Personally, Mexican food is my all time favorite type of food. I could be completely content eating a breakfast burrito in the morning, tostada for lunch, nachos for snack and enchiladas for dinner every day. Sadly enough if I ordered these items daily from Mexican restaurants I would slowly but surely gain weight each day from the high calorie only options at most restaurants. There are ways however to make your own Mexican style meals for a low calorie, low saturated fat, much lower sodium option! Here are some of my favorite ways to keep Mexican food in my maintenance diet plan…
Breakfast Burrito:
1 La Tortilla Factory Whole Wheat tortilla (80 calories)
1 Reduced Fat String Cheese (80 calories)
1/4 c liquid egg whites (30 calories)
Bell Peppers, Onions, Pico de Gallo (use as much of these three as you would like!)
Place tortilla in pan on stove (no need to add oil) and then shred the string cheese on top of it and let the cheese melt. Scramble the egg whites with the bell peppers and onion then add them to the tortilla and top with pico de gallo.
‘Taco’ Salad:
Combine in a bowl or serve assembly line style for the whole family the following ingredients: Chopped romaine lettuce, cabbage, shredded carrots, diced onion and garlic, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, black beans, fat free feta. For a delicious dressing, top the salad off with low fat ranch mixed with lots of salsa, ole!
Chicken Quesadilla:
2 corn tortillas (110 calories)
3 oz chicken breast (100 calories)
2 Laughing Cow Lite wedges (70 calories)
Salsa (unlimited)
Dry fry the chicken breast in a pan with herbs and spices of choice (oregano, turmeric and black ground pepper are a tasty combination), then spread the cheese on both corn tortillas and heat on stove top with cooked chicken in between the tortillas. Top with as much salsa as you would like and enjoy! These also work great as a party appetizer, just cut the quesadillas into six pieces each and serve with a bowl of salsa for dip.
Here are some recipes from cooking websites that provide low calorie Mexican food options as well…
~ Black Bean and Salmon Tostadas
Jessica Hummel, Nutrition Counselor