Taco Night!

Bienvenidos a la noche de tacos. (Okay, I'll stop with my bad Spanish)

Oh, how I love taco night. Again, it started with the leftover braised beef. Can I make that sucker stretch or what? This time, the meat makeover was with a Latin flair. I tossed a little shredded beef and leftover veggies (carrot, onion, mushroom, tomato) into a skillet along with some broth and seasoning (chili powder, cumin, mex. oregano, paprika, cinnamon- w/ leftover meat, no salt needed) and cooked until the liquid reduced by about half. It was more vegetable than meat, which I actually prefer. The meat was tender and very flavorful, though. I heated a few corn tortillas, added some vegetarian refried beans, lowfat cheddar, taco meat and veggies and topped with some nonfat Greek yogurt and they were like street tacos. I didn't even miss the fact that I was out of salsa and fresh tomato (I don't often have lettuce and tomato on-hand during winter and forgot taco night when shopping, thus the lack of salsa). The whole meal was about 400 calories, but very filling and super satisfying.


It's been interesting to cook with so much beef this week, considering I've never really been too much of a beef eater, much less cook. If I eat meat at all, it's often poultry, though I do eat more meat in fall/winter than other seasons. What I like, besides having something different for a change, is that it requires very little actual meat for the flavor and texture to come through. The piece of London Broil I braised was just under a pound, and I've already gotten 4 meals out of it. I did cook even more vegetables than meat along with it, which helps not only stretch the meal, but make it far more nutritious and lower in calories and fat. I doubt this means I'll be doing braised beef too often, but it is some nice winter comfort food.

Breakfast: blueberry bran muffins (2 - they're 100 calories each)

Morning snack: Navel orange (I'm wishing I'd bought more than 2- this particular batch was incredible!)

Lunch: Turkey sandwich on wheat bread with hummus

Afternoon snack: Strawberry yogurt

Evening snack/dessert: low sugar butterscotch pudding