taco night?

alottamama

My family and I enjoy taco night occasionally...any suggestions for continuing this in a healthy way?

Hozman121

We are having taco salad tonight. We do salad instead of just tacos because I don't want to eat the shells. We do turkey meat and I mix in a can of rotel for flavor and some moisture. Black beans, olives, onion, FF sour cream, avocado, and low fat cheese. Another thing we do a lot of is fajitas and I just eat the meat and veggies with no tortilla.

Francl27

Low fat beef or chicken with taco seasoning, low fat cheese, lots of salsa, low fat/nonfat sour cream, avocado (if I don't have many calories I skip the last two)... Get low calorie tortillas, or just taco shells (they're not that bad frankly, 60 calories per or something). Just have 2 or 3 instead of 4 or 5. Or just with lettuce if you're low on calories.

knra_grl

Tacos aren't that bad - I usually make a base salad and add the taco meat and crush up one of the shells for the crunch - I just find it easier to eat as a salad

You could substitute ground turkey or chicken and low fat cheese as others have pointed out but once cheese is shredded it seems like there is more than you think and you won't actually use that much - just make sure you measure and weigh what you put on your plate - I replace the sour cream with 0% greek yogurt and can't tell the difference.

Flab2Fab27

Tacos... The food of the gods.

Ke11er

Lots of great ideas already to make taco night even easier to manage. I also like fajitas with all the veggies and to substitute plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Do you like taco salad and lettuce wraps at Chinese restaurants? If so then you also might enjoy a fusion idea where you use a large, sturdy lettuce leaf instead of a taco shell (but if not, they're not to hard to fit in either!)

ReinasWrath

lean ground beef or chicken for the meat and try plain non fat greek yogurt instead of sour cream, low fat cheese and bam

KeepCalmNGetyaSweatOn

Taco night is easy to be healthy and low calorie. Taco shells (the crunchy kind) aren't really that bad nutrition wise. Use half lean beef half turkey for the meat. Low fat cheese, plain greek yogurt as a replacement for sour cream. Low sodium taco seasoning, salsa lettuce and BOOM Thanks for the idea I am having tacos tomorrow for dinner.

mustgetmuscles1

Nothing unhealthy about taco. Unless you try to take mine or substitute one of the ingredients.

dawlschic007

I have taco night a lot. I use La Fe tortillas (90 calories per tortilla) and use lean ground turkey for the meat with bell peppers and red onions. Light sour cream, lettuce, tomato, and make up some guacamole. It's not all that bad calorie wise. I think two comes out to about 500 calories, if that. You can also do street tacos and use corn tortillas and lean sirloin steak.

christa279

I make mine with ground chicken or turkey. I don't think the hard shells or the soft tacos are horribly bad (just watch the size of the soft/tortillas). If I want to cut the carbs/calories, I will sometimes use a leaf of lettuce as the shell. I don't do sour cream, so usually just salsa or tomatoes, cheese, onions, and I make my own taco seasoning (so I can control the sodium and whatnot).

marcellomoo

Lean meat, lettuce wraps and dice some mushrooms/ onions/ tomatoes/ kidney beans in with the meat to fill it out.

aprilflower18232

My family and I enjoy taco night occasionally...any suggestions for continuing this in a healthy way?

Ground turkey instead of beef...either whole wheat tortillas or just make a salad out of it....and if you like sour cream use plain Greek yogurt instead...

lyricsmamma6469

I use ground turkey or chicken and usually turn mine into salads using flavored tortilla chips (chile lime is good). I crunch the chips up to add a nice crunchy texture. I also found flat bread wraps that make a large burrito and they're only 90 calories for the whole wrap. They make great flat bread pizzas too!

leaner426

My favorite tacos are chicken breast meat cooked in a little lime juice with some cilantro. Put it in a stand and stuff shell with a little shreaded sharp cheddar cheese, salsa and if you want a little sour cream. Add a side salad and you're good. Or you can just use the meat to make a salad, crumble part of a taco shell on top for crunchiness. Or you can use lettuce in place of the shell.

If you really like chips/salsa, and substituting celery for the chips does not work for you then I take a single taco shell and use it instead. Break it up and use as chips. It keeps me from having a bag of chips around that I would keep eating.

Acg67

For everyone saying lean beef and low fat cheese, sour cream etc, what makes that any healthier?

SGM_Adonis

Fish tacos...cabbage, lime, salsa, a little guacamole, grilled fish...a corn tortilla. Mmmm mmm mmm.

cathipa

Sub lentils for ground beef. Cook 1 cup lentils & 1 package of taco seasoning in 2.5 cups vegetable/chicken broth for 30 minutes. Skip the taco shells for taco salad. Use greek yogurt in place of sour cream. Guacamole is also very good and healthy. Salsa is low in calories, but high in flavor. This is making me hungry....I might have to make this for tonight!

sherisse69

I LOVE tacos so I could never give them up. Somethings I do to make it fit a little easier:
Use a low fat cheddar
Extra lean beef, drained after cooking
Greek yogurt instead of sour cream
And Lettuce wraps! This was the biggest thing for me - I love my crunchy shells - but it turns out wrapping all the goodness in an iceberg lettuce cup is quite fantastic as well.
Don't get me wrong - I generally have 1 hard shell, and the rest in lettuce.

Enjoy! .....now I may need to make tacos tonight......

tedrickp

For everyone saying lean beef and low fat cheese, sour cream etc, what makes that any healthier?

