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Tacos are always a popular meal choice. They are great for so many reasons:
- Frugal – use up whatever meat or vegetables are in the house
- Green – use up vegetables before they go bad & reduce waste
- Customizable – you can please meat eaters and vegetarians
- Healthy – easy to add tons of extra veggies and fiber with beans
Unfortunately, tacos are also very easy to go overboard with and make into fatty cholesterol nightmares. If you use fatty ground beef and heap on cheese and sour cream, your arteries will not thank you. The good news is, there are simple swaps you can make that don’t have a huge impact on overall taste but will have an impact on how huge your waistline is in 20 years….
- Use ground turkey, pork, or chicken instead of beef
- Better yet, don’t use meat at all! Use tofu or lots of beans instead
- Make sure to cram in as many sneaky veggies as possible
- Swap unflavored Greek yogurt for sour cream
These simple switches seem small, but have big long-term impact. You don’t have to go cold-turkey health nut all at once. Try one at a time and see what works for you.
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These turkey tacos are super-charged with healthy greens and multiple veggies. But once rolled up in a warm tortilla, you would never know there is so little fat and far fewer calories than your typical taco. My meat eater s.o. even had to admit that they are delicious!
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Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 tortilla
1 onion, diced
1 cup diced bell peppers
1/2 head kale
Refried beans
1/2 cup cooked rice
1 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
Sprinkle shredded cheese
Seasoning: garlic salt, cumin, Nature’s Season
Step 1: Brown the ground turkey in a pan. While that is cooking, dice up your veggies. You could use whatever vegetables are in season and that you like, try eggplant, asparagus, spinach, sweet potato…
Step 2: Drain the grease from the meat and season it to your liking. Add in the veggies, hardest ones first. Cook until onion and peppers are soft, and kale is wilted.
Step 3: Open a can of refried beans, or
make your own. Heat up in a frying pan or microwave.
Step 4: Warm up a tortilla in the microwave for 10-30 seconds. Layer on the turkey and veggies, 1/4 cup cooked rice, a few tbsp of beans, 1 tbsp Greek yogurt, and a sprinkle of shredded cheddar. Roll it up and enjoy! Alternatively you could use a hard taco shell, or spread over tortilla chips as a fun appetizer.
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Tacos are so endlessly customizable. I love topping mine with salsa, guac, diced avocado, lettuce, spinach, black beans, shredded carrots… the possibilities are endless. They can be extremely frugal too, rice, beans, and tortillas are all easily found for under $1, and make a very filling and healthy meal. It’s super easy to make them vegetarian or vegan too.
What’s your favorite taco toppings?
