Hmm.... Wierd... It's actually good

I don't think I've ever heard such sweet words leave my child's mouth. He liked dinner. It was something other than a hot dog or nuggets and the 11 year old liked it. Better pull out my bible because these are indeed the end times.

Carnitas were on the menu for the evening and according to C-Diddy it looked like crap, but tasted good. I love carnitas, but there aren't alot of places to get a good taco around town, and I'm morally opposed to paying $12 for a plate that costs about $2 to make.

I've made them one time before and was overzealous and tried the cook your own tortillas from Costco. They were a cluster-fuck and pretty much trashed the entire meal so tonight I took the half-assed approach and got my fresh, homemade tortillas from the nice ladies at Kroger that know what the hell they are doing.

Now the base recipe I work from came from Kitchen 1924 in Dallas via the WFAA website. I would post the real recipe, but that would take too long. Plus let's be honest, I'm not exactly a follow directions kind of girl. What I will tell you is that if you can get over your fear of dieing in the burn unit at Parkland from grease burns, this is a relatively easy recipe to make. It cooks for ever, but it's pretty simple and I didn't wonder if I was doing it wrong too many times.

I served it with my "homemade" tortillas, shredded cheese and some guacamole that I actually made my self. Unfortunately I forgot to buy the chips to go with said guacamole, so I started by putting it on my tacos and then when I realized nobody else was eating it I pretty much said fuck it and resorted to pretending my finger was the best tortilla chip ever and licking the bowl clean. In my defense guacamole is a vegetable and while I am a bit embarrassed by my total and complete lack of class, I'm glad I didn't consume all those nasty chip calories. You'll understand how important counting extra calories when you read the recipe that I am about to get to.

So here it is,

Coca Cola Carnitas Tacos

I started with about 2 pounds of boneless pork country style ribs. You can use pork shoulder roast too, but the "ribs" are already cut in nice user friendly strips and not too fatty and have I mentioned I am lazy... Then I cut them in about inch and a half chunks.

I season them with Paula Deen's house seasoning which I make in huge batches and keep in a shaker because I use it on everything. Basically it's salt, pepper and garlic powder. You've got to season them really well. When you think you have way too much on there give it another good shake or two.

Heat about 1/2 cup of peanut oil in an iron pot (think Le Creuset - I have an Ikea knock-off that I use). Don't half-ass and use anything other than peanut oil in this recipe, I'm pretty sure it's the only kind that can handle the heat with out smoking you out of the house.

Once you have your oil good and hot carefully put the pork chunks in and brown them while stirring. This is going to take about 7 to 10 minutes. Once they are browned pour in 1 cup of Coke (the fully leaded stuff - not diet) and 1/2 cup orange juice and then top off with however much peanut oil you need to cover the meat completely. Put the lid on the pan and stick it in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. After that turn the heat down to 200 and leave it alone in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours.

When time's up, your going to VERY CAREFULLY take everything out of the oven and fish out the cooked pork from the vat of fat. Hey I rhymed! Sorry. Put the meat in a big skillet and turn up the heat to about medium. Shred the meat (which should be falling apart at this point) with a fork and pour in another 1/2 cup of coke and let it cook for a few minutes. Give it a taste and then sprinkle with more garlic salt.