I agree they aren't "healthier" by their nature, but they can definitely be handy when you need to hit certain macros, or stay under calorie goals.

Now if you have an issue with people subbing lettuce for taco shells - we can form like Voltron and agree on that. I used to do that too, until I realized taco shells are' like 50 cals (regular old el paso crunchy, 65cals in stand and stuff).

shazbox1

To get some more nutritional variety I sautee mushrooms, onions, peppers with the beef, add some corn and beans.

To make lower the calorie count, I substitute the shells for a taco salad, use less cheese/sour cream.

You could go with lower fat substitutes, but I like my cheese cheesey and my sour cream creamy.

SephiraRose

Yumm Tacos. I now use ground turkey add taco seasoning to the meat, lots of lettuce, peppers, onions and salsa all wrapped in a low carb tortilla. I don't even miss the cheese and sour cream anymore

970Mikaela1

The only thing I do is limit my tortilla intake. 2 . Then I wrap the taco stuff in a lettuce leaf. Pretty good that way. Sour cream avocado salsa cheese . I bet we do tacos for sure weekly.

MamaFunky

We love taco night here too!

I make my own taco seasoning mix to lower the sodium content. Just add paprika, garlic powder, cumin, pepper and a squeeze of lime juice to your beef or chicken and you have a delicious low sodium taco filling.

I don't buy the premade packets of seasoning anymore. This is the list of ingredients from the Old El Paso website for their taco seasoning.

Salt, Maltodextrin, Chili Pepper, Red Pepper, Monosodium Glutamate, Corn Starch, Yellow Corn Flour, Spice, Sugar. Contains less than 2% of: Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Silicon Dioxide (Anticaking Agent), Yeast Extract, Ethoxyquin (Preservative)

You can save money buy purchasing the big bottles of pure seasonings from Sam's/Costco and add your own seasonings to your mix.

Enjoy your tacos!

AwesomeGuy37

I have my own taco creation for years now where I brown 1 lb. of beef, drain the fat. (Rinse with hot water and drain again if worried about it)
Then put back on the heat and add the water, 2 taco mix packets and 2 large cans ,28 Oz (drained), of petite diced tomatoes.
Cook it until the water evaporates while stirring often. Medium high heat usually takes about 15 minutes.
The sodium is off the charts for most people, but if you need your taco night you can't beat the calorie difference. Use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

I didn't originally make this to avoid calories, but to lower cost.

husseycd

I do taco chili usually. Tonight I'm making cauliflower "tortillas" to go with. I know those aren't everyone's cuppa, but I like them and they end up 33 calories per "tortilla".

But usually I just make the taco meat with seasoning and add black beans and tomatos like I would for chili. Sub plain greek yogurt for sour cream if you like it. Cheese, guac, and salsa are optional.

ETA: I don't think there's anything unhealthy about "normal" tacos. Wheat and corn and I don't get along that well, so that's why I skip it. Tacos can be made lower calories though if that's what the OP is looking for. The meat and the tortillas are the highest calories items, unless you use a ton of cheese or sour cream. Beans can also easily be omitted if you're trying to lower cals.

SouthernArt77

I haven't read all the replies, so someone may have mentioned this or something similar. I have started using a combination of ground turkey and lentils for our taco filling. I simmer a cup of dried lentils for about 20 minutes then mix those in with a pound of ground turkey that I've browned, along with our taco seasoning (homemade) and some water. I also throw in a couple of beef bouillon cubes. I let it simmer until the lentils get really tender and start to break down. Sometimes I have to add extra water get the the lentils to the right consistency. It's a little more time consuming, but we love tacos made this way.

seltzermint555

Not that there is anything wrong with beef (I eat it, my husband doesn't) but last night we had yummy TVP tacos.

La Tiara shells are very light and crispy, and low carb which probably appeals to a lot of people.

I like them with shredded lettuce and a bit of shredded cheddar. We were out of lettuce last night so my husband whipped up an awesome mixture of cooked spinach, light cheese wedge, and FF sour cream. It was different and good. I like a little taco sauce or picante on them too.

Other options: chopped tomato, green onion, avocado, beans...options are endless.

I think the key is using less meat and cheese and more of the other stuff. And layering on the toppings instead of having like 6 tacos you can have 2-3 super loaded ones :-)

fast_eddie_72

Tacos are part of my regular menu. We've been using the Jeanie-o taco seasoned turkey. Couldn't be any easier. We do add some onion. Other than that, brown it and you're good to go. Just regular taco shells, shredded lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Two tacos is 266 calories. And they taste exactly like, well, tacos.

cmendoza13

I just started making tacos with ground turkey instead of beef and they are SOOO yummy!! You really can't tell a difference in the taste. Also, if you want to use sour cream, go for the low fat or fat free. Again, you really can't tell a difference in the taste. And instead of hard shells, try a corn or whole wheat tortilla to make a soft taco.

Four_Leaf_Clover

We have tacos quite frequently at our house. We use lean ground turkey (93/7) brown it and drain it - then add salsa instead of taco seasonings. Sometimes I will add chili beans (pinto beans) to stretch it out. Adults eat it as a salad over lettuce, diced tomatoes, with a sprinkle of reduced fat cheese and a few crushed chips on top.

My kids love it served as "tiny tacos" in Tostitos scoops chips.

I also take the meat/salsa for lunch and eat it over salad - very filling!