Baked Flautas de Carnitas

Who doesn't love fried flautas smothered with salsa, guacamole and sour cream?? I sure do, even though I've never made them myself. These are just as good, in my humble opinion and much better for you. You can surely use chicken to save even more calories.

Flautas are a nice alternative to enchiladas and are a snap to assemble after you've let the pork cook in the crockpot all day. It took me all of 5 minutes to get the meat going. I definitely prefer the "butt" roast (no snickering, kids). For some reason, the last few times I tried using a pork shoulder, it came out kind of gamey.

FOR CARNITAS:
Put into crockpot:
1/2 cup water
3-4 lb. pork butt roast with dry rub*
sprinkle 3 sliced jalepenos on top of meat

Cook on high for 5-6 hours. Remove from crock and shred meat, picking out obvious fatty spots.

* My favorite dry rub seasoning is something called "Santa Maria Style Seasoning" which is salt, garlic, black pepper and parsley. I used about 2 tablespoons of this along with 1 tsp. of cumin.



FOR FLAUTAS:
10-12 flour tortillas
shredded carnitas (above)
2 cups shredded cheese
1 can black beans
1 cup salsa
1/2 onion, minced
Olive oil for brushing over tops

Preheat oven to 375. Warm tortillas in foil for 10 minutes in oven. Spread a little of each ingredient in a line down the middle of the tortilla and roll up as tight as possible. Place on greased cookie sheet, seam side down. Once, you've made them all, brush with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve with salsa and guacamole.