Mexican Potato Salad

Back before we went additive free, we used to buy those supermarket packets of taco seasoning, salsa and the tortillas, all full of additives and pretty much completely void of any nutritional value!  Now I couldn't think of anything worse.   Over time I have learned to make different substitutes without the nasties and with a little bit of planning and really not that much more preparation time, it is so easy.  I got the inspiration for this slow-cooked beef from my mother in law.  Somehow my beef still didn't turn out quite as good as hers but it is still pretty awesome! 

Ingredients (serves 6):
- 1/2 sweet potato, cut into chunks
- 3 white potatoes, cut into chunks

Beef:
- 1kg diced beef (I used grassfed chuck steak - you want something that is good for slow cooking)
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 400g tinned tomatoes or equivalent fresh diced tomatoes
- 2 cups water or stock (I used 2 cups of beef bone broth)
- Optional veggies (cos I love putting veggies in everything!) -  I used 1 diced carrot and 100g sliced mushrooms
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- Spices - 2 tsp salt (I used celtic), sprinkle of cracked pepper, 2 tsp paprika, 2 tsp ground cumin, 2 tsp ground coriander, 2 tsp onion powder

Other sides:
- Shredded lettuce
- Guacamole (I just mashed a couple of avocadoes, squeezed lemon juice and seasoned with sea salt and pepper)
- Fresh tomato salsa (I used 3 diced tomatoes, 1 tbsp finely chopped onion, sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley and a splosh of extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and seasoned with sea salt and cracked pepper)
- If you are OK with dairy, also grated cheese and sour cream

Method:
1.  If you have a slow cooker, put all your beef ingredients into it, give it a stir and cook on "low" setting for 8 hours, stirring every now and then.

If you don't have a slow cooker, preheat your oven to 150 degrees and add all the beef ingredients to a casserole dish.  Stir, cover and put into the oven for around 3 hours, stirring every now and then.

At the end of the cooking time, the beef should be falling apart and you can easily shred it with 2 forks.

2.  While the beef is cooking, prepare your sides and boil the potatoes until tender.

3.  Serve!