One of the biggest reasons we fail at diets is because we get bored, then indulge and rationalize how much you can eat. The key to eating right is learning how to make substitutions and adjusting how you cook so the food retains its’ tastiness while making your meals more nutrient dense.
I know a lot of diet guidelines urge you to make everything fat-free. Doing this in practice made me want to punch people because I was constantly HANGRY. Consuming healthy fats at every meal kept me full all day. Contrary to popular belief, consuming saturated fats from avocado or coconut doesn’t raise your cholesterol or triglyceride levels. More on this in a future post.
Substitutions & Additions
- Greek yogurt for sour cream
- Add kale to sautéed meat
- To make it paleo:
- use butter lettuce or baby romaine leaves instead of tortillas
- use avocado oil/ghee/coconut oil instead of vegetable oil
Meal Kit Box: Marley Spoon
This recipe is from my first Marley Spoon box. The meal delivery boxes have been great at introducing new recipes and veggies to my repertoire, it even helped with weight loss since the recipes are portion-controlled.
I liked that the instructions tell you to brush oil on the tortillas and bake them instead of frying. I didn’t have a brush so I used an oil sprayer to lightly mist the tortillas with avocado oil. This gets you the crunchiness of the tostadas without having the tortillas swimming in a vat of oil. Side note, the chorizo that came in the Marley Spoon box was so much tastier than what I used to buy at the Mexican market, not as greasy either.
Ingredients
- 1 red onion
- 2 links chorizo
- ½ oz fresh cilantro (small handful)
- 3 radishes
- 4 white corn tortillas
- 3 oz baby kale (2 or 3 handfuls)
- 1 lime (zest & juice)
- ¼ cup greek yogurt
- coarse salt
- avocado oil
- freshly ground black pepper
- Equipment:
- 10 inch skillet
- rimmed baking sheet
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450ºF.
- Prep veggies: Halve, peel, and thinly slice onion through the core. Pick large stems from cilantro. Cut radishes into thin wedges.
- Cook chorizo: Remove chorizo from casing. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and ½ teaspoon sea salt and saute. Once the onions start to carmelize, add the chorizo, breaking up the chorizo with a wooden spoon. Cook until onions and chorizo are golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Bake tortillas: Put tortillas on a rimmed baking sheet and brush both sides with 1 tablespoon oil. If you have a Misto salad sprayer, you can put your oil in there and spray the tortillas. Bake (without flipping) until they are a dark golden brown, 10–12 minutes.
- Add kale: Add kale and half of the cilantro to the skillet with chorizo mixture; season with ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until kale is wilted, about 2 minutes.
- Make lime crema: Zest lime over a small bowl and add juice of half a lime. Mix in greek yogurt and 1 teaspoon water; season to taste with salt and pepper. Cut the lime half into wedges.
- Assemble tostadas: Divide tostadas between 2 plates. Spread half of the crema on the tostadas and top with chorizo and kale mixture. Drizzle remaining crema on top and garnish with remaining cilantro and radish slices.
What are your thoughts?