This is wonderful, just made a couple tiny changes. I used a 3lb roast, rubbed on the liquid smoke, kosher salt, a crushed clove of garlic,a tiny sprinkle of dry ginger, then cut up a small garlic clove & put it into the meat. I cooked it on low for about 7 hrs and it barely needed any shredding because it just fell apart. I did remove the meat from the crock pot to separate the fat from the juices (used someone's tip of putting liquids in the freezer to easily remove the fat) and added juice back to the meat. I warmed bakery sub rolls in the oven and served bbq sauce on the side which it didn't really need. I may try just a touch more liquid smoke next time, but it was a huge hit! My husband rated it 2nd place to a meal we recently had in Maui, and said it was ONLY because last time we were actually IN Hawaii. Thanks for this super easy, tasty recipe that will be a regular at our house!

Reviewed On: Oct. 13, 2009

I've made this recipe several times, and it's really good whether using ground beef or turkey. Everyone loves it and wants the recipe. I typically combine the meat sauce and pasta to ensure each one is sauced before making layers, and I don't measure the cheese. There can never be too much!

Reviewed On: Sep. 5, 2009

This was pretty good but I had to make some substitutions since I was missing some ingredients. I cooked the meat with chopped onion & garlic for extra flavor before adding taco seasoning and 1 can of refried black beans. I also used corn tortillas which add more flavor and don't get soggy like flour tortillas, along with a sparse layer of corn. Since I was out of salsa I added taco seasoning to a can of tomato sauce and poured it over the meat/bean layers which were a bit dry. I also used tasteless reduced fat cheese which I WON'T do again- ugh! After baking I "frosted" the top of each serving with lowfat sour cream, avocado slices, black olives, chopped tomato and green onion. I will make this again using REAL CHEESE, spicy beans and salsa over the layers for more flavor and moisture.

Reviewed On: Sep. 5, 2009