Healthy Mexican Cuisine

In response to a recent post which was in response to a post which was in response to a comment to a post, I got the following question regarding making recipes healthier:

"ooohhhh..mexican food. we love mexican and eat it probably 4 times a week. Are there healthy alternatives to common mexican foods (like fajitas, enchiladas (my fav), quesadillas and tacos)??"

I think healthy Mexican food is easy. True Mexican cuisine usually IS healthy (or healthier than our Americanized version) because it involves fresh ingredients.

If you make your own Mexican food at home, it ain't hard to make it healthy and tasty.

I already posted once about making healthy veggie tacos with peppers.

Here are some other suggestions:

Fajitas:

• Saute or grill fresh veggies or saute frozen veggies like peppers, onion, carrot, mushrooms, etc.
  
• Grill a chicken breast and shred it or grill a steak and slice it thin (or leave out the meat all together.)
• Use corn tortillas instead of flour because they are smaller AND have less preservatives AND a lot less calories.
  
• Use low fat sour cream or greek yogurt.
• Add chopped lettuce and tomato
• Make your own guacamole to top each fajita. Or use avocado slices. Avocado is packed with healthy fats. Plus it's goooooood.
• Make your own pico de gallo or use prepared salsa and add liberally. Salsa is very low calorie.
• Get a block of part skim cheese and shred some. (This is MUCH cheaper than using the already shredded stuff, but if you are short on time that is fine too.) Or try using feta cheese, Mexican cheese or make your own cheese.

Enchiladas:

• I would start by cooking up some fresh veggies. Try using broccoli in addition to peppers, onions, carrots, etc, for example.
• Cook and shred some chicken or beef.
  
• Make your own enchilada sauce. I don't have the recipe at my fingertips that I've used before but there are a ton out there and they all seem to be similar. Here is one from Emeril. It isn't hard to make.
• Wrap up your enchiladas filled with fresh veggies and meat, place them in a baking dish, pour the sauce over top, then sprinkle with low fat cheese and bake.
  

Dang kay-suh-dill-uh:

• I don't have much for ya here. I mean, it's cheese and tortilla, essentially. However, you could add some meat or veggies or salsa or fresh avocado and be sparing with the cheese to cut back on fat and calories.
• Also, if you don't saute it in butter like they do at the restaurants, it will help. You can make them in a pan with non-stick spray or try making them on a George Forman type grill.
  

Tacos:

• I think I already addressed some ideas for this one in the previous post previously referenced.
  
• But I would add that you could add ground meat. Ground turkey or low fat ground beef, sauteed with some taco seasoning would be tasty.
  
• Or try making fish tacos with fresh tilapia and then go lighter on the toppings.

Burritos:

• I used to make burritos when I was in college and didn't have much money for fancy food.
  
• Get some big tortillas, but try to find some that are whole wheat.
• Make some rice. You can use instant or a steam fresh bag of white or brown rice would work great.
• Cook up whatever you have on hand or have easy access to. Burritos can be more creative than the other foods. You could all sorts of veggies or meats and top them with all kinds of crazy sauces. For instance, I used to saute veggies and tofu with teriyaki sauce and put that in my burritos with rice. Or, at a friend's house I recently had a sweet potato and black bean burrito that was delish. She made them up then baked them so they would be crispy on the outside. It's really up to you, based on your preferences and what you have.
  

Sides and other things:

• You can make black bean soup for an appetizer or for a great, easy meal.
• You can add an easy salad to any of these items. Just chop up some romaine, a little onion or pepper, and top with avocado slices or pico de gallo. Or use a healthy dressing, preferrably homemade. At the same friend's house that made me the sweet pot burrito, I also had a salad such as this that used pico instead of dressing. It was spicy and a nice change from the dressing laden salad.
• Black beans and pinto beans are a great side that are super healthy. Lots O fiber and protein. You can add cumin or chili powder or salsa to them for some extra flavor.
  

Buena Suerte!