Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Yo Quiero Tacos

Last night we had tacos for dinner.

At the grocery store Monday night we found a bunch of reduced price produce including green peppers, poblano peppers and mushrooms. Without a recipe or plan in mind, we purchased them...I knew I'd come up with something.

Then last night I was about to leave work when it occurred to me that I didn't know what I was going to make for dinner. I remembered the produce and went to my favorite recipe planning service, google. I googled "poblano mushrooms" and the first thing to pop up was tacos. I didn't even read the recipe or follow the website link...I knew what I was going to make.

I stopped at the grocery on the way home to pick up some last minute needs for dinner. I bought hard taco shells. I quickly examined the boxes of a few different brands and varieties to find the ones with the lowest calories per serving and the least amount of added ingredients. I found some that were 130 calories for 2 tacos AND only had 4 ingredients AND only cost $1.99 for 10. Score.

Then I headed for beans. I was planning to do black beans mixed with salsa as a side to the tacos. But then I saw refried black beans. Refried beans aren't always unhealthy. Upon examination of the can I found that they were about the same amount of calories for the same serving size as regular black beans AND only had a few ingredients.

Finally, I got an extra jar of salsa. I always have salsa on hand, but I usually have more than one type at home. I keep a jar of cheap but mediocre salsa for cooking or recipes and I buy tastier, creative, but not always more expensive varieties for toppings. I knew I had a container of local, organic and fresh salsa for topping the tacos, but wanted to get a jar of cheapo stuff to mix with the beans. A large jar was on sale for $1.99. Bingo.

At home I put the beans into a sauce pan on the stove, mixed in some salsa and put it on low just to heat through. Then I chopped my veggies. I sliced the green and poblano pepper into large flat pieces for the grill. Then I chopped an onion (I always have onions on hand at home), the mushrooms and a green onion I had leftover from last week's Papa Spuds and sauteed them together in my new cast iron skillet.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
When you are chopping, slicing, dicing, etc a pepper of any variety other than bell, please wear gloves or immediately wash your hands with soap and warm water after you are done. Many years ago I made the mistake of skipping the handwashing after chopping a jalapeno and rubbed my nose. Oh the pain. Last night I made the same mistake because I assumed the poblano would not be a problem since it isn't a hot pepper. Not fun, I assure you.
Back to the tacos...

When Cakewalk got home he fired up the grill and cooked the pepper chunks. Then we sliced them up into usable pieces.

And dinner was ready, with only a little assembly required. For my tacos, I took a shell (which had the handy flat bottom so it could stand up), put a couple of pieces of green and poblano pepper in it, then put in some of the onion/mushroom mixture, then topped it with fresh salsa and a sprinkle of real feta. On the side I had a small bowl of the refried black beans with the salsa mixed in.

Totals for the meal:

Caloric total for 2 tacos and a half cup of black beans ~350 calories

Monetary total for the meal ~ $8
(Not including items I already had on hand, but also doesn't take into account that I had leftovers for lunch today, extra shells for another meal and almost a full jar of salsa left)

Total time required ~30 minutes including prep

I assure you that this meal was filling and satisfying. But if you wanted to add meat or shredded cheese or something, you certainly could. Try cooking a chicken breast and shredding it with a fork or grill a steak and slice it up for steak tacos. The key is to use what you have on hand and what you find on sale or put together a quick, easy, cheap and healthy meal.

While the dinner was very tasty, the best part of the meal was when Cakewalk got home and saw the taco shells and said "Yes! Tacos!!!" like a little kid. ;)

And I apologize....I would've posted a picture of me eating a taco but I was so hungry after my lunch time workout that I scarfed them down before I thought to take one. But this one is probably better anyway.




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