Taco Night

I don't know about you, but I get chills when I hear the dreaded word "diet". Not only do I dislike the word, I dislike the whole idea of it and all the stigma's attached to it. I do go on my kicks of healthy eating, however I never get crazy with it. My personal outlook on it is. it's good to give yourself a cheat day or two per week. You need to trick your system a bit. If you do the same old thing all the time you eventually hit a plateau and it stops becoming effective. Instead of fat free everything and taking away carbs and sugars completely,  I just eat "healthier", "lighter" if you will.

Take this meal for example. I used the leanest ground beef I could find. Whole Wheat tortilla's, homemade roasted red pepper salsa and rice w/black beans. It's also all about portion control as well. Now this isn't a completely fat free meal by any means. However it's adding more fruits and vegetables and being conscience of what you can avoid, omit and or add to your meals. This is high in protein, fiber and vitamins. Who says eating healthier has to be bland and boring? Not me!

 White Rice w/Black Beans also called Casamiento, which means "marriage". This is an El Salvadoran dish. My son just so happens to be half El Salvadoran, and so I learned this dish from his father's side of the family. Generally this dish is served at wedding, birthdays and celebrations. It's filled w/tons of flavor! Probably the most flavorful of all the rice and bean dishes that I've had. The white rice represents the women's white wedding dresses and black beans represents the men's tuxedo's.

Ok enough chit chat onto the recipes!


Casamiento:

1 cup medium to long grain white rice cooked in 1 1/2 cups of fat free low sodium chicken stock.
Marjoram, Oregano, Thyme
1 can Black Beans

Once the rice is cooked, add in (now I didn't measure it out here) a couple dashes of each spice. A little salt if needed and the can of black beans, juices and all! Before adding in the black beans stir the rice and spices really well, add in more if you think it's needed. The fun about cooking is you can add in more of what you like and less of what you don't.

Roasted Red Pepper Salsa:

Now I made just enough for one feel free to double and triple this.

1 roasted red pepper
You can broil this in the oven, toaster oven or right on the burner itself. Char on all sides and let sit until it's cool enough to seed and peel.
Mince 1 clove of garlic
Chop 1/4 of a red onion real fine
Handful fresh Cilantro chopped
A couple squeezes of lime juice
Salt to taste
A couple tablespoons of fresh or frozen corn
Mix together and let sit in the fridge for at least a half hour. This allows all the flavors to combine nicely.


Beef Taco's:

1 pound of the leanest ground beef you can find
1 cube beef bullion (try to find low sodium or no sodium if you can)
Cumin
Salt/Pepper
1 Clove minced garlic
Add this all together in a skillet and just keep breaking up the meat as it cooks. Once it's completely cooked, add it to your whole wheat tortilla. I topped mine w/lettuce & just a tablespoon of Mexican Cheese. You can use part skim to cut down a bit. You can also use the pepper salsa to top your taco with. I like mine on the side.
As always....Enjoy!