort recipes?  Share them in the comments section!